“He [Frank Sinatra] was funny. We were standing out on his patio at night and he said to me, ‘You and me, pal, we got blue eyes, we’re from up there,’ and he pointed to the stars. ‘These other bums are from down here.’ I remember thinking that he might be right.”
— Bob Dylan, in an interview with Bill Flanagan, posted atbobdylan.com, March 22, 2017
I always found it hard to believe that Sinatra requested Restless Farewell and this only makes me doubt it more. The only source of this claim is Dylan himself and we all know how reliable he is. Frank's facial expression was transfixed but puzzled. That said, the song choice was absolutely perfect and was played by Dylan and the band with unusual precision and dynamics for Dylan at that time. One of his all-time top performances.
I don't know why but the story I'd always heard about this performance was that Dylan played a song requested by Frank, and that Frank had requested he play at the event. I guess that's not so… ?
I had to look it up: from Behind the Shades Revisited, Clinton Heylin writes: "At Sinatra's own request, he even dug up a song he had not sung in 31 years, his own parting glass, 'Restless Farewell,' and then, augmented by a string quartet, delivered a performance as understated as anything the don of all crooners could have conjured up in his younger days."
What a photo finish! Not just Barbara Bush giving the bunny ears, & Frank intervening, but AHnold, Tom Selleck, James Woods, Tony Danza (!) AND Bob freakin' HOPE!
“He [Frank Sinatra] was funny. We were standing out on his patio at night and he said to me, ‘You and me, pal, we got blue eyes, we’re from up there,’ and he pointed to the stars. ‘These other bums are from down here.’ I remember thinking that he might be right.”
— Bob Dylan, in an interview with Bill Flanagan, posted atbobdylan.com, March 22, 2017
I always found it hard to believe that Sinatra requested Restless Farewell and this only makes me doubt it more. The only source of this claim is Dylan himself and we all know how reliable he is. Frank's facial expression was transfixed but puzzled. That said, the song choice was absolutely perfect and was played by Dylan and the band with unusual precision and dynamics for Dylan at that time. One of his all-time top performances.
I don't know why but the story I'd always heard about this performance was that Dylan played a song requested by Frank, and that Frank had requested he play at the event. I guess that's not so… ?
I had to look it up: from Behind the Shades Revisited, Clinton Heylin writes: "At Sinatra's own request, he even dug up a song he had not sung in 31 years, his own parting glass, 'Restless Farewell,' and then, augmented by a string quartet, delivered a performance as understated as anything the don of all crooners could have conjured up in his younger days."
What a photo finish! Not just Barbara Bush giving the bunny ears, & Frank intervening, but AHnold, Tom Selleck, James Woods, Tony Danza (!) AND Bob freakin' HOPE!