My Favorite Sinatra Album

Frankie
Columbia CL 606 mono
1955 reissue

As an unabashed Sinatraphile that grew up in a household of Sinatra lovers (epecially my older brother Billy, whose massive Sinatra LP collection I either inherited, borrowed or stole), I have scores of albums, cassettes, CDs, 78s, and books related to "The Voice of the Century" (apologies in advance if I've somehow slighted William Hung). And yet my favorite Sinatra album, Frankie, remains out of print on CD. I had my dog-eared copy thanks to my Mom, who loved this now obscure "long player" that's actually a a 1955 12-inch reissue of the 1946 original. Though the cover features a beaming Fifies-era Frankie watching over two bright-eyed young lovers (the dark-haired babe is Debbie Reynolds!), the numbers date from Sinatra's Romantic Utopian Period at Columbia Records when the boys were away at war and the women at home pined for the skinny, pencil-necked 'n' bow-tied Hoboken kid crooning love ballads set to Axel Stordahl's lush orchestration. Many of these songs have been cherry-picked for inclusion on other compilations, most notably the four-disc The Voice: The Columbia Years 1943-1952. The 12-track album was even reissued in the UK in 1960 under the imaginative title Frank Sinatra (long since out-of-print, needless to say), but Frankie has gone the way of the Huguenots in France: vanished from the face of the earth.

Yet my favorite tune from my favorite album remains ever elusive: "How Cute Can You Be". It was originally released as a single (b/w "Five Minutes More") in July 1946 and was Sinatra's first novelty tune for Columbia. Sure, it's out there for hardcore completists, but you have to either fork over $300 bucks to get the 12-disc Frank Sinatra - Columbia Years (1943-1952): The Complete Recordings (1993) or settle for the three-CD Romantic Sinatra from CD Universe. (Of course, I could just buy the MP3 online, but this virus-prone Web surfer is always wary of downloading stuff off the "Internets". Besides, I tried it twice and Internet Explorer crashed on me!)

Yup, I like this novelty ditty from the coveted Cutesy Canon of Frank's "Frankie Period" even more than the similar Bobby Troup number "Snootie Little Cutie" he sang with Tommy Dorsey and The Pied Pipers (btw, check out the fun video mash-up of Bobby singing this song on YouTube). It's fun, irreverent and has that great 1940s Damon Runyon-esque hepcat lingo that I adore. I still use phrases like, "He's a right guy" or "He's a stand-up kinda fellow" (linguistic staples of film noir dialogue) and such politically incorrect descriptors as "pert little skirt" and "kissy little missy". (No wonder so many people think I'm gay!) Frank even throws in a "Hubba!" at the end. Priceless.

"How Cute Can You Be" lyrics:

Two eyes walking `round with a baby blue stare, how cute can you be?
Red lips pouting so that a guy's gotta care, how cute can you be?
I've seen plenty of lassies with fine-looking chassis, almost every day,
But I've stopped my looking `cause I know what's cooking, just a glance away.

Soft hair shining so that the sun blinks his eyes, how cute can you be?
A voice sweet and low, making temperatures rise, how cute can you be?
I'll give up my gallivanting, if you'd consent to be
The ready little steady on my family tree, how cute can you be?

She's got some soft hair shining so that the sun blinks his eyes, hey, how cute can you be?
A voice sweet and low, making temperatures rise, how cute can you be?
I'll give up my gallivanting, if you'd consent to be
The ready little steady on my family tree, how cute can you be?
Baby, how cute can you be? Hubba, how cute can you be?

"Snootie Little Cutie" lyrics

And here are the "Snootie Little Cutie" lyrics for kitschy-cutie linguistic comparison:

[Pied Pipers:] She's a snooty little cutie
She's a pert little skirt
She's a knockout and a beauty and a flirt.
Such a dapper little flapper
She's just as cute as a trick
She's a kissy little missy, a vain little jane,
She's slick. (doo doo doo roo doo),

She's a classy little lassie
A keen little queen
And although sometimes she's sassy and mean
Just a fiend for romance is she
Squirly little girly, see,
She's a knockout, a beauty, snooty little cutie
Snooty little cutie, she.

[Chorus:] You're a mellow little fellow
You're a coy little boy,
[Frank Sinatra:] You're a knockout and a beauty, you're a joy,
[CH:] You're a ready little steady
You've swept this girl off her feet,
[FS:] You're a kissy little missy, a vain little jane
But you're sweet.
[CH:] You're a handy little dandy
[FS:] You're a keen little queen,
[CH:] And although sometimes I'm bossy
[FS:] You're never mean.
I'm a fiend for romance with you
[CH:] Mellow little fellow you're mine
[FS:] Youre a knockout and a beauty
[CH:] And a snooty little cutie
[both:] Snooty little cutie mine.

[PP:] Yes she's a classy little lassie
A keen little queen
And though sometimes she's sassy
She's never mean.
[CH:] I'm a fool for romance it's true, moonlight and kisses and you,
[PP:] She's a beauty, that snooty little cutie, snooty little cutie, she