AS TIME GOES BY –
I salvaged a CD of Frank Sinatra’s hit songs from the bargain counter at the university bookstore. It’s no surprise that the CD didn’t sell. Each generation despises the popular music of those before and after it. It had been years since I had heard Sinatra’s voice. I slipped the disk into the machine and took a journey back to my childhood. Sinatra differed from the current crop of singers in that he enunciated each word of his songs. That suggests that the lyrics, as well as the tunes, were meant to be experienced. I squirm a bit now as I listen to cliches about eyes like moonrise, a voice like music, lips like wine. A phrase isn’t trite, though, the first few times that you’ve heard it and I was young then, and innocent. A kiss was summum bonum and I did more daydreaming than kissing. Those lyrics clearly had been meant for teenagers and probably even for the youngest and most naïve of us. I sat back in an easy chair and listened to several old chestnuts which put me in a nostalgic mood. Then another track started:
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