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September of My Years
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| September of My Years | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | August 1965 (LP) October 1986 (CD) | |||
| Recorded | April 13–14, 22 and May 27, 1965, Hollywood[1] | |||
| Genre | Traditional pop, vocal jazz | |||
| Length | 44:02 | |||
| Label | Reprise FS 1014 | |||
| Producer | Sonny Burke | |||
| Frank Sinatra chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic | |
| Encyclopedia of Popular Music | |
| Record Mirror | |
| September of My Years | |
|---|---|
| Studio album by | |
| Released | August 31, 2010 |
| Recorded | April 13–14, 22 and May 27, 1965, Hollywood Additional Guitar Overdubs on March 14, 1968[1][5] June 1984, Carnegie Hall, New York, New York[6] |
| Genre | Traditional pop, vocal jazz |
| Label | Reprise[6] |
| Producer | Sonny Burke |
September of My Years is a 1965 studio album by American singer Frank Sinatra, released on Reprise Records in August 1965[7] on LP and October 1986 on CD. It was his fifth album collaboration with arranger Gordon Jenkins. Released shortly before Sinatra's fiftieth birthday in December of that year, September of My Years hearkens back to the ballad-oriented concept albums of his 1950s Capitol era, with songs that broadly explore themes of ageing, self-reflection and nostalgia.[2]
It peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart. Both September of My Years and the double-LP compilation A Man and His Music won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. In 2000 it was voted number 190 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums.[8]
Background
[edit]This was the first album Sinatra and Jenkins had recorded together since 1962's All Alone. Jenkins and Sinatra would next work together on the 1973 album Ol' Blue Eyes Is Back, the 1980 album Trilogy: Past Present Future, and the 1981 album She Shot Me Down.
CBS television cameras captured Sinatra recording "It Was a Very Good Year" for this album. The footage was included in a Walter Cronkite CBS News special broadcast on November 16, 1965. Sinatra's performance of "It Was a Very Good Year" won the Grammy Award for Best Vocal Performance, Male. Arranger Gordon Jenkins was awarded the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) for the same song.
The album was released on CD on October 10, 1986. It was re-released and remastered on May 26, 1998, as part of the Entertainer of the Century series done together by Reprise and Capitol Records. That version is currently out of print. Concord Records reissued the album again, newly remastered on compact disc, on August 31, 2010. This version includes two bonus tracks, a live performance of "This Is All I Ask" recorded at Carnegie Hall in June 1984, and the single mix of "How Old Am I?" released in 1968.
Themes
[edit]September of My Years is a concept album exploring the "who am I" questions and perspectives that someone, particularly a man, faces upon entering middle age. For instance, in "It Was a Very Good Year," the narrator looks back upon his life at ages 17, 21, 35, and now, in his personal "September." The structure of the song, which lasts almost four and a half minutes, was highly unusual for a popular song of the time, as it exceeded most other songs of that era by more than a minute. In the process, the narrator "takes his time" to review his past relationships with a bittersweet mixture of satisfaction and regret. Similarly, in "Hello, Young Lovers," the narrator offers to young people the guidance and wisdom he has gleaned from experience. In other songs, like "The Man in the Looking Glass" and "Last Night When We Were Young," the narrator conducts an internal dialogue that reviews both the accomplishments and disappointments of his life. In addition to the lyrical content, the musical background reflects a more mature Sinatra than the Capitol recordings of the 1950s and his Reprise albums of the early 1960s. Instead of the big-band, "swing" arrangements with horn sections of those earlier songs, this LP features an orchestra with nine violinists. These strings provide a delicate interplay with the vocals, allowing the listener to easily hear and take in the lyrics.
