Only the Lonely

by Nick Comeau

Frank Sinatra's album was released in September in 1958 by Capitol Records and produced by Dave Cavanaugh. Frank Sinatra did not write the songs in this album. Similarly to his previous album In the Wee Small Hours Sinatra collected a number of songs and formed them into a coherent story.

Years after its release, in the 1970's, Frank reportedly said this was his favorite album he recorded. On the front album cover Frank is painted like a clown and the back cover is a lamp post. Perhaps the influence of this album was Frank's recent divorce from Ava Gardner and his arranger Nelson Riddle's mother and daughter's deaths. Riddle said "If I can attach events like that to music... perhaps Only The Lonely was the result."

This album begins with the song "Only The Lonely" which offers both sorrowful musical and story elements. The sorrow of the music elements are created through the use of a slow tempo and meter along with string instruments and a piano. That combined with a harmony that had many minor key elements and a melody focusing on a sad tone helped to create a depressed, mournful emotion for the song. Also in this song the narrative aligns with the sad music because Frank Sinatra sings about how he has just been left by his lover and dwells on how lonely he has become because of it.

The following song, "Angel Eyes" breaks away slightly from the previous song both musically and narratively. It breaks away because the song starts out happy with the melody having a bright happy tone and the harmony being in the major key. In the story there are also elements of happiness because Sinatra is singing to a group of friends and is buying them all drinks. By the midpoint of this song though Sinatra falls back into his mindset of mourning his loss of love and decides that he must go out and find his lover. Accompanying his regressing into mourning is a more sorrowful musical accompaniment which is characterized by a slower meter and tempo along with a minor key signature

"What's New?" is the following song. The musical elements of this song follows the theme of "Only The Lonely" and the end of "Angel Eyes". That being said, it's a sad, slow song but this time instead of just a piano and strings this song features brass elements and flutes. In the progression of the story of Sinatra runs into his ex-lover and attempts to have a conversation with her. Near the end of the song though he expresses how he still loves her and she departs.

Continuing the musical theme of all the songs except "Angel Eyes" the next song in the album is "It's A Lonesome Old Town". It continues Sinatra's story with him wandering through the town he lives. Whilst wandering he comments about how while it used to seem full of life it now seems dead and lonely now that his love has left him twice now and doesn't want anything to do with him.

"Willow Weep For Me" continues Sinatra's expressions of sorrow following his lover dismissing him in the street during the song "What's New?". The musical elements in this song continue to reflect most of the previous songs in their sorrowful nature featuring slow tempos, meters, and a harmony that uses a minor key. In this song he expresses the need for someone, he discusses a willow tree, to care for him and console him after this loss of his lover.

Following a more vengeful tone the song "Good-Bye" continues the sorrowful musical elements from the past songs. The narrative that Sinatra has been creating shifts somewhat. Instead of being downtrodden about what has happened he instead reflects on how the romance used to be. He remembers the good times that he and his lover had and most importantly how they promised to be together forever which proved to be untrue.

"Blues In The Night" is a song that keeps with the musical elements present in past songs in the album like "Willow Weep For Me" and "What's New?" along with others. The narrative shifts slightly due to the fact that Sinatra gives some backstory on the character he has created throughout this album. That backstory comes from lessons that Sinatra was taught by his mother that women were tricky and manipulative and would cause you sorrow if you fell for them.

In the following song, "Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out To Dry" the story present in this album continues to follow a sorrowful emotion. That emotion is continued by him discussing things with his friends whom he has been avoiding. One of his friends tells him to forget about his ex-lover and while he tries that and it works he walks by his ex-lover and misses her all over again. The musical elements in this song follow the majority of past songs that carry a darker tone to them, a slow meter and tempo, and a minor keyed harmony.

"Ebb Tide" breaks sharply from the majority of songs in this album both musically and narratively because it is a happy song similarly to the beginning of "Angel Eyes". Musically this song has a clever mixing of percussion and harps that creates a sound that resembles ocean waves. Beyond that it has a moderately fast meter and tempo and the melody is bright which connects well with the bright, major key harmony. In terms of the story elements Sinatra finds his ex-lover again on a beach and they reconnect passionately. He relates his feelings with her as peaceful as the ebb of the tide.

"Spring Is Here" is one of the closing songs of the album and brings the emotion of the album from the happiness from "Ebb Tide" down to a more sorrowful tone. This song connects once again to the majority of the songs in this album because of its more minor, sad tones. In regards to the continuation of Sinatra's story it's springtime and yet he feels sad and unhappy with life. He doesn't exactly make it clear what he's sad about though considering the feelings of happiness after the last song.

Sinatra makes it clear in the song "Gone With The Wind" why he felt so sad in the previous song. The reason is that his lover is now gone with the wind, essentially, she left him a second time and he is reeling from this second loss of her after finally catching a break in the song "Ebb Tide". This song continues the trend of the majority of songs in the album except for "Angel Eyes" and "Ebb Tide" because it has more of a sorrowful tone to it. It also contains elements of slow meters and tempos along with a minor key.

"One For My Baby (And One More For The Road)" is the final song in this album. It features only Sinatra singing and a piano in the background. It continues the same sorrowful tones as most previous songs present in this album. In terms of the overall narrative of this song Sinatra seems to be talking to whomever is listening to this album and a bartender named Joe. It seems he's talking to the audience because he says he's gonna tell you his story which could consist of the story present in this album, thus this could be both the end and beginning of the album's story. He's also at a bar and he's drinking alone, one drink to forget his baby and one more for the road.