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  Nelson Riddle and Frank Sinatra reviewing a score (1956)

“I’ve Got You Under My Skin” (Sinatra/Riddle) Guitar Tab

by Tim Darling (email) - October, 2012 (updated March, 2015)




Music articles


Overview / Summary

At one o’clock in the morning, early on Thursday January 12, 1956, Sinatra received a call at home from his producer, Voyle Gilmore. He had just finished recording Songs for Swinging Lovers earlier that night. Voyle delivered some bad news: Capitol Records had decided that the album would be released as a 12-inch LP (his previous ones were all 10-inch LPs) and so he needed 3 more songs to fill the space. Sinatra immediately called his arranger, Nelson Riddle, and asked for 3 more scores to be ready 18 hours later when they would be recorded live with the album’s 35 piece orchestra. He gave Nelson the name of the songs he wanted: "It Happened In Monterey", "Swingin’ Down The Lane", and "I’ve Got You Under My Skin". Sinatra added that for this last song, he wanted a long, building crescendo.

Nelson worked all night and by 7AM had scored the first 2 songs and handed them off to a copyist. Then he went to sleep for a few hours and started again at 1PM on "I’ve Got You Under My Skin". He worked on it through the evening and continued work by flashlight in the back seat of his car while his wife Doreen drove the 1.5 hours from Malibu to the Hollywood and Vine recording studio. 10 copyists were waiting for the score when they arrived; while it was being copied, the first 2 songs were recorded. 1

The orchestra on the night was conducted by Nelson and included Milt Bernhart (slide trombone solo), George Roberts (bass trombone), Morton Freidman (bari sax), Joe Comfort (bass), Bill Miller (piano), Felix and Eleanor Slatkin (violin/concertmaster and cello).
Download the full mp3 on iTunes or Amazon. (I’d be happy to post it for free, but I have to cover the royalties.)

Guitar, bass guitar, tabs/arrangement: Tim
Vocals: Michael Greenberg
Mixed and mastered: Ziv Music

The recording was punctuated by a long staccato George Roberts’ bass trombone buildup in the middle of the song, followed immediately by the full orchestra driving in and off-the-rails improvised slide trombone solo by Milt Bernhart. Nelson received a standing ovation after the first take, though they would do another 21.

While it only took Nelson 8 hours to pen the entire score, it took me 3-4 months to transcribe it for guitar and record it. The guitar tab was inspired by Jazz Band Chart’s orchestra chart which is a near replica of the original score. I also used Celemony’s Melodyne Wav->MIDI interpreter and my own ear to augment the chart - especially in terms of guitar sounds and dynamics. The vocal line as recorded here is as close to Sinatra’s own vocal line as I could come. I recorded it using Line 6’s Variax guitar, Focusrite Scarlett DI, Line 6 software amp simulators, and Reason Essentials recording software. Because the Variax acoustic guitar sound is based on the guitar's actual signal (it's not a sampling software), I used thicker, more acoustic-like, guitar strings on the vocal part (.012 Elixirs).

Ziv mixed the track on a physical analog console. He compressed the low saxes a lot to get the stabbing sound; the drums were sent to a parallel track, which was over-compressed, and then mixed back in with the original track to make them sound less modern and fuller.

The song has an unusual structure - no chorus. It is Intro/verse/verse/bridge/buildup,solo,post-solo/bridge/ending. Verse #2 has a different chord progression than verse #1 where the main riff adjusts slightly around it (see below). Songs for Swinging Lovers (1956) was recorded at 127 bpm; Duets (1993) was 133 bpm. Sinatra’s live versions were often around 140 bpm. This guitar recording is 130 bpm. "Most of our best numbers were in what I call the tempo of the heartbeat," Nelson said (a song at 120-130 bpm fits this range).

