WHAT WERE YOUR PARENTS LISTENING TO?

​WHAT WERE YOUR PARENTS LISTENING TO? By Thomas Putnam


MY WAY opens September 16, so many of my waking moments (and many of my sleeping moments!) are taken up with all things Sinatra. Even in the midst of the past few weeks' muddled-Covid-brain, my thoughts go to that voice, that face, that phenomenon. With a singing career that lasted so many decades, there is a lot to think about.


One of the lines in the musical revue indicates that “half the U.S. population over 40 was conceived while their parents were listening to the music of Frank Sinatra.” Actually in our script it says “over 80” but I've heard that age modified in a few different productions. Regardless of the age indicated, how in the world would this be a statistic that could be verified?


I think it's a fun thought, however, and probably one that at least during many of the years between 1945 and the early 1990's there probably would be a good chance that a large percentage of conceptions occurred while the participants were hearing the voice of Frank Sinatra. He had at least three career wanes with equal number of career revitalizations; and the wanes were fairly short-lived. He also recorded somewhere between 1200 and 1600 different songs. Uh...that's a lot of air-time.


This might be a fun question to ask couples around an extended family picnic: what were they listening to when their children were conceived? Of course, for many of us who are of a certain age we can't ask our parents that question. The sheer number of Sinatra recordings however, makes it plausible that the Crooner was present.


Our musical revue is family friendly so there's no need to worry about such questions being asked when you attend on September 16, 17, 18, 23, or 24. But “family friendly” takes on new meaning when considering this question, yes? Good ol' Frank.

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