February 1, 1967. Most people don’t realize that Frank Sinatra had just spent the entire morning recording bossa nova tracks with the legendary Antônio Carlos Jobim. He was exhausted. But he didn't leave United Western Recorders in Hollywood. Instead, he waited for his daughter. Nancy Sinatra walked in, and together they laid down a track that would become one of the most successful, yet weirdly debated, songs in the history of the Billboard Hot 100.
Frank Sinatra Somethin' Stupid wasn't actually an original. It was a cover. A guy named C. Carson Parks—brother to the famous Van Dyke Parks—had written it and recorded it with his wife, Gaile Foote. They called themselves Carson and Gaile. It was a sweet, folk-adjacent tune that might have vanished into obscurity if it hadn't caught the ear of Frank's inner circle.
Actually, it was Lee Hazlewood, Nancy's producer, who really pushed for it. When Frank played him the original demo and asked if he liked it, Hazlewood didn't just say yes. He told Frank that if he didn't record it with Nancy, he’d record it with her himself.
The Record That Made Everyone Uncomfortable
It reached number one. In fact, it stayed there for four weeks in the US and topped the charts in the UK too. But here’s the thing: it’s a love song.
"I practice every day to find some clever lines to say to make the meaning come through / But then I think I'll wait until the evening gets late and I'm alone with you."
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When you hear a father and daughter sing those specific words together in unison, it triggers a "wait, what?" reaction for a lot of people. Some radio DJs at the time jokingly called it "The Incest Song." It’s an awkward label for a multi-million-selling hit. Nancy, being Nancy, eventually joked about it later in life, calling the label "sweet" in her own dry way.
Frank didn't care. He was a businessman. He knew that combining his massive "Rat Pack" fan base with Nancy’s "Boots" era youth following was a guaranteed gold record.
Why the sound was so "Un-Sinatra"
Musically, Frank Sinatra Somethin' Stupid is a bit of an outlier in the Chairman’s discography.
- There is no harmony.
- They sing in total unison.
- The backing isn't a swinging big band; it’s a soft, acoustic-driven "Wrecking Crew" production.
That’s right, the famous Wrecking Crew provided the backbone. You’ve got Hal Blaine on drums and Glen Campbell on guitar. Carol Kaye, the legendary bassist who played on everything from Pet Sounds to Mission: Impossible, handled the electric bass.
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The session was incredibly fast. They did two takes. That’s it. Why only two? Because during the first take, Frank kept doing his "Daffy Duck" impression, singing "shumshing shtupid" just to make Nancy laugh and ruin the recording. He was a goofball on set, but once he locked in, he was a one-take professional.
Breaking the Chart Records
To this day, they remain the only father-daughter duo to ever hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Think about that. Not even Miley and Billy Ray Cyrus or Natalie and Nat King Cole (who did it via a posthumous edit) managed it while both were active.
It was Frank's last number one. It was Nancy’s second.
Some critics, like Will Friedwald, argued that the song was "bland" or "folkish." They felt Frank was "dominating" Nancy's career. But if you look at the record label, Nancy’s name is actually listed first: "Nancy Sinatra and Frank Sinatra." That was a deliberate move by Frank to give his daughter the spotlight.
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The song's legacy didn't stop in the sixties. In 2001, Robbie Williams and Nicole Kidman covered it and took it to the top of the UK charts again. People love the melody. It’s infectious. It captures that universal feeling of being so into someone that you overthink every word and eventually just "spoil it all" by being too honest.
What You Can Do Next
If you're a fan of the 1960s "Cool" era, you shouldn't just stop at the hit single. Dig into the album The World We Knew. It shows a transition point where Frank was trying to bridge the gap between his traditional jazz roots and the burgeoning pop-rock world.
Also, listen to the original Carson and Gaile version. It’s much more stripped back and helps you appreciate how much the Sinatra version owes to the arrangement of Billy Strange and the production of Jimmy Bowen.
Finally, check out the Francis Albert Sinatra & Antônio Carlos Jobim sessions from that same day. The contrast between the sophisticated Brazilian bossa nova and the simple pop of Frank Sinatra Somethin' Stupid is a masterclass in Frank’s vocal range and his ability to pivot between genres in a single afternoon.