The cosmic importance of Frank Sinatra’s “That’s Life”

November 14, 9:14 AMLA Vinyl Records ExaminerJason Gelt

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Illustration by Jason Gelt

There’s no debating the transcendent power of song. Through the ages, music has provided listeners with escape, affirmation, excitement, titillation and solace. Country music is a great balm for heartache. Heavy metal and punk rock kick loose mental cobwebs with raw energy and force. Soul music fills the heart with yearning and desire. There’s a song for every mood, for every important moment. Music creates milestones for one’s life, markers that never fail to conjure memories of specific emotions and happenings. Who doesn’t recall the first song they danced to? Or made out to?

These troubling, unsettling times we live in – fraught with unemployment, inflation and social upheaval – require an anthem of their own, a musical marker that provides hope in a time of darkness. What better song to take solace from than Old Blue Eyes’ “That’s Life.” Birthed onto vinyl, courtesy of Reprise Records, in 1966, “That’s Life” was a top five hit in a time that was marked by even more social upheaval than we see today. Unlike Sinatra’s usual swooning, crooning numbers of the mid ‘60s, this one is a beefy R&B style onslaught that’s simultaneously joyful, bitter and stalwart. It’s a song for anyone who was ever laid off, knocked down or disillusioned. It’s an anthem of hope. Its message is simple: Bad things happen, but the world keeps spinning, and we have to make the best of it. Listen:

That's life, that's what all the people say.
You're riding high in April,
Shot down in May
But I know I'm gonna change that tune,
When I'm back on top, back on top in June.

I said that's life, and as funny as it may seem
Some people get their kicks,
Stompin' on a dream
But I don't let it, let it get me down,
'Cause this fine ol' world it keeps spinning around”

I’ve been playing “That’s Life” a lot lately. It never fails to put a smile on my face and new resolve in my heart. That things will get better. That life will get smoother and ultimately happier, despite the obstacles. In the future, when I think back on 2008, I’ll think of this song and the new hope it gave me.