It Was a Very Good Year

"It Was a Very Good Year" is a song composed by Ervin Drake in 1961 for and originally recorded by Bob Shane of The Kingston Trio^[1][2] and subsequently made famous by Frank Sinatra's version in D-minor, which won the Grammy Award for Best Vocal Performance, Male in 1966. Gordon Jenkins was awarded Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) for the Sinatra version. This single peaked at #28 on the U.S. pop chart and became Sinatra's first #1 single on the Easy Listening.^[3] The song can be found on Sinatra's 1965 album September of My Years. A live, stripped-down performance is featured on his Sinatra at the Sands album. It was featured in The Sopranos season 2 opener

The song recounts the type of girls the singer had relationships with at various years in his life: when he was 17, "small-town girls on the village green"; at 21, "city girls who lived up the stairs"; at 35, "blue-blooded girls of independent means." Each of these years he calls "very good." In the song's final verse, the singer reflects that he is older, and he thinks back on his entire life "as vintage wine." All of these romances were sweet to him, like a wine from a very good (i.e. vintage) year.

Recordings

• This song was introduced by the Kingston Trio on their album Goin' Places (1961). This is the recording that influenced Frank Sinatra to want to record his own version.^[4][2]
• It was released on 45 rpm single on Pye Records in 1963, by Lonnie Donegan.
• The Turtles recorded a version on their debut album, It Ain't Me Babe. Also released as a single in Canada (Quality 1791) in January 1966.
• Wes Montgomery included a version of the song in his 1965 album Goin' Out Of My Head.
• Chad & Jeremy included the song into their Second album (January, 1965). It was the last track on their last UK LP so it seems to correlate with the song title somehow.^[5]
• Frank Sinatra on his September of My Years album (1965) and a stripped-down performance on his Sinatra at the Sands live album (1966)
• Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass included a melancholy instrumental version of the song on their 1966 album What Now My Love.
• Gábor Szabó recorded a version in his 1966 album Spellbinder .
• Eddie Harris recorded a version in his 1966 album "Mean Greens".
• William Shatner did a spoken-word cover of this song interspersed with lines from Hamlet on his 1968 album The Transformed Man.
• Lou Rawls covered this song in 1968, produced by David Axelrod. Rawls also performed it just before his death on 2006's "An Evening of Stars" telethon, backed by the Rickey Minor Band.
• Boris Karloff performed a moving rendition of the song on The Jonathan Winters Show in 1968 at the age of 80.
• Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In did a skit where Dan Rowan changes army uniforms from World War II, Korea, and then Vietnam as the song plays in the background.
• In 1971, Michael Jackson sang a parody of this song in a skit with Diana Ross during the Diana! TV Special.
• Della Reese performed the song at the Playboy Club in Chicago and was later featured on her LP, "One More Time!".
• In the 78th episode of The Muppet Show, Statler and Waldorf performed the song from their box.
• British pop star Robbie Williams recorded a version for his album Swing When You're Winning, in duet with Sinatra's original vocals.
• The song was featured in the 1991 Spike Lee film Jungle Fever.
• In a 1993 episode of The Simpsons, Homer sings a parody of this song entitled "I Drank Some Very Good Beer", recounting the first beer he ever purchased (with a fake ID; his name was Brian McGee) and he "spent all night listening to Queen."
• The Flaming Lips covered this song in 1993 on the compilation Chairman of the Board (Interpretations of Songs Made Famous by Frank Sinatra).
• The Reverend Horton Heat covered the song in 2000 and released it as a single to promote the album Spend a Night in the Box.
• It has been adapted in French, as "C'était une très bonne année", by Robert Charlebois on his 2001 album Doux sauvage.
• In 2003, Paul Young included a cover version on his album The Essential Paul Young
• Ray Charles covered the song (as a duet with Willie Nelson) on his 2004 album Genius Loves Company.
• In 2005, They Might Be Giants made a parody of this song on their first ever podcast.
• In 2006, Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band recorded a version for the album The Phat Pack.
• Irish folk singer/songwriter Ronnie Drew included a coverversion of the song on his 2006 album "There's life in the old dog yet"
• It was used as the opening song in the second season premiere of the HBO drama The Sopranos. The entire Sinatra recording is played while the viewers see how things have gone since the previous season ended. There is no dialog.
• In 2007 Brett Anderson sang it live as can be heard on the album Live at Queen Elizabeth Hall. At the end of the song Brett jokingly says that he wrote it last night.
• In 2011 Dee Snider of Twisted Sister recorded a version for the album SIN-atra, a heavy metal cover album of Frank Sinatra songs
• In 2011 A recording was included on Alfie Boe's album Alfie.

See also

• List of number-one adult contemporary singles of 1966 (U.S.)

References

1. ^ Rubeck, Shaw, Blake et al., The Kingston Trio On Record (Naperville IL: KK Inc, 1986), p. 46
2. ^ ^{a b} Online.wsj.com
3. ^ Whitburn, Joel (1996). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 6th Edition (Billboard Publications)
4. ^ Peppiat, Wheaton et. el. Sinatra: A Man and his Music. Warner Bros. DVD, prod. Hemion, Raskin,1999
5. ^ Chadandjeremy.net