Maybe you sing along every time you hear “New York, New York” — but Frank Sinatra was sick of the tune.
According to a long-standing member of the Friars Club, where the Chairman of the Board served as Abbot for two decades: “At a Friars dinner in honor of Elizabeth Taylor [in 1983], as he made his way to the podium, the band played him on with ‘New York, New York.’”
Ol’ Blue Eyes barked, “Don’t ever play that song again! I had enough of ‘My Way,’ which was a pain in the ass, and I don’t want this one to become a pain in the ass!”
Sinatra had replaced “My Way” with “New York, New York” as his regular encore at concerts. (Either way, Sinatra’s widow, Barbara, once recalled the song Frank hated most was actually “Strangers in the Night” — “a piece of s - - t” and “the worst f - - king song I’ve ever heard.”)
The Friars will celebrate the recent marking of what would have been Sinatra’s 100th birthday on Jan. 11 with a Pierre gala and tributes from Wayne Newton, Norm Crosby, Tony Danza, Deana Martin, Frank Pellegrino and Dionne Warwick. Larry King will emcee.