What Is This Thing Called Love?

In his early years, around 1937 or 1938 Frank Sinatra sang in an Englewood, New Jersey roadhouse called the Rustic Cabin. The venue was just across the George Washington Bridge and welcomed travelers heading into New York City on their way back from the country. One Sunday the house trumpet player informed Sinatra that Cole Porter was sitting in the audience. Sinatra called the audience’s attention to Porter’s presence and presented him to the audience with praise. Sinatra reflected “I said that Mr. Porter was in the room and I introduced him, and he got up and took a bow. Then the orchestra played the introduction, and I did the first four bars and then proceeded to forget all the goddam words, swear to God. I couldn’t think. I just kept saying, ‘Night and day, night and day,’ for fifteen bars!” Sinatra recorded “Night and Day” at least five times in his recording career as well as countless other Cole Porter tunes. One of the most famous was “What Is This Thing Called Love” from the 1954 album In the Wee Small Hours. Author James Kaplan analyzes Sinatra’s interpretation of this Cole Porter classic.