It Was a Very Good Year

"It Was a Very Good Year"
Single by Frank Sinatra
from the album September of My Years
B-side"Moment to Moment"
ReleasedDecember 1965
Recorded1965
StudioUnited Western Recorders, United A
GenrePop
Length2:55
LabelReprise
Songwriter(s)Ervin Drake
Producer(s)Sonny Burke
Frank Sinatra singles chronology
"Ev'rybody Has the Right to Be Wrong! (At Least Once)"
(1965)
"It Was a Very Good Year"
(1965)
"Strangers in the Night"
(1966)

"It Was a Very Good Year" is a song composed by Ervin Drake in 1961 and originally recorded by Bob Shane with the Kingston Trio.[1][2] It was made famous by Frank Sinatra's version in D minor,[3] which won the Grammy Award for Best Male Vocal Performance in 1966 and became Sinatra's first number one Adult Contemporary single, also peaking at No. 28 on the Hot 100.[4]

  1. ^ Rubeck, Shaw, Blake et al., The Kingston Trio On Record (Naperville IL: KK Inc, 1986), p. 46
  2. ^ Friedwald, Will (2009-04-02). "When He Was 46 it Was a Very Good Year - WSJ". Online.wsj.com. Retrieved 2014-06-20.
  3. ^ Gilliland, John (1969). "Show 22 - Smack Dab in the Middle on Route 66: A skinny dip in the easy listening mainstream. [Part 1]" (audio). Pop Chronicles. University of North Texas Libraries.
  4. ^ Whitburn, Joel (1996). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 6th Edition (Billboard Publications)