Song 69 – I’ve Got You Under My Skin

SONG: I’ve Got You Under My Skin

ARTIST: Frank Sinatra

YEAR: 1956

Listen to it here: 

THE SONG:

We’re on a Cole Porter kick right now on the blog, with today’s number having been written by this legend in 1936. That same year it was in a musical film called Born to Dance and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song (Lullaby of Broadway won). This recording is by Frank Sinatra and I’ve Got You Under My Skin became one of his signature songs. 

In the mid-1940s, Sinatra had a weekly radio show and he sang this song on that show for the first time. The big band arrangement was done by Nelson Riddle, who said that this particular arrangement was inspired by Ravel’s Bolero. This arrangement is the one that we are listening to today, which can be found on Sinatra’s 1956 album, Songs for Swingin’ Lovers! Which we reviewed for the blog recently! Sinatra continued to sing this song live for years, with this particular arrangement, and Frank Sinatra Jr. carried on this tradition. For any of you who are really gluttons for punishment, another version of this song appears as an electronically assembled duet between Sinatra and Bono (another DeCaigny family favourite!) on Sinatra’s 1993 album, Duets. You’ll have to go look for that one yourself, because I refuse. 

THE ARTIST:

For more information on Frank, please go to our first album review!

FACTOID CORNER:

This arrangement was inspired by Ravel’s Bolero, the most repetitive piece……ever.

KELLY’S REVIEW:

$%*(^&@ Frank Sinatra again!  This song absolutely reminds me of the Saturday Night Live skit with Phil Hartman as Frank Sinatra and he sings this song with Bono (Adam Sandler).  Buuuut as usual with Ol’ Blue Eyes, I’m going to try and be as objective as possible.  So the song itself is cute.  It’s a great song.  I can totally relate to being so into someone that you can’t seem to shake them.  The orchestra sounds really good, great arrangement from whoever penned it, great accents, dynamics, tuning, even a trombone solo??  Is that what that is?  I felt like the song was a bit too long though for what it was, and it wasn’t even that long.  At the 2 minute mark I was like ‘ok, let’s wrap it up’.  Then there was another minute and a half.  Frank sounds good here – for Frank.  I just don’t like the tone of his voice.  I just feel like it’s a bit thin, gutless (if we want to compare him to contemporary crooners like Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole).  I like soul in my music, and to me, Frank is soulless.  It’s not awful, it’s just fine.  Still a pass for me.

HOLLY’S REVIEW:

Well, I tried to listen to this with new ears today. The one new thing I know is that Nelson Riddle was inspired by Ravel’s Bolero in his arrangement of this piece. I don’t really hear that at all, other than that this song is one long crescendo, kind of like Bolero, but what I do hear is that the big band arrangement is the best part of this song. It’s so well handled, and really features the different instruments well. This is also maybe one of the songs that best displays Sinatra’s voice. As has been mentioned MANY times, I’m not a Sinatra fan, but I can definitely say this is one of his best.

Average mark out of 10:

Holly: 7/10

Kelly: 6.5/10

Other notable versions of this song:

Apparently, 10 years after Sinatra scored big with this song, this Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons cover was a smash hit:

Buble, using the same Nelson Riddle arrangement:

As a new fan of Louis Prima, I had to throw this one in:

Listen with us!

Link to 1,001 Songs to Hear Before You Die spotify playlist: