Frank Sinatra - I Can't Get Started Lyrics






I'm a glum one,
it's explainable,
I met someone unattainable
Life's a bore,
the world is my oyster no more
All the papers where I lead the news with my capers,
now will spread the news
Superman turns out to be flash-in-the-pan
I've been around the world in a plane,
designed the latest IBM brain
But lately I'm so downhearted,
'cause I can't get started with you
In Cincinatti or in Rangoon,
I simply smile and all the gals swoon
Their whims I've more than just charted,
but I can't get started with you
O tell me why am I no kick to you,
I who'd always stick to you
Fly through thin and thick to you,
tell me why I'm taboo
Each time I chanced to see Franklin D.,
he always said, Hi buddy to me
And with queens I've a la carted,
but I can't get started with you





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Frank Sinatra I Can't Get Started Comments
  1. V.... K....

    Это я о оркестр маэстро арти шоу!!

  2. V.... K....

    После его исполнения любого хита невозможно слушать других исолнителей ты погружаешься в бездну из которой выбраться невозможно вплоть до окончания хита это о ф синатра

  3. H.... ....

    His singing on the verse sets up his interpretation perfectly. This is a great performance that is better than the arrangement.

  4. p.... r....

    Interesting version of one of my favorite songs. Miss Frank, a great interpreter of the American Songbook. 4/2019

  5. P.... S....

    Just sat and listened to Franks rendition. Great!!!💟💟

  6. t.... ....

    F Sinatra...…& the Rat Pack...….the best Show

  7. P.... S....

    Frank Sinatra has recorded some great songs but THIS ONE BELONGS TO BUNNY BERRIGAN!!!

  8. J.... W....

    Frank's voice is great on this, my personal favorite band tune, just as good as Bobby Hacket's horn with the Gleason orchestra. I liked Frank's take on the lyric as well. Thanks Catman.

  9. F.... A....

    Sinatra the master of delivering a song . what a recording .

  10. R.... M....

    The best of the best. Nothing gets close to Sinatra.

  11. J.... H....

    The voice... Forever and ever The Best

  12. g.... s....

    He looses tempo and souns untuned on the higher notes.. to many great recordins n made at that time, franki didn know wath to do.. i sory i sory..

    g.... s....

    You are untrained sir with no knowledge of music.

    g.... s....

    may so mister.. you right. in that

    g.... s....

    Could not disagree more! This is a great interpretation of this beautiful song: impeccable phrasing, perfect rhythm. To think otherwise is to be tone-deaf.

  13. m.... h....

    Quite simply he was and is the best there ever was _____

  14. j.... ....

    Happy Birthday to Dad (Sam) who brought me this song!

    j.... ....

    My Dad was also named Sam, and he always sang this to my Mother.

  15. M.... L....

    This is my favorite version of this great old song, FS sings it slow and seriously, just what is required for the lyric of this tune.  And I love his "No One Cares" album, of the three he calls "The suicide albums!"  Where are You,  and "Only the Lonely" and I would add another album to those, "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning."  My 4 favorites!

    M.... L....

    M.J. Leger why are they called the suicide albums?

  16. N.... I....

    wow he rolled out his deeper voice on this one. I could say more (in appreciation only).. but I feel like I'm whispering in the cinema.

  17. c.... m....

    INSTRUMENTO IMPROVISACIÓN FRASEO SWING

    VOZ 9 10 10
    ORQUESTA 8 8 8

  18. V.... w....

    This is so perfect. His voice is amazing.

  19. u.... ....

    Nelson Riddle and the orchestra. Beautiful. Irreplaceable.

    u.... ....

    While Nelson was my favorite Sinatra arranger this was actually arranged by Gordon Jenkins who had collaborated with Frank long before Nelson came into his life.

    u.... ....

    As already noted, this is the unmistakable sound of Gordon Jenkins, not Nelson Riddle. Both genius arrangers!

  20. t.... l....

    This is a great example of how the verse sets the theme , most of these verses are left out, Frank had such class , no cutting straight to the chase for him.

  21. g.... d....

    I can't get started into the most intellectual structures of the where's and why's of what this rendition by Sinatra of this simple song means or what it does not. Listening to it....I love it...

  22. 5.... ....

    Beautiful treatment of a touching song; there have been endless lyrics written for this melody and all of them clever; of all people, Judy Collins has an exceptional arrangement of "I Can't Get Started"

  23. A.... F....

    Thank you for posting this gorgeous recording. May I offer a little bit of well-intentioned constructive criticism? I love the images, but they flip too fast for this music, IMO, and tend to distract from the lush, slowly-orchestrated mood. I would slow them down, if possible. Thank you for allowing me to offer my thoughts, and thanks, once again, for posting this.

