"I Like to Lead When I Dance"

Just another day in Sinatraland.
A swellegant, elegant track from Robin and the 7 Hoods, unreleased and unheard until 2002, "I Like to Lead When I Dance" was written by the great songwriting team behind so many of Sinatra's notable tunes, Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen.

It was conducted and arranged by Nelson Riddle, the guy partly responsible for Sinatra's Capitol Records-era career rebirth. So, it swings and throbs with their (Sinatra and Riddle) tempo of the heartbeat. It was recorded on April 8, 1964.

The booklet accompanying the Frank Sinatra in Hollywood 1940-1964 box set has a Warner Bros. Studios' Robin and the 7 Hoods production report for Wednesday, November 20, 1963, on which a rehearsal for a "I Like to Lead When I Dance" sequence is listed. But it was apparently (unfortunately!) never filmed. It's too bad this wonderful song/recording was kept in "the vaults" until just a few years ago. It's become one of my favorites of Sinatra's.

"I like to steer the car whenever I drive
And hold the door ajar when we arrive..."
"They" don't make 'em like this anymore! And that's too bad:

"My sweet - I'll repeat in advance"
The magic of Sammy Cahn right there, baby! NICE little lyrical moment.
Great internal rhyme.