Forty-eight performances from Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr., the three voices that made mid-century cool look like the easiest job in the world.
THE
RAT PACK
Forty-eight performances from Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr., the three voices that made mid-century cool look like the easiest job in the world.
The Rat Pack was never a band and never really a club with rules. It was a loose circle of Hollywood stars that began in the early fifties around the Holmby Hills home of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. The nickname is credited to Bacall herself, who took one look at her worn-out friends after a long Las Vegas trip and decided they resembled a pack of rats. It stuck, and it outlived the circle that earned it.
After Bogart’s death in 1957, Frank Sinatra took over as the group’s center of gravity and reshaped it into the sharp-suited legend people remember. The core lineup was Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop, and its home turf was the Copa Room at the Sands in Las Vegas, where shows ran loose, funny and gloriously unrehearsed, with ties undone and drinks in hand. The blueprint they drew for the modern Vegas residency is still being copied. The films followed, including the original Ocean’s 11 in 1960, Sergeants 3 in 1962 and Robin and the 7 Hoods in 1964, before a nostalgic reunion in 1984’s Cannonball Run II.
This three-disc set skips the banter and goes straight to the singing, which is the part that has held up best. What follows is a guide to the three voices behind it, and then the full tracklist, disc by disc.
Frank Sinatra
The Chairman of the Board, 22 solo cuts and two duets
Sinatra carries the biggest share of this set, and it shows his full range, from the swing of Night And Day and A Foggy Day to the hush of The Way You Look Tonight and the torch-song ache of When Your Lover Has Gone. He’s the one who turned a loose circle of friends into an institution, and these recordings explain why people followed him.
Dean Martin
The effortless crooner, 15 solo cuts and one duet
Dean Martin makes it all sound like he’s barely trying, which is the trick. His readings of Baby, It’s Cold Outside, Embraceable You and September Song are warm, unhurried and a little sly, and his Volare medley is a reminder that he could carry an Italian-flavored pop hit as easily as a standard.
Sammy Davis Jr.
The showman, eight solo cuts and two duets
Sammy Davis Jr. is the set’s wild card. He’s all theater on What Kind Of Fool I Am and Hey There, then turns up the swing on Out Of This World, and the closer on the final disc, Please Don’t Tell Me How The Story Ends, shows how far he could stretch into modern songwriting.
DISC ONE
Sixteen tracks
Frank Sinatra & Sammy Davis Jr. · The Birth of The Blues
Written by Ray Henderson, Buddy DeSylva, Lew Brown
Frank Sinatra · You’re Nobody Till Somebody Loves You
Written by Russ Morgan, James Cavanaugh
Dean Martin · I Left My Heart In San Francisco
Written by George Cory
Frank Sinatra · When Your Lover Has Gone
Sammy Davis Jr. · What kind Of Fool I Am
Written by Leslie Bricusse
Frank Sinatra · The Lady Loves A Tramp
Written by Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart
Dean Martin · Where Or When
Written by Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart
Frank Sinatra · Lonesome Road
Frank Sinatra · Nancy
Written by Jimmy Van Heusen, Phil Silvers
Dean Martin & Sammy Davis Jr. · Sam’s Song
Written by Lew Quadling, Jack Elliott
Frank Sinatra · This Can’t Be Love
Written by Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart
Sammy Davis Jr. · Hey There
Dean Martin · Pennies From Heaven
Written by Arthur Johnston
Sammy Davis Jr. · Out Of This World
Written by Harold Arlen
Frank Sinatra · Night And Day
Written by Cole Porter
Dean Martin · Medley A. Volare, On An Evening In Roma
Written by Domenico Modugno
DISC TWO
Sixteen tracks
Frank Sinatra & Sammy Davis Jr. · Me And My Shadow
Written by Dave Dreyer, Billy Rose, Al Jolson
Frank Sinatra · Please Be Kind
Written by Saul Chaplin, Sammy Cahn
Dean Martin · I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter
Written by Fred E. Ahlert, Joe Young
Sammy Davis Jr. · She’s Funny That Way
Written by Neil Moret, Richard Whiting
Frank Sinatra · Too Marvellous For Words
Written by Richard Whiting, Johnny Mercer
Frank Sinatra · Goody Goody
Written by Matty Malneck, Johnny Mercer
Dean Martin · Embraceable You
Written by George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin
Frank Sinatra · Chicago (That Toddlin Town)
Written by Fred Fisher
Frank Sinatra · Bewitched
Written by Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart
Dean Martin · I Can’t Give You Anything But Love
Written by Jimmy McHugh
Frank Sinatra · All The Way
Written by Jimmy Van Heusen, Sammy Cahn
Frank Sinatra · A Foggy Day
Written by George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin
Dean Martin · Baby, It’s Cold Outside
Written by Frank Loesser
Frank Sinatra · There’s No Business Like Show Business
Written by Irving Berlin
Dean Martin · Some Enchanted Evening
Written by Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II
Frank Sinatra · I Only Have Eyes For You
Written by Harry Warren
DISC THREE
Sixteen tracks
Dean Martin · You Won’t be Satisfied Until You Break My Heart
Written by Freddy James, Larry Stock
Sammy Davis Jr. · (Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song
Written by Chips Moman, Larry Butler
Dean Martin · Someone Like You
Written by Sam Coslow, Irving Taylor, Ken Lane
Frank Sinatra · The Way You Look Tonight
Written by Jerome Kern, Dorothy Fields
Dean Martin · Candy Kisses
Written by George Morgan
Sammy Davis Jr. · We Could Have Been The Closest Of Friends
Written by Johnny Slate
Dean Martin · If I Had Three Wishes
Written by Lew Spence
Frank Sinatra · People Will Say We’re Not In Love
Written by Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II
Sammy Davis Jr. · What I’ve Got In Mind
Written by Kenny O’Dell
Frank Sinatra · Begin The Begune
Written by Cole Porter
Frank Sinatra · That Old Black Magic
Written by Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer
Dean Martin · September Song
Written by Kurt Weill
Frank Sinatra · The Night Is Young And You’re So Beautiful
Written by Irving Kahal
Dean Martin · Through A Long And Sleepless Night
Written by Alfred Newman
Frank Sinatra · Someone To Watch Over Me
Written by George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin
Sammy Davis Jr. · Please Don’t Tell Me How The story Ends
Written by Kris Kristofferson
Three singers, three discs, and not a weak track in earshot. Put it on, loosen the tie, and let the Chairman and his friends do what they did better than anyone.