Frank Sinatra - Soliloquy [Outtake]

"Soliloquy" is a 1945 song composed by Richard Rodgers, with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, written for their 1945 musical Carousel, where it was introduced by John Raitt. Gordon MacRae sings it in the 1956 movie adaptation. Sinatra was originally going to be in the movie, but was unhappy with the way it was being filmed and backed out. Frank Sinatra had recently become a father when he first recorded "Soliloquy" for the first time on May 28, 1946. With the time limitation of about 3:30 on a 10" 78-rpm record his 7:57 long recording was released on Columbia's Masterwork label (the classical division) as two sides of a 12" record. Frank Sinatra was originally cast to play Billy Bigelow in the movie. He even pre-recorded the songs he was to sing in the film (this version is a movie outtake). Prior to filming, the cast knew they had to film some scenes twice, one for regular Cinemascope and the other for CinemaScope 55. According to one account, when Sinatra arrived on the set, he claimed that he was being paid to film one movie, not two, and he walked away from the set and said: "You're not getting two Sinatras for the price of one". However, according to Shirley Jones' 2014 autobiography, the real reason he walked away from the film was that the love of his life, Ava Gardner, told him that if he didn't accompany her on her film set immediately, she would start an affair with her costar. Gardner was in the late stages of filming The Barefoot Contessa at the time. After Sinatra left the production, the filmmakers found a way to film the scene once on 55mm, then transfer it onto 35mm; thus, the film did not have to be shot twice. The song is extremely unusual in that it requires the singer to sing solo (and occasionally speak) for a full seven-and-a-half minutes, in the manner of an operatic aria, without the benefit of an accompanying choral group "taking up the slack", as is usually the case in long musical numbers.