Listening to Frank

I bought an album a few days ago called Classic Sinatra. It's a collection of recordings that Frank Sinarta did for Capitol records from 1953-1960. I own only one other Sinatra album, Songs for Swingin' Lovers, which I have enjoyed listening to.

One of the songs on Classic Sinatra that I really like is "Come Fly with Me." It was written by Jimmy Van Huesen and Sammy Cahn and originally recorded by Frank in 1957. I've heard this song many times over the years, sung by various artists, and I always enjoyed the exuberance of the melody and rhythm but I never paid attention to the words. What wonderful words they are. I especially like the second verse:

Come fly with me, let's float down to Peru
In llama-land there's a one-man band
And he'll toot his flute for you
Come fly with me, let's take off in the blue

Lyricist Sammy Cahn weaves together the connected theme of Peru, llamas and flutes. Not exactly items that jump to mind when I think of song lyrics.

I've been listening to that song a lot over the past few days, trying to learn the words. The rest of the album is great, too. If you don't have any Sinatra albums I can heartily recommend Classic Sinatra as a good place to start.