What's Now is Now

There’s nothing like working out with Old Blue Eyes.

I’ve been going to a new gym for the last few months, and I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the owners’ musical choices.

Of course, there’s the usual health club mix of dance music, rap and other such pump-you-up ditties.

But in the wee small hours of the morning, you can actually hear a string of Frank Sinatra songs.

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At first, I thought it was a fluke.

Somebody must’ve hit the wrong button as no self-respecting gym would play these ancient tunes.

I waited for the Chairman of the Board to be cut short and replaced by some screeching techno thump-a-thon.

But no; the morning seems to be reserved for what I call “The Sinatra Hour”, when a lot of a geezers like your truly work out.

Whatever the reason, I love shadowboxing and pounding the heavy bag with "My Way" or "Learning the Blues” as my soundtrack.

This morning I was doing my warm-up when the song “Goodbye (She Quietly Says)” came on.

If you’ve never heard of it, you have a lot of company, as the song comes off Watertown, Sinatra’s worst-selling album.

I recently stumbled across this recording on YouTube and I can’t stop thinking about it.

What a Concept

Subtitled “A Love Story,” Watertown is a concept album that tells the story of a man living in in that Upstate New York town whose wife leaves him and their two sons and heads off to New York City.

I usually associate concept albums with rock stars, like, The Beatles with Sgt. Pepper, The Who with Tommy and Pink Floyd with The Wall. But Frank Sinatra? Not so much.

Once a booming industrial center, Watertown fell upon hard times. The city, which reportedly had more millionaires per capita than any other city in the nation by the late 19th Century, saw its population fall and unemployment rise by the late 1960s.

Sinatra’s records were also struggling in the late 1960s, he teamed up with Bob Gaudio, one of The Four Seasons, and lyricist Jake Holmes.

Supposedly the album was based in the city after Gaudio opened a map of New York State and picked Watertown.

Name That Town

The album does not contain any big hits, or breakout numbers like “Pinball Wizard” from Tommy, but the songs are heartfelt, and Sinatra does an incredible job of bringing the lyrics to life.

“Goodbye (She Quietly Says)” is softly devastating as husband and wife go their separate ways while sitting in a coffee shop.

“There is no great big ending, no sunset in the sky, there is no string ensemble,” the song says, “and she doesn't even cry, and just as I begin to say that we should make another try, she reaches out across the table looks at me and quietly says good-bye.”

In “Michael and Peter”, the main character talks about the couple’s two sons in a letter to his wife.

And one of my favorite songs, “I Would be in Love”, tells how the hero would still love his wife despite the heartache he’s suffering.

“If I knew that you'd leave me, If I knew you wouldn't stay, I would be in love anyway,” the song says.

In “What’s Now is Now,” the hero looks to salvage the marriage and forget the past, but you hear the desperation behind the words.

The story ends with “The Train” where the main character waiting at the town’s train station for his wife to return from the city, but he can’t find her in the crowd.

The album sold poorly and was said to have been a contributing factor in Sinatra’s brief retirement.

To Be Frank

Perhaps people who were expecting the hard-living rat-packer, famous in song, story and Las Vegas, were put off by the lonely, lost character Sinatra portrays on this album.

While the vast majority of reviews on Amazon have been positive, there was one poster who complained the album turned "Sintra into a schlub," and another who said city is "a place you never wanna live."

Nevertheless, Watertown, which was reissued in June, has been reevaluated and is now considered by many to be one of Sinatra’s finest albums.

I’ve included a link to album, so please give it a listen--if you can stand all the damn commericals--and let me know if I’m crazy.

After I finished my workout today, Sinatra’s “Moonlight in Vermont” was playing on the sound system.

I was just getting into when the song it was abruptly cut off and replaced by “Sweet Dreams,” a 1994 dance hit by La Bouche.

Sorry about that, Frank. I’ll see you in Watertown.