Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Sinatra - A No Good Cheat

I am in the process of reading Sinatra: A Complete Life by J. Randy Taraborrelli. I am not very far yet (it's a huge book and I basically only get to read it when I'm eating, walking, before I got to sleep and (even though I shouldn't) 15 minutes to a half hour into my sleep time.

I have already learned all kinds of things about Frank Sinatra that should shatter my adoration of him. For a few hours I was pretty let down reading about how imperfect Sinatra was. I'm sure I've heard these things before but reading a book that includes first hand accounts is different. You might be wondering what things I'm talking about. Sinatra was a womanizer. He was also obsessed with sex (probably a sex addict, my friend pointed out to me). He cheated on his wife, probably hundreds of times. He always felt that it had nothing to do with her and whatever she didn't know won't hurt her, well she always found out and even then he didn't care. Not really the kind of guy you would want to be in a relationship with.

But as I listen to him sing "All The Way" and "Embraceable You" I don't care. For some reason I don't care.

Sinatra via last.fm

I love his voice. I love his acting. I love the performer Frank Sinatra.

What do you guys think? Am I wrong? Should I care more? Should I stop listening to Sinatra because he was a horrid husband and a no good cheat?

4 comments:

  1. As I have come to admire and respect writers and musicians I have found you can't discount someones work because of who they were. Papa Hemingway was pretty awful(a lot like Sinatra). Instead of deciding to no longer read his works it opened my eyes even more. Humans are flawed, extremely flawed, the art we create can either teach other people the lessons we have learned but can't enact in our own lives or we can just forget it all and write horrible smut. Often times the greatest lessons we learn we sometimes don't have the strength to enact in our own life. There are still great things we can learn and share with the world. Papa Hemingway was a womanizer, a drunkard and possibly a secrete crossdresser and homophobe. That does not change the way I feel about his books.

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    1. I totally agree. I guess all I can add is that everyone has good qualities and I try to focus on those. If I just focused on the bad I wouldn't be able to enjoy anything! It'd be awful. You are awesome Amanda! Thank you so much for your input!

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  2. You are admiring the performer not the person, that is the difference. Sometimes it is just best not to know the demons that your favorite performer has. Now that is not possible because nothing is a secret or private any more. Just remember you do not have to like what a person does to like the person.

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    1. Thanks Mom! You must have taught me well because that's what I think.

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Thanks so much for taking the time to share your thoughts!