batteredshoes:I lit my cigarettes like he did, I wore the kind of clothes he wore. I still do. I t
batteredshoes: I lit my cigarettes like he did, I wore the kind of clothes he wore. I still do. I tried to stand as he stood, I tried to walk as he walked. I still do. Not because I was imitating him, but because I was imitating all the people who gave and taught me life, and they took so many of their cues from him. And where had he taken his cues from? From peasants who came to America from an older, less sentimental world – peasants who came with the intention of becoming aristocrats, and who, almost as soon as they arrived, began to stand and walk like those aristocrats they’d watched so closely, yet from afar, for generations. European princes had taught them grace; American streets taught them flair. They didn’t need to learn violence from anyone. That, they were born with. And Sinatra blended all this better than any, and sang as he did so – sang of life, and of pride, despairing of one and reveling in the other. And that was why Sicilians especially gave him respect, in the peculiar way Sicilians use that word, meaning homage, deference, consideration, and that invitation to betrayal, loyalty. - Michael Ventura, from The Death of Frank Sinatra -- source link
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