Comments on: FRANK AND NANCY SINATRA - “Something Stupid”

By: wichita lineman

wichita lineman — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 11:36:14 +0000

Which means that Joe’s instincts, way back at no. 8, were correct. Works much better as a song of niggling self-doubt rather than a boozy, woozy duet. Is Frank’s solo version available anywhere?

By: richard thompson

richard thompson — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 09:19:36 +0000

Frank recorded it on his own at first and Nancys voice was added later, presumably he couldn’t get another female vocalist to do the duet.

By: hannah campbell

hannah campbell — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 14:02:45 +0000

Or they just liked the song, and as they are father and daughter and have a purely familial bond, they never considered these incestual implications.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 12:52:00 +0000

personally i think that the worst cover of this song was Nicole Kidman and Robbie Williams’s version, however i think that the child protection services should look into the twisted mind of Ali Campbell for recording a song like this with a six year old, incest?

By: Anthony

Anthony — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 00:46:00 +0000

she might not have been underage, but there is a sort of creepy implication of it

By: Tom

Tom — Tue, 07 Mar 2006 11:12:00 +0000

Was Nancy underage at this point? Surely not.

By: Anthony

Anthony — Tue, 07 Mar 2006 10:57:00 +0000

i think this is another in the long list of american culture that states male-female, heterosexual paedophilia is to be encouraged, while male-male homosexual paedophillia is the biggest taboo available.

By: Chris Brown

Chris Brown — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 23:19:00 +0000

I suppose the idea of the duet thing is meant to be some sort of irony - about both parties feeling that they’re the one who messed it up. Or not.

You know, I don’t really like this record but you have to say it looks like a work of true genius compared to any other version I’ve heard. Presumably everyone who’s recorded it since has done it as a duet in the hope of emulating the success of this one. I don’t want to “spoil” future content here, but one very bad version I’d like to single out is the one by Ali & Kibibi Campbell - not only was it another daddy/daughter duet but Kibibi was an actual child at the time, for maximum creepiness. What were they thinking?

By the way, Frank’s first wife was called Nancy, but the famous Nancy is of course her daughter.

By: Mark Gamon

Mark Gamon — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 11:20:00 +0000

I always liked the fact that Frank sang the high harmony and Nancy the low. As I remember - it’s a long time since I actually bothered to listen to it…

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 23:25:00 +0000

Doctor Mod says:

I’ve always thought the title said it all. If only they’d figured out how to sing in harmony with each other (they’ve always sounded slightly drunk to me), it would have sounded most incestuous.

(and, to continue the off-topic stream of consciousness here, I’ve actually been to Anacapa Island, home of the Lesbian Seagulls!)

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 16:12:00 +0000

well frank’s diction on the song is so poor that for many years i thought “and then i go and spoil it all” was “and then i go on Spotty Dog” which really would be “Somethin’ Stupid”!

By: p^nk s

p^nk s — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 15:50:00 +0000

a trad jazz version! *pluralist glee achieves actively dangerous levels*

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 15:43:00 +0000

I suppose we ought to be grateful that Mia Farrow and Woody Allen never did a cover version…

By: Pete Baran

Pete Baran — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 15:37:00 +0000

I just like the idea that Steve though he had just one wife.

At the time of Something Stupid he was with Mia Farrow yes? Pre Rosemary’s Baby. Which you can consider a meditation on giving birth to a “Boots Are Made For Walking Nancy” (Lee Hazlewood as very badly made up devil).

By: Steve Mannion

Steve Mannion — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 15:25:00 +0000

embarassingly, until now, i had always assumed Nancy was his wife (having never really seen her or anything).

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 15:15:00 +0000

you and your pesky gleeful pluralism sinker!

By: p^nk s

p^nk s — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 14:58:00 +0000

LESBIAN SEAGULL IS AWESOME d00d

By: Joe Williams

Joe Williams — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 14:38:00 +0000

By the way, on a small point of accuracy, the title is usually written “Somethin’ Stupid”.

By: Joe Williams

Joe Williams — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 14:37:00 +0000

I never understood this song as a duet. It doesn’t make any sense that way, right from the first line, no matter who the pair are. It is quite clearly, for me, a song for a solo male singer. But I’ve never heard it done that way - there are dozens of versions so I guess it’s been done solo many times, but I’ve only ever heard the duets.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 14:30:00 +0000

Wasn’t “Lesbian Seagull” punishment enough?

By: Tom

Tom — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 14:22:00 +0000

Given that Green Green Grass sold well over a million records, I think it would have kept PL/SFF off the top - it might have meant that Engelbert got to duet with the Art of Noise and her from Catatonia though.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 14:17:00 +0000

So if Lennon had finished Strawberry Fields Forever in time for Xmas ‘66, and it had gone to number one instead of Green, Green Grass Of Home, does that mean that Some Velvet Morning would now have been number one instead of Something Stupid?

By: p^nk s

p^nk s — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 14:14:00 +0000

hazlewood? yes good call

(tho to be honest i wd be surprised if there were novelty cylinders right back to the 1890s playing on the sexual mismatch idea)

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 13:57:00 +0000

(derived from nancy and lee)

By: p^nk s

p^nk s — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 13:49:00 +0000

or if they were there wd have been some kind of “chemistry” going on — cf er aqua (except i’m sure there are better examples)

(but the “mismatch” in aqua is like an ultra-pervy sexualised cartoon)