Music / Songs for Young Lovers

"The way you've changed my life / No, no - they can't take that away from me."

Songs for Young Lovers is the seventh studio album by Frank Sinatra and his first for Capitol Records, released in 1954. It's one of his most popular albums, along with In the Wee Small Hours from the following year. Songs for Young Lovers is best remembered for Sinatra's renditions of "I Get A Kick Out Of You" and "They Can't Take That Away From Me".

This was also the first album for which Nelson Riddle conducted the orchestra. The arrangements, with the exception of the Riddle-arranged "Like Someone in Love", were done by George Siravo, who was uncredited much to his displeasure (Riddle later sent him a personal apology even though he had nothing to do with the oversight).

The album was originally released as a 10" LP with 8 songs. When the 10" format was discontinued in 1955, the album was combined with Swing Easy!, also a 10" album, to create a 16-song 12" LP. In 1962, the two albums were reissued separately, with each receiving four additional songs culled from singles and a jumbled running order. Some CD issues are of the 16-song "twofer", others are of the 12-song version.

In 2002 this album was added to the National Recording Registry for being "historically, culturally and aesthetically important".

Not be confused with Songs for Swingin' Lovers! by Sinatra from 1956.

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Tracklist of the original 1954 release:

Side One

1. "My Funny Valentine" (2:31)
2. "The Girl Next Door" (2:38)
3. "A Foggy Day" (2:39)
4. "Like Someone in Love" (3:10)

Side Two

1. "I Get a Kick out of You" (2:55)
2. "Little Girl Blue" (2:54)
3. "They Can't Take That Away from Me" (1:58)
4. "Violets for Your Furs" (3:05)

Tracklist of the 1962 reissue:

Side One

1. "The Girl Next Door" (2:38)
2. "They Can't Take That Away from Me" (1:58)
3. "Violets for Your Furs" (3:05)
4. "Someone to Watch over Me" (2:56)
5. "My One and Only Love" (3:11)
6. "Little Girl Blue" (2:54)

Side Two

1. "Like Someone in Love" (3:10)
2. "A Foggy Day" (2:39)
3. "It Worries Me" (2:52)
4. "I Can Read Between the Lines" (2:47)
5. "I Get a Kick out of You" (2:55)
6. "My Funny Valentine" (2:31)

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Tropes For Young Lovers:

• Britain Is Only London: "A Foggy Day" takes place in London, where a fog is hanging through the town.
• Continuity Nod: Sinatra leaning against a lamp post at night is an album cover image that would be repeated on the album cover of In the Wee Small Hours.
• Cover Album: Songs written by Richard Rodgers, George Gershwin and Cole Porter, among others can be found on the album.
• Cradle of Loneliness: "Little Girl Blue"
  No use, old girl, you might as well surrender
  Your hopes are getting slender
  Why won't somebody send a tender
  Blue boy to cheer up little girl blue
• Distinct Double Album: Originally it was released as a single album, but the 1955 12" release combines it with the album Swing Easy!; that configuration is used by some CD releases.
• Face on the Cover: Sinatra is seen leaning against a lamp post, shot from a far distance.
• A Foggy Day in London Town: "A Foggy Day In London Town" describes a misty day in the English capital.
• Girl Next Door: "The Girl Next Door".
• Limited Lyrics Song:
  • "A Foggy Day"
  A foggy day, in London town, it had me low, and it had me down
  I viewed the morning, with much alarm, the British Museum, had lost its charm
  How long I wondered, could this thing last, but the age of miracles, it hadn't past
  And suddenly, I saw you standing right there
  And in foggy London town, the sun was shining everywhere
  • "Like Someone In Love"
  Lately, I find myself gazing at stars, hearing guitars like someone in love
  Sometimes the things I do astound me, mostly whenever you're around me.
  Lately I seem to walk as though I had wings, bump into things like someone in love.
  Each time I look at you, I'm limp as a glove, and feeling like someone in love
• Nostalgia Filter: "They Can't Take That Away From Me"
  We may never, never meet again
  On that bumpy road to love
  Still I'll always,
  Always keep the memory of...
• One-Woman Song: "Little Girl Blue".
• Pep-Talk Song:
  • "My Funny Valentine"
  My funny Valentine, sweet comic Valentine
  You make me smile with my heart
  Your looks are laughable, unphotographable
  Yet you're my favourite work of art
  • "I Get A Kick Out Of You"
  I get no kick from champagne.
  Mere alcohol doesn't thrill me at all
  So tell me why should it be true
  That I get a kick out of you?
• The Power of Love: All songs on this album are love songs.
• Serenade Your Lover: The album title alludes to it.
• Spiritual Successor: Songs for Swingin' Lovers!.
• Time Marches On: A literal example of this trope occurs during "A Foggy Day"
  The British Museum has lost its charm
• Unrequited Love: "The Girl Next Door"
  The moment I saw her face, I knew she was just my style
  My only regret is we've never met for I dream of her all the while.
  But she doesn't know I exist, no matter how I persist.
  So it's clear to see there's no hope for me.
  Though I live at 51 35 Kensington Avenue
  And she lives at 51 33.

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