![]() ![]() Torch and downhearted songs would become an integral part of Sinatra’s body of work and musical legacy, even after his career was resurrected in the mid-50s and he began producing hit records again––first for Capitol, then venturing out on his own Reprise label in the 1960s. Ironically, it would be his final recording for Columbia.įrank Sinatra’s 1952 recording of “Why Try to Change Me Now” Simply put, he was in a rut, and for the man who couldn’t get his act together, his first rendition of “Why Try to Change Me Now”––which served as a B-Side to “Birth of the Blues''––had an authentic sadness that could only be achieved by a person who’d truly lived the words that were being sung. Frank Sinatra was about to sink even deeper as he’d go on to lose his picture contract with MGM, most of his money, Gardner to an affair with Spanish bullfighter Luis Miguel Dominguín, and most of his friends. Sinatra was nearing the end of his days at Columbia Records, due to low record sales and bad press, which included wildly outrageous headlines about his torrid love affair turned volatile marriage to Ava Gardner, as well as a smear campaign, led by muckraking journalist Lee Mortimer, accusing the singer of underworld connections. Maybe that’s why Coleman and McCarthy wrote the song specifically for Sinatra in ‘52, as the country’s first pop music star was suffering emotionally through an all-time low in his career as an entertainment as well as his own life. Though not a hit by any means, “Why Try to Change Me Now” stood out on its own as a piece of psychoanalysis, a movement that was just beginning to take shape in the American landscape, where citizens were questioning their own idiocracies and peculiarities, including Sinatra himself. ![]() In recent years, covers have been recorded in by the likes of Bob Dylan and Fiona Apple who each add their own soulful phrasing and inflections on melancholy lines such as “I’m sentimental so I walk in the rain / I’ve got some habits even I can’t explain” and “Why can’t I be more conventional / People talk and they stare, so I try” Given the highly analyzed yet elusive lives of both Dylan and Apple, it’s no wonder this particular track was recorded by both artists who each share their personal somberness inside of a song written for bygone era –– a testament to the songwriters’ art which is the ability to transcend generations.ĭuring the 1950s, jazz, swing and other orchestral genres were slowly beginning to weaken due to the rise of rhythm and blues, rock ‘n’ roll and folk, respectively. Cy Coleman performing “Why Try to Change Me Now” in the 1950s ![]()
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