The Best Is Yet to Come (Come Fly with Me, 1959)

Lore & Background

The *Come Fly with Me* album was conceived as a unified package: Van Heusen and Cahn composed a suite of songs built around a travel-and-adventure theme, then handed the whole set to Sinatra to record. The result was a commercial juggernaut that reasserted Sinatra as the reigning king of the popular song. "The Best Is Yet to Come" functions as the album's emotional anchor—a moment where the restless, globe-trotting energy of the surrounding tracks settles into a warm, intimate declaration. Where other numbers on the record urge you to board a plane or chase a sunset, this one simply says: stay, and trust that what comes next is worth the wait. Musically, the track showcases the big-band arrangement style that defined this stretch of Sinatra's career. A full orchestra, a driving but unhurried tempo, and Sinatra's baritone laid over the top with that signature half-smile in the voice. It is not a power ballad; it is a swaggering, easygoing assurance, delivered as though he's leaning against a bar rail and telling you a secret. The phrasing is relaxed, the dynamics controlled, and the final lines land with a gentle, almost conspiratorial resolve. In the broader arc of Sinatra's recording career, the song sits in what fans and historians call his "Swing Era," a period in the late 1950s when he reunited with big orchestras after the more stripped-down, intimate sessions of the mid-fifties. The album's success proved that audiences still wanted the full, glorious sound, and tracks like "The Best Is Yet to Come" became shorthand for that particular Sinatra magic: the big band, the easy swing, and a voice that could make a lyric about the future sound like it was already happening.

In Their Own Story

The studio lights are warm and amber, the kind that make the brass section look like it's glowing from within. Frank stands at the mic in a dark suit, no tie, top button undone, and he's just finished the last chorus of the previous number. The band is still breathing out the final chord. He tips his head toward the arranger, a small nod that means *okay, next one*. The tempo clicks in—medium, unhurried, a waltz that walks rather than runs. He doesn't rush the downbeat. He lets the first phrase float in a half-beat late, as if he's just remembered the line mid-thought. The horns swell behind him, and his voice sits right on top, conversational, a little smirking, as though the whole orchestra is just there to keep time while he tells you something he genuinely believes. The last note rings out. He exhales through his nose, gives the band a single raised eyebrow, and the room goes quiet in the best way.

Reader's Guide

The Best Is Yet to Come (1958) is one of those tracks that explains why Sinatra was called the voice of a generation. Written by Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn as part of the *Come Fly with Me* package for Capitol Records, it is a mid-tempo, big-band number that leans on Sinatra's most natural gift: making a melody feel like a sentence he just thought of. The tempo is unhurried—neither a strut nor a ballad—giving him room to phrase each line with a slight, deliberate lag that makes every word land like a small, private joke. The story behind the recording is the story of the album itself: a full orchestra, a travel-themed concept, and Sinatra at the peak of his commercial power, proving the big-band sound was far from dead. The most widely seen live or TV moments for this era come from his mid-to-late 1950s television appearances, where he'd deliver these numbers with the same relaxed, half-lidded confidence you hear on the record.

Did You Know?

• The entire *Come Fly with Me* album was written as a single, unified package by Van Heusen and Cahn specifically for Sinatra, rather than being assembled from pre-existing songs.
• The album marked Sinatra's high-profile return to the big-band sound after the more intimate, small-group sessions of the mid-1950s, and it became one of his biggest commercial sellers.
• Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen were one of the most prolific and successful songwriting partnerships in American popular music, and this album is a prime example of their gift for writing to a specific singer's voice an
• The album's travel-and-adventure theme was a deliberate creative choice, giving the songs a narrative arc that made the record feel like a journey from start to finish.