Touching My Foolish Heart

One of my crazy before-I-was-a-parent goals was to introduce Peanut to real music, early and often. I couldn't fathom her being one of these kids who doesn't know The Beatles or Motown, Springsteen or Sinatra. This is one of those goals I actually followed through on, and this story is proof that my musical education method worked.

Frank Sinatra is especially significant since he was my dad's favorite. He remains one of my favorites. And now, through serendipity and osmosis, one of his songs is one of Peanut's favorites. I began to love Sinatra in high school, believe it or not. Some of my friends did as well. It was one of those things none of us admitted to each other until we all realized we had this one thing in common one day. Soon thereafter, My Way would play late-night as parties were winding down. We'd put Luck Be a Lady on as we drove down to sneak into the casinos in Atlantic City. Here's to the Losers was a song we'd play just because we thought it was funny.

Then there's The Way You Look Tonight. What made this song cool for a teenager in the early 90's was its use in a Michelob commercial around that time. This song, though, doesn't need any advertising. It's cool no matter what because it is the perfect love song.

Some day when I'm awfully low.
When the world is cold.
I will feel a glow just thinking of you.
And the way you look tonight.

Baby Peanut certainly touched
my foolish heart.

The love song became a lullaby once Peanut arrived. Those words would be the last words I would sing to her after late-night feedings. My Director would wake up to feed her while I slept. I would sing her back to sleep as My Director went back to bed. These were my nights, my moments. Our nights. Our moments. I will never forget the way she looked those nights. Magical and memorable.

Yes you're lovely.
With your smile so warm.
And your cheeks so soft.
There is nothing for me but to love you.
Just the way you look tonight.

One day last month, Peanut wanted to have a dance party like we tend to do on random weekdays. We've been known to rock out to Rihanna, Beyonce, and yes, Call Me Maybe. In flipping through the songs on My Director's phone, Peanut came upon The Way You Look Tonight. It just so happened to be in a playlist I made with her name on it, featuring songs I've sung to her or that remind me of her. The Rihanna song We Found Love was in there, which is how she found Sinatra.

She proceeded to play The Way You Look Tonight on repeat for the rest of the night. Many nights we listen to music during dinner. I'll put on a Pandora station that I feel furthers Peanut's musical education. That night, we listened to this one song over and over again. After she finished her dinner, she grabbed the phone and sat on the couch, curled up with her thumb in her mouth and kept listening. I couldn't help but think I had something to do with it, singing that song to her so many times on so many nights when she was a baby. Something had clicked. She was comforted.

And that laugh wrinkles your nose

Touches my foolish heart.

My dad loved Sinatra, and passed that love on to me. Now Peanut has that love, for at least one of his songs. Peanut and Frank have a lot in common: Italian, blue eyes, born in Hoboken, and they both touched my foolish heart.



Thunder Road is another "lullaby" that Peanut loves to this day. I wrote about that HERE.