Track listing
[edit]- "The September of My Years" (Jimmy Van Heusen, Sammy Cahn) – 3:12
- "How Old Am I?" (Gordon Jenkins) – 3:30
- "Don't Wait Too Long" (Sunny Skylar) – 3:04
- "It Gets Lonely Early" (Van Heusen, Cahn) – 2:57
- "This Is All I Ask" (Jenkins) – 3:03
- "Last Night When We Were Young" (Harold Arlen, E.Y. Harburg) – 3:33
- "The Man in the Looking Glass" (Bart Howard) – 3:25
- "It Was a Very Good Year" (Ervin Drake) – 4:25
- "When the Wind Was Green" (Don Hunt, Henry Stinson)[1] – 3:22
- "Hello, Young Lovers" (Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II) – 3:41
- "I See It Now" (Alec Wilder, William Engvick) – 2:50
- "Once Upon a Time" (Charles Strouse, Lee Adams) – 3:30
- "September Song" (Kurt Weill, Maxwell Anderson) – 3:30
Bonus tracks included on the 2010 reissue:
- "This Is All I Ask - Live" – 3:49
- "How Old Am I? - Single Version" – 3:42
Notes
Personnel
[edit]- Frank Sinatra – vocals (all tracks)
- Bill Miller – piano (1–13, 15)
- Joe Parnello – piano, conductor (14)
- Bob Bain – guitar (1)[9]
- Bill Pitman – guitar (1)
- Tony Mottola – guitar (14)
- Joe Comfort – string bass (1)
- Mike Rubin – string bass (1–13, 15)
- Max Bennett – additional bass guitar (15)[5]
- Irving Cottler – drums (1, 14)[9][11]
- Nick Fatool – drums (2–13, 15)
- Al Hendrickson – guitar (9, 11–12)[10]
- Buddy Collette – saxophone, woodwind (1)
- Alvin Dinkin – viola (1–2, 4–5, 7–9, 11–12, 15)[5][11][12][13][14]
- Melinda Eckels – oboe (2, 4–5, 7–8, 15),[15][16] flute (3, 6, 9–13)[17][18]
- Bert Gassman – oboe (3, 6, 9–13)
- Chuck Gentry – saxophone, woodwind (1)
- Justin Gordon – saxophone, woodwind (1)
- Stanley Harris – viola (1)
- Lloyd Hildebrand – bassoon (2–13, 15), flute (3, 6, 9–13)
- Clyde Hylton – clarinet (2–13, 15), flute (3, 6, 9–13)
- Gordon Jenkins – arranger (all tracks), conductor (1–13, 15)
- Kathryn Julye – harp (1)
- Armand Kaproff – cello (1–2, 4–5, 8–9, 11–12, 15)
- Louis Kievman – viola (2, 4–5, 7–9, 11–12, 15)
- Harry Klee – clarinet (2–13, 15), flute (3, 6, 9–13), saxophone, woodwind (1)
- Arnold Koblentz – oboe (2, 4–5, 7–8, 15)
- Cappy Lewis – trumpet (1)
- Edgar Lustgarten – cello (1)
- Ray Menhennick – viola (3, 6, 10, 13)[19][20]
- Dick Nash – trombone (1)
- Tommy Pederson – trombone (1)
- Kurt Reher – cello (3, 6, 10, 13)
- George Roberts – bass trombone (1)
- Paul Robyn – viola (2–13, 15)
- Sanford Schonbach – viola (3, 6, 10, 13)
- Willie Schwartz – saxophone, woodwind (1)
- Tom Shepard – trombone (1)
- Barbara Simons – viola (1)
- Eleanor Slatkin – cello (1)
- Wayne Songer – clarinet (2–13, 15)
- Vincent Terri – guitar (2–8, 10, 13, 15)
- Kathryn Thompson Vail – harp (2–13, 15)
Charts
[edit]| Chart (1965) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard 200[21] | 5 |
Certifications
[edit]| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United States (RIAA)[22] | Gold | 500,000^ |
|
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Albin, Steve (March 20, 2016). "Frank...The Reprise Years. Jazz Discography". Web.archive.org. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved November 19, 2025.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ a b AllMusic Review
- ^ Larkin, Colin (2007). Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195313734.
- ^ Jones, Peter; Jopling, Norman (August 28, 1965). "Frank Sinatra: September Of My Years" (PDF). Record Mirror. No. 233. p. 8. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 1, 2022. Retrieved August 18, 2022.
- ^ a b c "Frank Sinatra Sessionography : How Old Am I". Web.archive.org. Archived from the original on November 16, 2018. Retrieved November 19, 2025.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ a b Sinatra, Frank. "September of My Years" (Album Notes). Concord Records. 2010.
- ^ Billboard magazine, August 14, 1965, p. 46,76
- ^ Larkin, Colin (2000). All Time Top 1000 Albums (3rd ed.). Virgin Books. p. 98. ISBN 0-7535-0493-6.
- ^ a b c [1] [dead link]
- ^ a b [2] [dead link]
- ^ a b [3] [dead link]
- ^ [4] [dead link]
- ^ [5] [dead link]
- ^ [6] [dead link]
- ^ [7] [dead link]
- ^ [8] [dead link]
- ^ [9] [dead link]
- ^ [10] [dead link]
- ^ [11] [dead link]
- ^ [12] [dead link]
- ^ "Frank Sinatra Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved January 22, 2025.