  24. e.... ....

    I am constantly thrilled and amazed at the breadth and depth of Ira Gershwin's lyrics.   Urbane, witty, graceful--sure!  But beyond the clever references, there is real loss eating that singer's heart!  And, any man who can craft "The Man That Got Away" doth comprehend WOMAN.

    e.... ....

    eccentric01 totally agree ____ we believe every word he sings _____

  25. j.... ....

    Thank you for all your efforts in posting catman916.  I'm your newest subscriber!

  26. j.... ....

    As a kid in a suburb of Detroit back in the 60s.  WXYZ (ABC) radio DJ (Lee Alan - "On the Horn") would sign off via this song.  My Mother bought me a new "transistor" radio and I would fall asleep to this beloved classic every night.  Years later...when I was a much older adult, my doorbell rang.  Opening the door, I was surprised to find my Dad.  He and Mother wanted to give me a surprise....A "FRANK" album complete with this song.  I still have that record, but sadly no longer my parents.  This one is dedicated to my beloved parents...Sam & Lorraine - Forever in My Heart.

    j.... ....

    1962 Pershing High graduate -- every night, this song. Listened to every time.

    j.... ....

    I used to love listening to this song especially every night Allen was on the air.

    j.... ....

    Thanks for this. I was another kid who fell asleep after Lee Alan played this. It has always been my favrotie of Sinatra's songs.

    j.... ....

    My first crush told me about this and we listened together, over the phone. I still remember Richard P., who played the violin for me, also on the phone, right after Sinatra. Thanks for the memory!❤

    j.... ....

    jsbach15 💜THANK YOU!💜
    💜💜💜💜💜
    what a beautiful story!

  27. C.... R....

    how much better can you get than that !!

  28. M.... T....

    Quite simply the best.

  29. d.... ....

    A particularly poignant reading of the classic Vernon Duke - Ira Gershwin standard as only Mr. Sinatra could communicate. It's so good to hear the verse performed since it really helps immensely in setting up the story found in the chorus of the song.
     The lyrics differ from the original song because the song's lyricist, Ira Gershwin was requested to update the lyrics for Mr. Sinatra's then current (c.1979?) recording of this tune. With the exception of "designed the latest IBM brain" the remainder of the chorus truly does refer to Mr. Sinatra's personal life i.e. "each time I chanced to see Franklin D. he always said "Hi buddy" to me".
     The gorgeous orchestration also deserves mention opening with a French horn and liberal use of strings throughout. It sounds like it could be from Gordon Jenkins but I may be wrong.

    d.... ....

    It was.

    d.... ....

    But why is he so poignant? Every other version of this I've ever heard always sounded to me like the singer was pulling our leg, and pulling the girl's, with a lot of self deprecating nonsense. He HAS settled revolutions in Spain; he sees Franklin D. all the time, and his house is certainly a showpiece. The lady doth protest a bit too much, I fear, but not for much longer certainly.

    d.... ....

    @Art Durbano I would say that Frank's reading of this classic American standard is poignant in the sense of Frank's having keen insight into the special set of lyrics written I thought expressly for him. In that sense he sings in an honest way by drawing at least in part on his myriad of life experiences in communicating the story of the song to us. 

    d.... ....

    +ddkoda It seems as though I was way off in my estimate of the date of this uniquely honest interpretation of "I Can't Get Started With You". It appears to be from Frank's "No One Cares" album released in March of 1959. I should have listened much closer to Frank's timbre, range and phrasing as well as Gordon's orchestration. Doing my due diligence in that regard should have brought my estimate much closer to the correct recording date.

    d.... ....

    +ddkoda Hey but ya got there so no sweat, yeah I think that Frank's timbre at the time of this recording was just at its best and he still had the control of the earlier times..

  30. C.... R....

    So beautiful

  31. c.... c....

    In a word' wonderful ,especially after listening to rod stewart and his american song book ,bloody awful.Sinatra had a one voice in a trillion stewart 1 in 10.

    c.... c....

    Compared to Sinatra, Rod Stewart is an amateur.

    c.... c....

    @catman916 That's like saying "Compared to God, my little sister isn't very good at handling things...."

    c.... c....

    I cannot STAND Rod Stewart's girlish high voice!  It's just awful!  I don't know why he even tries to sing.  Men don't like Rod, but men certainly like Sinatra, and women LOVE him!  FS always tells a story when he sings, unlike so many who just present a tune and the words to it!  Incomparable, inimitable, forever the very best:  Frank Sinatra!

    c.... c....