The intro/main riff is instantly memorable and recognizable. Riddle plagarized himself to steal it in later instrumental recordings, notably "You Are My Lucky Star" (2/25/1957). The intro to "Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love)" from Can Can (9/22/1959 20th Century Fox lot) is a variant of it. His arrangement of "When Your Lover Has Gone" for Ella Fitzgerald (11/14/1961) is also a variant of this intro and its middle section (starting at 1:14) sounds almost exactly like the middle section of Skin - which is helped by George Roberts playing the same part on both recordings.

The tab posted below uses the bass guitar to play the upright bass line and so a 6 string guitar plays the main riff. However if possible, that bari sax riff sounds better on a bass guitar (kept in the same octave) because the thicker strings make a thicker sound. The bari sax has, within its range, both a low and high tone in its voice. It can sometimes sound humorous that way: Nelson Riddle used its bouncy sound for the animal-voice middle sections in Swinging on a Star, for example. So with a bass guitar be sure to turn up the mids - 2k and especially 3k. The bari sax has a scratchy, resiny sound which I haven't found a good way to emulate. With slight retuning, this is what a bass would play:


Why post these tabs? While the song could be recorded on guitar over many weeks in a studio, as it’s tabbed below, authentically to the original recorded version, it’s an impossible cover for a band to pick up. Much of it can be simplified to be played. But the real intention is to contribute to both sides of the creative cycle: to untangle where Nelson Riddle got his inspiration from and to share his score to inspire future compositions. The main riff, for example, has probably rarely (or never) before been played on guitar but a version of it could provide a foundation for a guitar song. The chords, such as those in the intro (Guitar #2), the verse 2 chord changes, the bridge, and the post-solo section were not written for guitar but are fascinating when considered as new guitar approaches. The interplay between the Guitar #1 and bass guitar in the solo buildup is also worthy of attention by rock guitarists.


Intro
Sinatra’s intro   
(mp3)
Play clip   
(mp3)

"I would like to here state my preference for composing the introduction as the first step to writing an arrangement. The intro probably contains more original material than any other part of the arrangement." 3

"Some singers do not like to have any suggestion of the melody in the orchestration, and that involves the introduction!" 3 Still, in this song, the main riff in the intro does seem to be somewhat inspired by the opening vocal line (see image below).



Fills (example)
Play clip   
(mp3)



Verse #2 - Chord changes and violin fills
Play clip   
(mp3)


Bridge
Clip with vocals   
(mp3)
Chords only   
(mp3)

These are the chords and bass line for the first half of the bridge:
I’d sacrifice anything come what might / For the sake of having you near
In spite of a warning voice that comes in the night / And repeats, how it yells in my ear
This section is also the first time in the song that the bass is playing consistently 4 notes in a bar, which continues throughout the rest of the song, supporting the more driving feel of the final vocal passage. "The philosophy of where to write a bass two to a bar and where to write four to a bar is geared to the melody you are arranging and the tempo and the feel of the arrangement... In an arrangement of a moderately 'up' tune it might be advisable to start in '2' and add '4' as you go to the bridge, as in Frank Sinatra's 'I’ve Got You Under My Skin'. This arrangement starts in a moderately relaxed style, but is constructed to build gradually so that by the time Frank is singing the release [bridge], a '4' bass is a great big help!" 4

In the guitar version above, more distortion is used than in the full recording of the song to make it stand alone as a driving progression - one that could easily inspire a variant in a future rock song. An acoustic guitar accenting the chords on the downbeat was added (it was not in Riddle’s score). The last 2 bars (bars 7+8 in the tab below) are a bit similar to the opening riff in Stone Temple Pilots’ "Plush".


Buildup to solo
Play clip   
(mp3)

The middle buildup section was inspired by Ravel’s Bolero and Stan Kenton’s "23 Degrees North, 82 Degrees West" which George Roberts had earlier appeared on. That song is named for the coordinates of Havana, Cuba as a nod to its Afro-Cuban rhythms which this section picks up.

"It is a good idea... to check your sketch and make sure you have included some attractive counter-melodies." 3 This section is closely linked to the intro riff.


