Tony Rome

The other night I happened to watch the 1967 Frank Sinatra classic, Tony Rome. The film was interesting in a couple of ways: First, it features Sinatra the way that I’d grown up imagining him: Tough, quick with a one-liner, and having to always dodge women who are non-stop throwing themselves at him.

The other interesting aspect is that Tony Rome shows a Miami completely different, yet remarkably the same, as the Miami I know. I laughed when I saw some of the Miami Beach structures in the movie that probably weren’t new then and are still standing today, only now they actually are home to the sort of low-lives the fictional PI was chasing 40 years ago.

The Tony Rome title track is ridiculously catchy and poppy, while being cool in a retro, Tarantino kind of way. Steven Van Zandt has it in rotation on his Underground Garage channel on SiriusXM radio and I figured if it’s cool enough for Little Steven it’ll probably do for this site. Besides, it’s been stuck in my head since I watched the movie.

Frank’s daughter Nancy sang the title track for the movie; her second go with a movie theme song, following on her earlier success with the title track for You Only Live Twice. Lee Hazelwood, who wrote most of Nancy’s earlier hits, also penned this sultry classic.

Also, just for fun, I’m including a not-too-bad cover of the Beatles’ “Run for Your Life,” which Nancy recorded for her 1966 album Boots.

Tony Rome.mp3
Run for Your Life (Beatles cover).mp3

Labels: Beatles, covers, movies, pop muzik

posted by aikin @ 6:52 PM