- ^ "American album certifications – Frank Sinatra – September Of My Years". Recording Industry Association of America.
September of My Years
View on GrokipediaProduction
Background and conception
As Frank Sinatra approached his 50th birthday in December 1965, he sought to create an album that reflected on the passage of time, aging, and personal introspection, drawing from his life experiences to produce a contemplative collection rather than upbeat swing material.[8] This motivation stemmed from Sinatra's desire for a mature, present-focused project amid his evolving career in the mid-1960s, marking a shift toward themes of mortality and reflection.[8][9] The album's conception was deeply influenced by the 1938 song "September Song" from the musical Knickerbocker Holiday by Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson, which served as the initial inspiration for the project's title and overarching mood of elegiac meditation on life's later stages.[8] Sinatra reunited with arranger Gordon Jenkins, with whom he had previously collaborated on introspective ballad albums including Where Are You? (1957), No One Cares (1959), and All Alone (1962), valuing Jenkins's lush string arrangements for evoking emotional depth in mature themes.[10][11] Their shared interest in brooding, torch-song material made Jenkins the ideal partner to shape the album's sophisticated, orchestral sound.[11] Producer Sonny Burke played a pivotal role in curating the song selections and guiding the project's direction, assembling a tracklist that blended standards, Broadway tunes, and new compositions to suit the reflective concept.[8] Sinatra personally championed inclusions like "It Was a Very Good Year," a 1961 composition by Ervin Drake originally written for the Kingston Trio, which he encountered and insisted upon for its nostalgic narrative aligning with the album's aging theme.[12][13] The title track, "The September of My Years," was newly penned for Sinatra by Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn, evolving the initial "September Song" inspiration into the finalized title and anchoring the tracklist developed in early 1965.[8]Recording sessions
The primary recording sessions for September of My Years took place over several dates in the spring of 1965 at United Recording Studios in Hollywood, California, beginning on April 13 and concluding on May 27.[14][15] These sessions featured a large studio orchestra conducted by Gordon Jenkins, whose lush, string-heavy arrangements emphasized the album's reflective tone and shaped the orchestral passages throughout.[1][8] One notable anecdote from the sessions involved the track "It Was a Very Good Year," which Sinatra captured in a single masterful take while the orchestra performed live, as documented in a contemporaneous CBS News Special filmed at the studio.[16][15] An additional guitar overdub was added to "How Old Am I?" on March 14, 1968, at Western Recorders in Hollywood, marking a rare post-production adjustment to the original tracks.[17][8] Producer Sonny Burke oversaw the mixing and final mastering, ensuring the album's intimate vocal-orchestral balance was preserved for its August 1965 release on Reprise Records.[18][8]Personnel
Frank Sinatra provided lead vocals on all tracks of the album. Gordon Jenkins served as arranger and conductor, overseeing the lush orchestral arrangements, including the prominent string sections on the title track "The September of My Years." Sonny Burke acted as producer, while Lowell Frank handled engineering duties. Bill Miller contributed piano throughout most of the album and served as musical director.[19][1] The rhythm section featured Vincent Terri and Al Hendrickson on guitar, Nick Fatool on drums, Meyer "Mike" Rubin on bass, and Kathryn Thompson on harp. Piano duties were primarily handled by Bill Miller, with occasional support from other players on select tracks.[19][4] The woodwind section included clarinetists Clyde Hylton, Harry Klee, and Wayne Songer; flutists Lloyd Hildebrand, Clyde Hylton, and Harry Klee; oboists Arnold Koblentz, Melinda Eckels, and Bert Gassman; and bassoonist Lloyd Hildebrand. The string section comprised cellists Armand Kaproff and Kurt Reher; violists Alvin Dinkin, Lou Kievman, Paul Robyn, Ray Menhennick, and Sanford Schonbach. Additional guitarists Bob Bain and Bill Pitman appeared on specific tracks. No background singers were credited.[19][4]| Role | Personnel |
