Why Sinatra Matters

On Sinatra's album, A Man and His Music, he provides brief soliloquies at the beginning of each song to provide some nostalgic context.

To simultaneously show how cool Francis Albert is and how full of it Francis Albert is, he always gives credit to everybody else around him. Apparently, the guy couldn't pour rain water out of a boot if the instructions were written on the heel without somebody else's help.

Before Polka Dots and Moonbeams, he doles out credit like Visa at a college freshmen orientation. Here's the transcript, with my own observations bolded:

"If what I've read is true, I've made it pretty good. (Yeah, married to Ava Gardner, hanging out with JFK, Giancana, and Gambino - I'd say you've made it pretty good, also.) I don't know how long I can make it last, of course. Although like Oscar Hammerstein's lyric line in Carousel, 'I'll try, by God, I'll try.' (Well, to borrow my own movie line from Rick Blaine, "We all try. You succeed.") But rich or poor (I bet you're really struggling there Francis; is that why you only had 3.5 million stuffed in that suitcase on the way to Cuba?), I'd always have a large public debt. Because whatever I got, whatever I am, in this rough and tumble life, I owe it to others (Like Giancana, Gambino, etc.). To you who shell out for an occasional album of mine; to so many of the disc jockeys brave enough (or strong armed) to give me equal time in BeatleLand. And to all you music dreamers and doers - and I do mean song writers, arrangers, conductors, musicians: Hell, I can't pay of all my debt here (Cuz 3.5 million just ain't what it used to be, eh?) Why don't I just take you all out to pizza lunch real soon, huh? Here's a last little memento of the days when I was satellite of Tommy Dorsey's world (Was that before or after Luca Brasi held a gun to Dorsey's head and assured him either his brains or his signature would be on the contract?)"