“In The Wee Small Hours”: 70 Years Of A Masterpiece. Chapter 14 – “It Never Entered My Mind”
“It Never Entered My Mind” is a ballad written by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart for the 1940 Broadway musical Higher and Higher. Its lyrics, steeped in melancholy and resignation, portray a character who never imagined being left behind. Rather than an open complaint, the song is an intimate, almost embarrassed confession from someone caught off guard by loneliness.
Sinatra’s vocal performance is subtle and profoundly human. His phrasing is slow and measured, as if weighing each word before speaking it. He sings in a subdued tone that neither begs nor laments—it simply acknowledges a painful truth. The use of pauses and silence between lines enhances the feeling that he’s speaking to himself, reflecting on the small, ordinary routines that now feel unbearably significant in the absence of love. The contrast between emotional loss and trivial actions—brushing his hair, putting on his shoes—underscores the depth of the heartbreak. The title line, “It never entered my mind”, is repeated with the disbelief of someone who still hasn’t fully grasped what has happened.
The orchestral accompaniment, arranged by Nelson Riddle, is almost ghostlike. The strings glide gently, the harp whispers, and the absence of a defined rhythm section suspends the song in a kind of dreamlike stillness. The instrumentation serves the emotion, free of unnecessary adornment, reinforcing the intimate and confessional nature of the piece.
In Sinatra’s discography, this version stands out not only for its interpretive beauty but also for its role in his artistic evolution. No longer the youthful idol of the 1940s, Sinatra presents himself here as a mature narrator of emotional wounds—an interpreter capable of conveying complex feelings with admirable restraint. In “It Never Entered My Mind,” Sinatra doesn’t dramatize; he observes, feels, and lets us enter that devastating moment of quiet when love is gone and one realizes they never thought it would end this way.
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