Milt Bernhart’s slide trombone solo
Play clip   
(mp3)

During the solo, Milt strained to point his trombone at the mic that was hanging high over the brass section, but it wasn’t loud enough - the engineer needed more volume. "Can you stand on something?" he asked. Sinatra went into the hall and put a small wooden crate down at Milt’s feet. During the solo, it was a balancing act for him to keep his balance. At the end of the session, Sinatra invited Milt into the booth to listen to the playback with him - a rare honor.


Post-solo
Play clip   
(mp3)

The solo leads into a driving 6 bar crescendo with the entire orchestra at full tilt - you can hear the horn players sliding up into the notes and gasping for breath on the Sinatra recording. For guitarists, the chord progression of Guitar 2 coupled with the sliding pairs of notes in Guitar 1 are a powerful combination that probably has never been played on guitar before. For most of the score, I played it in segments on the recording. Playing it as written at the song’s tempo would be impossible, but a simplified version is possible and my hope is it will inspire new ideas. The rhythms are critical - like the intro, it is a nice example of a swing beat.


Ending
Play clip   
(mp3)

The final two bars - the bass walk down mirrored by a trombone - reflects elements of the vocal line. It pulls together two descending lines, one from the bridge and the final 4 notes of the vocal, which are sang just overlapping the walk down. Listen to the final 8 notes in the bass line while following along with these lyrics: "ne - / ver can / win Un - / der my / Skin"

References / Footnotes:

1 Levinson, Peter. September in the Rain pg 128-129.
3 Arranged by Nelson Riddle pg 140-141.
4 Arranged by Nelson Riddle pg 100.


Your Comments

Hi Tim, My ame is Mario,you don't know me. I'VE BEEN LOOKING ON THE INTERNET AND CAME ACROSS YOUR SITE. I'VE BEEN LOOKING TO PUT TOGETHER A JAZZ GROUP FOR A LONG TIME, BUT PLAYED ROCK FOR MOST OF MY LIFE. I'M 65 YEARS YOUNG AND I'M RETIRED WITH A FIXED INCOME. HAVE BEEN PUTTING A GROUP OF SINGERS & MUSICIANS. WE ARE KEYBOARD,BASS, DRUMS, GUITARIST & MALE & FEMALE SINGER. WE INTEND TO DO A SINATRA STYLE SHOW (HOPEFULLY), BUT NEED THE RIGHT ARRAGEMENTS SINATRA/RIDDLE YOU HAVE ARE PERFECT.

YOUR SONGS YOU PUT ON YOUR SITE, I'VE GOT YOU UNDER MY SKIN, ETC SOUNDED JUST WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR. THE WAY YOU PUT THE SCORE IS FANTASTIC I LOVE THEM . WAS JUST WOUNDERING IF YOU CAN MAKE MY SINATRA SONG LIST AROUND 45 SONGS I HAVE PICKED AND ADD CHORDS NOMINCLATURE & PIANO CHORDS IN YOUR SCORE,BUT LEAVE THE BASS SEPERATE LIKE YOU HAVE I NOW (I'M THE BASSIST AND WOULD LIKE TO KEEP THE BASS & GUITAR AS SEPARATE STRINGS AS YOU HAVE THEM.) WOULD BE GREAT.would yuu please help us to put this together IT'S ALL NEW TO US. PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK. THANKS MARIO

-- Mario Vera, July 17, 2015
That particular Thursday evening, early in 1956, was my father's 35th birthday. I was born (the eighth of his nine children) exactly 272 nights later. Our home in Indiana as two hours ahead of Frank Sinatra's recording studio, in Los Angeles. I strongly suspect that I was conceived, in Indiana, while Mr. Sinatra, in L.A., was in the midst off his Herculian effort at crafting an acceptable (to him) version of his classic enditiion of "I've Got You Under My Skin"-- written by my fellow native of the Hoosier State, the inimitable Cole Porter-- although, of course, I never risked upsetting my parents by trying to verify that impertinent speculation, on my part..

-- Dan Hand, Nov 19, 2015
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All text copyright © 2012 Tim Darling.