# Bars, please remove Frank Sinatra’s Duets album from your jukeboxes

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bars-please-remove-frank-sinatra-s-duets-album-from-your-jukeboxes/493989>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [April 22, 2009, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bars-please-remove-frank-sinatra-s-duets-album-from-your-jukeboxes/493989 "2009-04-22T17:13:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bars-please-remove-frank-sinatra-s-duets-album-from-your-jukeboxes/493989/1 "2009-04-22T17:13:05Z")

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It’s awful. I don’t want to hear “I’ve Got a Crush on You” with Barbara Streisand; it causes me deep emotional distress. “Summer Wind” with Julio Iglesias: Why?

And for every jukebox that contains _Duets_, but not Sinatra and Basie at The Sands, I will die a tiny death, and shake my head, thinking of what could have been. _The Sands_ contains the best version if “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” I have ever heard. “Street of Dreams” is pure perfection. The whole damn album is classic! Skip button? What skip button? Never heard of it. Bars, please, replace all versions of \*Duets \*with _Sinatra at The Sands_, or failing that, _Songs for Swingin’ Lovers_.

Thank You.

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**Author:** ![Stauderhorse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Stauderhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stauderhorse)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bars-please-remove-frank-sinatra-s-duets-album-from-your-jukeboxes/493989/2 "2009-04-22T18:02:19Z")

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I just listened to _Duets_ and absolutely hated it. Sinatra’s voice had this terribly shrill, hoarse quality that was hard to stand. I absolutely adore his voice in everything else I’ve heard from him, but this…just, no. In addition, the whole album had this utterly bombastic, grating sound that was painful to hear. If I heard any one of those songs in a bar, I’d probably be making a quick exit.

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bars-please-remove-frank-sinatra-s-duets-album-from-your-jukeboxes/493989/3 "2009-04-22T18:48:12Z")

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I’d be content if they just removed Sinatra entirely. Back in undergrad, I worked as a short-order cook in the student union, and the manager insisted on playing all Sinatra, all the time, in the kitchen. There’s only so much of that anyone can take and remain sane.

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**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bars-please-remove-frank-sinatra-s-duets-album-from-your-jukeboxes/493989/4 "2009-04-22T19:30:28Z")

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I rather like Frank Sinatra, though I will admit, I was never forced to listen to his music for hours everyday. I do listen voluntarily fairly often, but never to Duets. It was recorded at a time when Sinatra was apparently losing relevance (and his voice), so some record schlubs attempted to revive his career by slapping together an album with then current pop stars. Classics were butchered, tears were shed, and lounge music died just a little.

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**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\
**Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bars-please-remove-frank-sinatra-s-duets-album-from-your-jukeboxes/493989/5 "2009-04-22T23:58:27Z")

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> [@MeanOldLady](#):
>
> It was recorded at a time when Sinatra was apparently losing relevance (and his voice), so some record schlubs attempted to revive his career by slapping together an album with then current pop stars. Classics were butchered, tears were shed, and lounge music died just a little.

Unfortunately, I actually bought this album for this reason (getting the other singers too), figuring it might be a good introduction to Sinatra.

Big mistake.

At least you have the choice to not put any coin in the jukebox and play it, or gulp your drink down and leave if somebody else does.

Or, signal to the bartender, “One for the Road.” 😃

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**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bars-please-remove-frank-sinatra-s-duets-album-from-your-jukeboxes/493989/6 "2009-04-23T01:12:36Z")

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> [@Chronos](#):
>
> I’d be content if they just removed Sinatra entirely. Back in undergrad, I worked as a short-order cook in the student union, and the manager insisted on playing all Sinatra, all the time, in the kitchen. There’s only so much of that anyone can take and remain sane.

You don’t know what torture is. I also worked as a short-order cook in the student union . . . back in the '60s. There was a juke box, and the only song I remember hearing was Barbra Streisand’s _People._

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**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bars-please-remove-frank-sinatra-s-duets-album-from-your-jukeboxes/493989/7 "2009-04-23T07:22:45Z")

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> [@Chronos](#):
>
> I’d be content if they just removed Sinatra entirely. Back in undergrad, I worked as a short-order cook in the student union, and the manager insisted on playing all Sinatra, all the time, in the kitchen. There’s only so much of that anyone can take and remain sane.

I like Sinatra, but I don’t think that I could take all Sinatra all the time at work and remain sane. I guess this explains a lot about you? 😉 Seriously, unless the manager was in the kitchen all the time, he should let the cooks and workers play what they want, within reason.

I also don’t like it when someone takes a song and makes a virtual duet out of it when the original singer is dead. Natalie Cole, I’m looking at YOU. You dug up your father’s corpse for your own vanity and greed. That’s not unforgettable, that’s unforgivable.

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**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bars-please-remove-frank-sinatra-s-duets-album-from-your-jukeboxes/493989/8 "2009-04-23T13:33:17Z")

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> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#):
>
> I also don’t like it when someone takes a song and makes a virtual duet out of it when the original singer is dead. Natalie Cole, I’m looking at YOU. You dug up your father’s corpse for your own vanity and greed. That’s not unforgettable, that’s unforgivable.

Yes! This is one of the spouse’s frequent bar rants, and Ms. Cole is often the target of his ire. Say NO to posthumous duets.

> [@](#):
>
> At least you have the choice to not put any coin in the jukebox and play it, or gulp your drink down and leave if somebody else does.

I’m a total jukebox hog. If you don’t like Bobby Darin, it’s going to be a long night.

Now seriously, people, how come no juke ever has _Sinatra at the Sands_? Am I at the wrong places? Was _Duets_ actually more popular? It was terrible.
