Click on the image to enlarge.

Click on the image to enlarge.

Click on the image to enlarge.

This is the theme song for our time. It’s hard to convey how great it is, as a contribution to American culture. I think if you set this single song, about four minutes in length, against the collected works of William Faulkner (which I admire extravagantly), the collected works of Faulkner would look small by comparison.

Click on the image to enlarge.

Rock and roll, 1954 — ground zero . . .

Click on the image to enlarge.

Click on the image to enlarge.

Click on the image to enlarge.

When this album came out in 1963 Chet Baker played it over and over and over, according to his girlfriend at the time. Many jazzmen will name Sinatra as the greatest of all jazz singers, even though he’s not generally thought of as a jazz singer — but real jazzmen recognize his sublime and subtle mastery of swing.

This is not Sinatra at his swingingest, nor is it a “concert album” in the strictest sense. It was recorded on a movie sound stage, though it was done live, with no overdubs. Sinatra was backed by a huge orchestra, numbering up to 60 pieces at times, arranged by Nelson Riddle, who thought it was the best of Sinatra’s Reprise albums.

It’s not my favorite Sinatra album but it’s undeniably magnificent.

“I could never escape from the bittersweet, lonely, intense world of Harold Arlen.” — Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan on this recording — “I could hear everything in his voice — death, God, the universe, everything.”

Click on the image to enlarge.