Sinatra, Frank - My Heart Stood Still Lyrics






[Version 1:]

[Frank speaks:]
When most us saddle up for the old trail for our last ride, we leave little
enough behind to show that once we have camped here. Some leave more than
others, some a memory and some a fortune, some a song. And a song can be as
fine a memorial to a man as anything that can be left behind, 'cause you see
it's gold, and it's gold that all can share. We have a great song to
remember Lorenz Hart by, that wonderful melody that he and Dick Rodgers
wrote for the Connecticut Yankee, of course you know, My Heart Stood Still

[Frank sings:]
I took one look at you, that's all I meant to do
And then my heart stood still,
My feet could step and walk, my lips could move and talk
And yet my heart stood still.
Though not a single word was spoken, I could tell you knew
That unfelt clasp of hands told me so well you knew
I never lived at all until the thrill of that moment
When my heart stood still.
(That unfelt clasp of hands told me how well you knew, hmmmm)
I laughed at sweethearts I met at schools
All indiscreet hearts seemed romantic fools
(A house in Iceland was my heart's domain)
(I saw your eyes, now castles rise in Spain!)

[a brief interlude through the first verse]

Though not a single word was spoken, I could tell you knew
That unfelt clasp of hands told me so well that you knew
I never lived at all (until the thrill of that moment)
(When my heart stood still.)


[Version 2:]

I took one look at you,
That's all I meant to do
And then my heart stood still
My feet could step and walk
My lips could move and talk
And yet my heart stood still

Though not a single word was spoken, I could tell you knew
That unfelt clasp of hands told me so well you knew
I never lived at all until the thrill of that moment when
My heart stood still

Though not a single word was spoken, I could tell you knew
That unfelt clasp of hands told me very well you knew
I never lived at all until the thrill of that moment when
My heart stood still





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Sinatra, Frank My Heart Stood Still Comments
  1. G.... S....

    Lyrics:

    I laughed at sweethearts
    I met at schools
    All indiscreet hearts
    Seemed romantic fools
    A house in Iceland
    Was my heart's domain
    I saw your eyes
    Now castles rise in Spain!

    I took one look at you
    That's all I meant to do
    And then my heart stood still
    My feet could step and walk
    My lips could move and talk
    And yet my heart stood still

    Though not a single word was spoken
    I could tell you knew
    That unfelt clasp of hands
    Told me so well you knew
    I never lived at all
    Until the thrill of that moment when
    My heart stood still

    Through all my school days
    I hated boys
    Those April Fool days
    Brought me loveless joys
    I read my Plato
    Love, I thought a sin
    But since your kiss
    I'm reading Missus Glyn!

  2. T.... ....

    I'm a great fan of Sinatra's, but here is a version of a beautiful song that shows he's capable of going off the rails. It's a simple song, both its music and words, but Sinatra can't leave it alone. I'm not quarreling with the slow and arguable pace but of the plan of working up to a big-bang ending which has n othing t o do wit h either the score or the lyric. "My heart stood still" are the final words and yet Sinatra jumps on them and makes them crash like thunder. Did he not understand the song is about the hushed moment of wonder?

    T.... ....

    I meant to note that Rodgers marked the score "moderately." Sinatra (or Riddle) thought he knew better.

  3. H.... M....

    That last not is impossible, but not for the Chairman of the Board

  4. M.... P....

    the master

  5. e.... ....

    Another Sinatra/Riddle triumph!

  6. M.... B....

    The very next offering after LOST IN THE STARS on the shuffle play miracle that is today's YouTube . . . was this one. Yes, if I had to discard the rest and keep only one track, it would be this, Rodgers & Hart's very best. Here comes the climax . . . "I never lived at all, until the thrill, of that moment when my heart stood still . . ." Never fails, goosebumps and tears of joy.


    A moment ago I left this comment for LOST IN THE STARS -- just as applicable here:


    A friend asked today, "If you could keep only ONE of his albums, which one goes with you to the proverbial desert island?" The short answer is, "This one." But a big ocean of memories will surround that island.

