Joseph A. Manero, a lifelong Sinatra fan, sent us this article he wrote for the Sunday, May 17, 1998, "Outlook" section of the Houston Chronicle.
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To this Cuban family, Sinatra was America
Frank Sinatra. Close your eyes and think about those two words, and the
images your mind conjures up. For many of his fans and admirers around the
world, Frank Sinatra was the greatest popular singer of our time, perhaps of
all time. His style, his range, and his breath control are the stuff of
legend, but there is, of course, much more to Sinatra than just his voice.
A friend of mine has said that Sinatra's death this week is one of those
moments in life you never really believe will ever occur. We all know that
people are mere mortals, but, come on . . . Frank Sinatra is Frank Sinatra.
After all, wasn't Sinatra bigger than life? Didn't women swoon over him, and
didn't men want to be like him? As Frank's close friend, Dean Martin, used to
Frank Sinatra has been a household name for so many years (his first hit
record was in 1939) that I cannot really imagine life without him. His music
has meant so much to so many for so long that to think of life without Frank
Sinatra is to think of a world without music.
When I first heard the news of Frank's death, I was dumbfounded. Hadn't he
been pronounced in good health just a couple of months ago? Wasn't he past
his recent health problems? Of course, the time had to come for him; it will
for all of us, but we wanted to believe that he would somehow live forever.
Of course, he will live forever in the unparalleled body of work he has left
behind: His vocal recordings, films, radio and television shows, and the reams
of paper that have been used to describe him.
To many, Frank represented a sort of swaggering tough-guy, a no-nonsense
fellow who didn't mind punching you in the nose if you crossed him. And
although he did possess his share of enemies, he never lacked for a loyal
legion of fans. My father, a great Sinatra fan if ever there was, has
expressed to me on several occasions that to the people of Cuba (my family is
Cuban-American, we immigrated here in 1972), Frank Sinatra represented
America.
During the period my family lived in Cuba under communism, from 1959 to 1972,
the playing of American music was essentially forbidden. Crafty Cubans
circumvented this prohibition by tuning in to the Voice of America, or other
foreign offerings. To my parents, Sinatra not only represented America, he
was America. "What is America to me?" is a famous line from a Sinatra song,
The House I Live In. To my parents during those difficult years, America
meant freedom, and Sinatra was America's greatest ambassador. And like this
story of how Sinatra touched people's lives, there surely are millions of
others.
As Frank Sinatra faced "his final curtain," in his unforgettable words from
the anthem My Way, the man may be gone, but the music, the films, the legacy .
. . indeed, the legendary icon, will live forever as a symbol of America.
Thank you Frank. It's now clear that your way was the only way.
say, "It's Frank's world . . . we're just living in it."