|---|---|
| Vocals | Frank Sinatra |
| Arranger/Conductor | Gordon Jenkins |
| Producer | Sonny Burke |
| Engineer | Lowell Frank |
| Piano/Musical Director | Bill Miller |
| Guitar | Vincent Terri, Al Hendrickson, Bob Bain, Bill Pitman |
| Drums | Nick Fatool |
| Bass | Meyer "Mike" Rubin |
| Harp | Kathryn Thompson |
| Clarinet | Clyde Hylton, Harry Klee, Wayne Songer |
| Flute | Lloyd Hildebrand, Clyde Hylton, Harry Klee |
| Oboe | Arnold Koblentz, Melinda Eckels, Bert Gassman |
| Bassoon | Lloyd Hildebrand |
| Cello | Armand Kaproff, Kurt Reher |
| Viola | Alvin Dinkin, Lou Kievman, Paul Robyn, Ray Menhennick, Sanford Schonbach |
Music and lyrics
Themes and style
September of My Years explores the central theme of middle age and introspection, portraying life as a progression through seasons that culminate in reflective autumnal maturity. The title track, "September of My Years," exemplifies this through metaphors of time's passage, likening youth to spring and summer while evoking the contemplative essence of one's later years.[9][8] This overarching motif of aging and mortality permeates the album, encouraging listeners to confront personal milestones and the fleeting nature of existence.[20] The album's musical style adheres to traditional pop and vocal jazz traditions, characterized by lush, orchestral arrangements that underscore a pervasive melancholy and nostalgia. Gordon Jenkins' string-heavy orchestrations create a brooding, cohesive atmosphere, favoring moody ballads over upbeat swings and emphasizing emotional depth through sweeping violins and intimate instrumentation.[8][20] This approach marks a deliberate shift toward narrative-driven songs that prioritize melody and reflection, distinguishing the record as a unified artistic statement rather than a collection of singles.[9] Lyrical motifs revolve around regret over lost youth, the pangs of loneliness, and a resigned acceptance of life's inevitable changes. Standards such as "Last Night When We Were Young" evoke wistful memories of past romances, while songs like "It Was a Very Good Year" chronicle personal evolution from youthful exuberance to middle-aged solitude, highlighting themes of identity and accomplishment.[20][9] Tracks like "Don't Wait Too Long" further reinforce urgency in cherishing remaining time, blending nostalgia with subtle calls to resilience.[8] Sinatra's vocal delivery on the album showcases a mature, weathered timbre that conveys profound sensitivity and intimacy, diverging markedly from his earlier swinging persona. His resonant, wistful phrasing infuses each song with poignant emotional weight, adapting to the contemplative lyrics through subtle inflections that suggest lived experience and vulnerability.[8][20] This work represents Sinatra's evolution from the upbeat, Rat Pack-era exuberance of his Capitol recordings, such as Come Fly with Me, toward more somber, introspective albums that align with his personal transition into middle age. Unlike the brash energy of his 1950s output, September of My Years embraces a dignified restraint, mirroring his shift to themes of reflection over youthful bravado.[8][9]Track listing
The original 1965 album September of My Years by Frank Sinatra consists of 13 tracks, divided across two sides on its vinyl release, with a total runtime of approximately 44 minutes.[6][1]| No. | Title | Songwriter(s) | Duration | Side |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "The September of My Years" | Sammy Cahn (lyrics), Jimmy Van Heusen (music) | 3:15 | A |
| 2 | "How Old Am I?" | Gordon Jenkins | 3:36 | A |
| 3 | "Don't Wait Too Long" | Sunny Skylar | 3:08 | A |
| 4 | "It Gets Lonely Early" | Sammy Cahn (lyrics), Jimmy Van Heusen (music) | 3:00 | A |
| 5 | "This Is All I Ask" | Gordon Jenkins | 3:04 | A |
| 6 | "Last Night When We Were Young" | Yip Harburg (lyrics), Harold Arlen (music) | 3:37 | A |
| 7 | "The Man in the Looking Glass" | Bart Howard | 3:28 | B |
| 8 | "It Was a Very Good Year" | Ervin Drake | 4:27 | B |
| 9 | "When the Wind Was Green" | Henry Stinson | 3:23 | B |
| 10 | "Hello, Young Lovers" | Oscar Hammerstein II (lyrics), Richard Rodgers (music) | 3:44 | B |
| 11 | "I See It Now" | William Engvick (lyrics), Alec Wilder (music) | 2:52 | B |
| 12 | "Once Upon a Time" | Lee Adams (lyrics), Charles Strouse (music) | 3:30 | B |
| 13 | "September Song" | Maxwell Anderson (lyrics), Kurt Weill (music) | 3:35 | B |