    Back when I was just six years old, I attended my best friend David Pearce's birthday party, and his mother -- a widow, who I can remember thinking was so beautiful -- took out a picture of little David's late father and told us boys how she'd married on the "Day of Infamy." (Much later I'd learn that was the term used by President FDR for December 7, 1941 when Pearl Harbor was hit, launching American involvement in WWII).

    Then Mrs. Pearce told us that "Frank Sinatra -- you don't know him, was always our favorite singer." I remember feeling honored, at that moment -- in some way that my six year old heart could never express in words---that she would share with us that photograph, and her memories of David's late father. And then, speaking to me alone (as the other boys at the party gravitated towards David's new toys) Mrs. Pearce told me in a soft voice:

    "Frank Sinatra is the greatest singer, Mark. Maybe someday you'll agree with me." Then she put on one of his records---something from the first Capitol album of 1953 (how I wish with all my heart that I could recall which song she selected---but I do remember listening, dutifully, and feeling very much like a big man who was seeing eye-to-eye with this beautiful woman who was treating me like an adult.

    ---

    I grew up in a musically literate home, with loving (and very musical) parents who once saw a live performance by Frank Sinatra with Tommy Dorsey's band in July of 1940 (at Toronto's "Canadian National Exhibition"----a sort of glorified `state fair' in Canada's largest city). My parents had no Frank Sinatra LPs from the 1950s (only one or two old "Columbia" 78s from the late 1940s). Dad gave Mom two Nat Cole LPs in the 60s, including one arranged by Gordon Jenkins---my Mom's favorite singer and her favorite arranger, right up until her death three years ago.

    My parents always took us to see "Broadway" musicals as performed locally, (in my hometown of Ottawa Canada) and eventually---in 1960---they took us to see the "real thing"----I remember being told that the theatre house lights were being dimmed all over Broadway that very night because Oscar Hammerstein had just died. Mom told me "He's the greatest lyricist, Mark" suggesting (like Mrs. Pearce) that one day, perhaps when I was older, I might agree with her.

    On that same visit to NYC I remember stepping off an elevator in the Plaza Hotel, and my father immediately telling me "that man there, you just rode in the elevator with is Richard Rodgers" (who would one day be my favorite composer). But as with beautiful Mrs. Pearce trying to introduce me to Frank Sinatra, I just "wasn't ready" to appreciate greatness . . . "

    ---

    Any track from that album is “my favorite recording right this minute.” As it happens Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio just played THIS one (one of the few NOT written by my favorite composer). Yes, as Frank said in another context -- introducing Fred Astaire dancing with Eleanor Powell: 'You can wait around a hundred years, and you'll never see (hear) the likes of this again.”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6VMMa0YDbg

  7. M.... B....

    This is where I came in . . .

    It was on a January day in 1993 that I returned home from work to hear words from my wife that I'd been aching to hear: "You got a letter from Frank Sinatra."

    I remember taking off my winter coat and boots, and stumbling into another room where I could be alone, making sure my hands were clean, and getting a bright reading light, and carefully opening the envelope and reading the note and re-reading it (ten times? twenty times?).

    I remember being overcome with emotion, saying to myself, "Do you realize what an honor you've just received? This is from someone who, early in his career, received letters like mine numbering 3,000 a week! Do you appreciate that he took the time---perhaps ten minutes of his life, to read your two-page letter, and then compose this signed response you hold in your hands? Do you realize what this is? The greatest musical entertainer of the Twentieth Century is telling you personally: "I greatly appreciate your interest in my music" and "it was so nice of you to take the time to write."

    With an extra decade of immersing myself in Frank Sinatra's greatness, I'd have to say that only a "religious experience" --- and a glimpse of Eternity---could ever surpass what I feel in my heart, the sheer exhilarating joy I experience, when I listen for example, to "My Heart Stood Still" (my favorite of these). There is the high plateau where the singer and his great collaborator Nelson Riddle have their true, "shining hour." At that defining moment in 1963, the arranger conducts his finest orchestrations, with the largest symphony orchestra ever assembled in Hollywood---as the singer on a mountain peak of vocal greatness, performs his favorite songs by his (and my) favorite composer. For me personally that is the `coming-together-of-a-lifetime,' ----all the peak emotions of memory, a lifetime's worth of emotion, bringing me tears of joy each time I hear it. (These days, the experience is rationed to perhaps once a month, and then just a cut or two at a time, so as to preserve the experience----I want to `spread it out' over the rest of my life, if I can.)

