UT-Austin Student Updates Sinatra Standard, Twitterverse Explodes

AUSTIN, TX — Many singers have tried to improve upon a Frank Sinatra song, only to have their efforts fall flat on playback. Yet a University of Texas at Austin student this week did it his way, with efforts at musical update being widely applauded on social media.

"Frank Sinatra called," David Sikabwe wrote as caption to a video posted May 21 of him poised to sing a Sinatra standard with guitar accompaniment. "He wanted a rap verse for 'Fly Me to the Moon.' Happy to oblige."

What followed is seamless musical update in the form of rapped preface perfectly conveying the romantic, over-the-moon sentiment emoted in the classic song. Sikabwe explained he's had the rap lyrics sitting in his Notes app for nearly a year before unleashing their syncopated musicality to the world.

"They say that everyday the universe expands," Sikabwe begins rapping, with timed percussive slaps of his guitar. "And we discover things that we don't understand. Dark matter ain't the only mystery at hand. I'm wonderin' how I got a girl like you to say that I'm her man."

Oh, there's more: "It's a statistical anomaly, but girl you've got me. Gravity is pulling me to your heavenly body. The constellations couldn't make as beautiful a pattern. The conversations — every night I ring you up like Saturn."

Are you swooning yet? Sikabwe displayed his full, formerly stored, lyrics in a separate tweet:

He achieved a tricky equilibrium of homage with personal twist by building on the constellation theme set to rap before seguing nicely into a musical bar faithful to Sinatra's original cadence. His choice of Sinatra signature song — recorded in the glorious Reprise label years with Sinatra at the peak of his powers for the 1964 album "It Might As Well Be Swing" — happens to be among Sinatra's most timeless works. Recorded with Count Basie studio accompaniment and Quincy Jones musical arrangements, the recording is suffused with an implausibly contemporary vibe, yielding fertile ground for modern interpretation.

In his heyday, Sinatra elicited manically emotional reaction from screaming teenage girls dubbed "bobby soxers" for their choice of footwear, not unlike reaction to boy bands of today. With the Harry James orchestra playing behind him, Sinatra was, after all, the original boy singer in the 40s— offering musical respite as the world waged war.

With his Twitter performance, Sikabwe has elicited similar zealous reactions.

"Make metaphors comparing me to galaxies, and my heart be like...." Twitter user madybanouvong wrote, ending her missive with liberal use of emoji icons — a rocket ship, planets, stars and the like — in conveying figurative, romance-fueled flight. "I love this!!!" Vicky Fox wrote, the triple-use of exclamation marks hers. Meg X succinctly responded with *swoons* in conveying her reaction. "Me at my phone watching this for the 3rd time," Kat offered, with corresponding GIF. "He had me at Saturn," added Carolyn Porco. Added Crystal: "This is the purest and the sweetest thing I've heard all day."

Jamie Marie, meanwhile, re-tweeted Sikabwe's video accompanied with photos of her reaction in what appears to be the full throes of all the feels. "This mans just stole my whole heart," she wrote in a syntax eminently forgivable given the apparent power of her emotions.

Late-night talk show host James Corden got wind of the Twitter performance too. "I could legitimately listen to this all day," he wrote.

Understand that for Sinatraphiles, the discography of Old Blue Eyes is akin to musical holy grail, a vessel buttressed by musical architecture carefully constructed to withstand the ravages of time with the highest of craftsmanship-like standards. This is hallowed musical ground from arguably the best interpreter of popular music to have ever lived, a legacy not to be trifled with over-the-top imitation but approached with equal parts homage and reverence, with not small measure of respect to the master, in attempting replication.

Sikabwe, well, he did it his way, with his fans spreading the news — nearly a quarter-million likes, 70,000 shares and some 3,600 comments at last check. And, somewhere, the Chairman of the Board is smiling.