SOFTLY AS I LEAVE YOU – THE SONG
By Mahnuel Muñoz
On July 17, 1964, Frank Sinatra recorded the song “Softly, as I Leave You.” It comes from an Italian pop song, titled “Piano“, composed by Giorgio Calabrese and Tony De Vita, and was a great hit in 1960 for the great diva Mina and later, in English, for the British crooner Matt Monro.
The English adaptation is by Hal Shaper and the orchestral arrangements are the work of Ernie Freeman.
Freeman is an all-round musician who worked with Dexter Gordon, Paul Anka and Bobby Vee. His is the memorable arrangement of “Everybody Loves Somebody Sometimes“, Dean Martin’s great hit, precisely in 1964.
At this time the Voice seeks to update its sound, to attract a younger audience. 1964 is the year of the Supremes, Animals, Beach Boys…but above all, the year of the Beatles.
“Frank called me one day and asked if we could get together,” says Freeman, “and I picked up a song from my archive called “Softly, As I Leave You,” which I knew Frank would love. (…) We were there talking for a while, and he said, ‘Listen, if you had to produce some music for me, what would you do?’ I said, ‘Well, I wouldn’t change the music around you but I’d keep who you are.’ And he said ‘Well, that makes sense. What do you have?’ Thank God I put out that song. I played “Softly, So Leave You” for him and he said ‘Great, let’s do it’ and we did it a week or two later.“
With Frank’s carte blanche, Freeman has the luxury of bringing to the recording sessions a rhythm section that includes the multidisciplinary virtuoso musician Leon Russell and Hal Blaine, the legendary studio drummer who has played his drumsticks in more than 30,000 (thirty thousand) songs, including great hits by Nancy Sinatra, Elvis Presley, John Denver, Ronettes, Simon & Garfunkel, Carpenters, Beach Boys, or 5th Dimension.
“When we finished Softly,” says producer Jimmy Bowen, “we were listening to it and Frank asked, ‘Well, James, what do you think?’ again on the radio.’ He looked at me as if he didn’t like that too much and left. I think the record reached 27 or 28. But with Sinatra that was important because your word is important to him, and that’s what I felt. We had the challenge of carrying it. to Sinatra to the top forty when the Beatles were killing it.”
Frank Sinatra released his version on a single that peaked at number 27 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts and number 4 on the Easy Listening chart. Perhaps the somber tone of the lyrics, which narrate a farewell between two lovers, was a drag on further promotion.
The Sinatra family announced Frank’s death on May 14, 1998 with a statement on their website accompanied by this song.
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