    ----

    In the final paragraph of my letter I told Frank Sinatra how I'd "discovered your enduring greatness somewhat late in life. But perhaps that's why I appreciate you the more now.

    "Thanks then, for being you, is all I want to say. The world would be a poorer place if you'd never passed this way. And I think, after six decades of your work, without anyone surpassing your greatness, I guess it's safe to say `We'll never know your like again.' Best wishes for a long and healthy life.

    Sincerely,

    Mark Blackburn
    Winnipeg Canada

    M.... B....

    I had the opportunity to arrange music for someone who had access to Mr. Sinatra's music library. You know what that would be like- the undiscovered 8th Wonder of the World! Although I wasn't able to follow through with that performer, I still find inspiration from each song he brought to life, and all the wonderful arrangers who gave him such a lush world in which to work his magic.
    Isn't Mr. Riddle's treatment of this classic an apotheosis? It's almost a hymn. Well, with Ms. Bacall's images populating it, I think it is the perfect setting.

  8. L.... g....

    Amazing !

  9. J.... W....

    What a beautiful song, a great singer, and...what more can you say? No wonder they called him 'The Voice'😍

  10. S.... V....

    Nothing to compare to this.

    S.... V....

    That's merely the simple truth (in just five words). Thanks for posting, Sheila Van Houten.

  11. m.... ....

    GORGEOUS .....THANK YOU for this superb share..... a real gem.....!!!!

  12. P.... W....

    Interesting take on this song with Lauren Bacall as Frank's love interest. Frank dumped Lauren cruelly, & I think he loved Lauren, but he wasnt IN love with her. She was crazy about Frank & was seeing him before her husband Bogie died, and after. They were both wrong, as Frank was one of Bogie's best friends. Frank thought nothing of bedding his friends' wives; he was a big sex hound. But Ava had just divorced Frank and he was on the rebound. Lauren should have known she couldnt make Frank forget Ava. The way Frank just disappeared after asking Lauren to marry him was cold blooded. He used the excuse of accusing her of leaking news of their engagement out without consulting him first, to unceremoniously dump her. But she hadnt leaked the news: her publicist did, and Frank wouldnt listen. Lauren said after she talked to him on the phone about the leak, he never called her back again and just disapoeared. Lauren was destroyed. I agree Frank treated her so badly and was a louse, and I dont think he ever apologized to her. i dont think she ever got over his dumping her either. She didnt see him again until 6 yrs. later at a party. Thus started Frank's bad reputation & his womanizing ways, luring women into his bed, then treating them like dirt afterwards. I think because of Ava dumping him & him loving her so much, he became very bitter toward women in general and exacted his sick form of revenge by sleeping with as many as he could, then telling them to get lost. I dont think Frank ever fell deeply in love again, even with his next two marriages to Mia Farrow & Barbara Marx.
    I love Frank, but he was the consummate bachelor and playboy who left many broken hearts behind him, sadly on purpose.

    P.... W....

    Have you read Kaplan's "Chairman"? It covers a lot of Sinatra's relationships, though there were so many casual flings I stopped paying attention after a while. Kaplan paints the Farrow 'marriage' as an aging man chasing his youth again.

    P.... W....

    Who cares??? It's a beautiful song, a wonderful singer...just shut up and enjoy it!!😒

    P.... W....

    I agree Jody. His voice will never die. His reputation is part of showing what a human being ( with feelings) he was.

  13. N.... B....

    Incomparable -- the attention to detailed nuance by both Sinatra and Riddle makes this epic. Two masters of the genre.

    N.... B....

    Well said (in so few words). Thanks for posting, Noe Berengena.

  14. K.... S....

    Nagyon tetszett ez a videó film.
    Csodálatos ez a dal, csodálatos az előadó művész.
    Üdvözletem Budapestről Klára Szépvölgyi