    Oy vey!!! Stewart?!?! Even Jimmy Stewart had a better voice~!~!~!~

  32. T.... ....

    Hello Catman: I recently subscribed to your channel and I'm enjoying it! The Sinatra song "I Can't Get Started" is haunting and absolutely beautiful. Frank often sang his ballads about unrequited love. Songs like this one and all of those on the "Only The Lonely" Album are among my favorites. Of course there are many others. "Here's That Rainy Day," "Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out To Dry," and "Last Night When We Were Young" come to mind. Thanks so much for your Sinatra channel. Be well. By the way, my name is Jeff, known on YouTube as Music Guy68. A Sinatra fan for the past 50 years plus!

    T.... ....

    Welcome, Jeff. Thanks for subscribing. I too have been a Sinatra fan for many years and have collected all of his recordings.  I think that Only the Lonely and the other similar theme albums are among his best.

  33. T.... ....

    Hello Catman: I recently subscribed to your channel and I'm enjoying it!
    The Sinatra song "I Can't Get Started" is haunting and absolutely beautiful. Frank often sang his ballads about unrequited love.
    Songs like this one and all of those on the "Only the lonely" Album are among my favorites. Of course there are many others. "Here's That Rainy Day," "Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out To Dry," and "Last Night When We Were Young" come to mind.  Thanks so much for your Sinatra posts.Be well.  By the way, my name is Jeff, known on YouTube as Music Guy68.  A Sinatra fan for the past 50 years plus!

  34. s.... ....

    It's amazing how many songs fit Sinatra. You feel like it happened to him...great recording, peak Frank.

  35. c.... ....

    I have it and also Keely Smith: The Essential Capitol Collection and Keely Smith - The Best of The Capitol Years CDs. I think that her Capitol albums with Nelson Riddle and Billy May were her best.

  36. G.... ....

    Yes, her entire CD titled "Great Ladies of Song: Spotlight on Keely Smith" has great "Standards" in her style and arranged by Billy May. Check it out, you'll be floored!

  37. G.... ....

    Yes, " Ol' " is the accepted euphemism for "old" when referring to the one and only Sinatra. Sorry!

  38. c.... ....

    Keely Smith's version with Billy May is great. I uploaded it a while ago.

  39. L.... A....

    Ol' Blue Eyes

  40. G.... ....

    The Al Hirt/Andy Williams version is awesome. I also like the slower Billie Holiday one. Such a great song by some many great singers. You can't go wrong with any of them.

  41. G.... ....

    I play Gleason's version with Bobby Hackett every day at work. I have it on a play list that shuffles, so I hear it in the background as I am on my computer. I like Al Hirt's trumpet better but it is too loud to play as there are others around at work, so I don't play it there, but at home home, I play it more often. Love both versions, but Al Hirt's trumpet is tops for me. The vocal versions of this song I have are also superb as is this one by "Old blue eyes". Thanks.

  42. J.... W....

    Would you say that Bobby Hackett on trumpet with Jacky Gleason is probably the best?

  43. J.... W....

    Since this is my all time favorite big band tune I was surprised that I had never heard this version till now. Terrific!

  44. G.... ....

    Oh my God, I had never heard this version. Wow, I love it! I have the Bing Crosby/Rosemary Clooney version as well as Keely Smith and instrumental ones by Al Hirt and also Jackie Gleason Orchestra. What treasures!! Wow again! Amazing, how depending on the decade it was recorded the singer refers (as here) to Franklin D. (Franklin Delano Roosevelt) Rosemary Clooney to Mr. E and Mamie (Eisenhower) president at the time. Try the other versions, see what u think.

  45. T.... ....

    Sinatra - Glorious ballad!

  46. T.... ....

    SINATRA: THE GREATEST EVER!

  47. T.... ....

    FRANK SINATRA! The song "I can't get Started" was recorded by Frank in 1959. It is on his album "No One Cares."It is 54 years later now. I found myself humming the song in my kitchen. I quickly downloaded it onto my iPhone and located it here on YouTube! This song is brilliantly sung by Frank, as only he could sing a ballad of this high quality.

  48. u.... ....

    My Favourite Sinatra song....

  49. u.... ....

    Best ever..just wonderful.

  50. J.... B....

    God Frank could even swing on the ballads.
    In my opnion the best version by the greatest popular vocalist of all times.

  51. J.... B....

    I agree 100%

  52. w.... ....

    How does one thank you for putting most of her life history in music up on a screen with such elegance. Many were my parents' but I have amassed a fair collection of my own... Frank's original album art -- whether Columbia, Capitol, or Reprise. Oh, and thanks for the music. The very best.