Album: September Of My Years (1965)

Charted: 28

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• When I was seventeen
  It was a very good year
  It was a very good year for small town girls
  And soft summer nights
  We'd hide from the lights
  Under the village green
  When I was seventeen
  
  When I was twenty-one
  It was a very good year
  It was a very good year for city girls
  Who lived up the stairs
  With all that perfumed hair
  And it came undone
  When I was twenty-one
  
  Then I was thirty-five
  It was a very good year
  It was a very good year for blue-blooded girls
  Of independent means
  We'd ride in limousines
  Their chauffeurs would drive
  When I was thirty-five
  
  But now the days grow short
  I'm in the autumn of the year
  And now I think of my life as vintage wine
  From fine old kegs
  From the brim to the dregs
  And it poured sweet and clear
  It was a very good year
  
  It was a mess of good years Writer/s: Ervin Drake
  Publisher: Word Collections Publishing
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 14

• Fred from Ajax Ont. CanadaI'm sure I saw a movie around 1966-68 That used When I was 17 as its opening song. Does anybody know the movie ?
• Dennis from Republic Wa Some songs are so impressive that you remember the first time so vividly. Winter 66 and I’m 17 and driving my friends on the swim teen for an extra practice on a Saturday morning. It’s raining and snowing. It plays on the am radio in my dad’s 63 Ford wagon. Everyone gets quiet. A somber mood prevails to this day when I hear it. The day Frank died (another Saturday) the local NPR jazz show played it after informing us of this great loss.
• John (jt Moose) Rhoe from Saint LouisI looked here hoping to find in-depth meaning, not just history. None-the-less I enjoyed the read!
• Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn December 19th 1960, Frank Sinatra held first recording session for his very own record label, Reprise Records... At that session he recorded "Ring-A-Ding-Ding" and "Let's Fall in Love"; but it was just over two months later when his first Reprise Record, "The Second Time Around", would enter Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart, it debut at #85, four weeks later on April 4th, 1961 it peaked at #50 {for 1 week} and it stayed on the chart for 7 weeks...?
  "It Was A Very Good Year" was his 24th of 33rd Reprise Records releases to make the Top 100 chart.
• Barry from Sauquoit, Ny'With all that perfumed hair, that came undone'
  On November 15th 1965, Walter Cronkite interviewed Frank Sinatra on the CBS-TV special 'Sinatra: An American Original'...
  A little over a month later on December 19th, 1965 Mr. Sinatra's "It Was A Very Good Year" entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart at position #77; and on January 23rd, 1966 it would peak at #28.
• Keith from Dunn, NcThis is a song that comes as close to musical perfection as a song can! It's made up of the "holy trinity" of music.....right singer, score, and lyrics! To think, in my 20's I could take or leave Sinatra, and now in my 50's I can't comprise a playlist that doesn't contain at least one song by the "Chairman of the Board". As Robert of Cape Coral Fl. alluded to in his eloquent treatise, you can't help but feel emotional when listening to this in the quiet of your home....regardless of your perspective on life.
• Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn September 4th 1966, Della Reese's covered version of "It Was A Very Good Year" entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart at position #100; the following week it was at #99 and then it fell off the chart...
  It was her 10th and last Top 100 record; her biggest hit was "Don't You Know" in 1959, it peaked at #2 on the Top 100 and on November 17th, 1959 it reached #1 {for 2 weeks} on Billboard's R&B Singles chart...
  Ms. Reese, born Delloreese Patricia Early, celebrated her 83rd birthday two months ago on July 6th {2014}.
• Larry from Coral Springs, FlThis song was a hit. I remember it as a kid and brings back the days of my childhood
• Robert from Cape Coral, FlIn 1964 Frank Sinatra entered the recording studio and cut an album as if it were an answer to the pop culture "invasion" of the Beatles, et al. His voice was the incredible musical instrument standing above all the others in the orchestra and he played it to perfection. He masterfully and shrewdly commanded that this recording not surpass 5 minutes to guarantee its radio exposure, though the story within the lyric compels it to play out longer. In it, Sinatra does what he does best; he tells a story like no other with his smooth voice. The story is captivating when one considers the time from which it was arranged and recorded. Its not just Sinatra "competing" in the record charts...a fighting spirit that, like an old champion boxer refuses to give up the title belt to the young upstart...its Sinatra and his musical counterparts performing in a song to reflect on a world about to change forever.
  
  We feel the goosebumps of the Beatles on Sullivan when we think of 1964, yet we also feel them when we listen to the Sinatra response and understand from where it comes. It seems to me that if one sits and listens to this piece, quietly, without distraction, one feels something deeply. Its not nostalgia and its not age discriminate (though wisdom helps). Even if one chooses just to listen without the heavy meanings, the unconscious impact is there none-the-less.
  
  Sinatra tells more than just the literal story of a life in this lyric. He tells a story, with passion in his voice, of the richness of every life, especially as a new era of instant gratification beckons. This song is a rebellion, cutting against the grain of popular thought and it defies the non-conformity, conformity taking shape during 1964.
  
  It was a very good year.
• Ted from Phoenix, AzWhat really strikes me about "It Was a Very Good Year," is how mature the song's lyrics are compared to most other songs of that time, Bob Dylan exempted. While most pop songs of the time were about discovering love or sex for the first time, this was more a look back in fondness on the swinging life the narrator had. Personally, I wish I knew more single girls who rode in the back of limousines driven by their chafeurs.
• Eric from Camas, WaYeah, Shatner's cover is the best.
  "When I was....twenty-one..... it...was...a..very....GOOD YEAR...." LOL
• George from Belleville, NjIt was a very good year is more than a song.It is a work of art.This is like poetry set to music.This song is one of the most haunting pieces of music ever recorded.The string arrangements by Gordon Jenkins sweep you away in it's charming beauty and leaves you on cloud nine as it causes the listener to reflect upon times gone by.Sinatra's singing breathes life into the song.A musical masterpiece.
• Kevin from Reading , PaThe Trio version is pretty good, too, with their great baritone, Bob Shane, doing the lead vocal.
• Joshua from La Crosse, WiWilliam Shatner also covered this song, if you can call a remake in his off-the-wall singing style a true cover (as opposed to a parody).

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