Song #409: "Luck Be A Lady"--Frank Sinatra (1965)

Originally written for the Broadway musical "Guys and Dolls", which opened in 1950, Frank Sinatra put his indelible touch on this classic tune, but it took another 15 years for that to happen.

It was Robert Alda, son of the M*A*S*H star Alan Alda, who introduced the world to this song when it debuted on The Great White Way. Hollywood put its spin on it five years later, but the role of Sky Masterson went to Marlon Brando, not Sinatra.

Thus, it would be another decade before Sinatra, his Rat Pack and other friends, would create the Reprise Repertory Theatre, and would re-do entire Broadway musical scores. One of them was "Guys and Dolls", and, finally, Frank had his shot at recording Luck Be A Lady.

In a typical, and deft, Sinatra move, he about halved the tempo of the tune, and suddenly, Luck Be A Lady was "Sinatra-Fied". The orchestration is incredible, and Frank, well, he's Frank.