Morale in America was low and dipping in 1940, with Germany running rampant over Europe and tensions in the east with Japan at an all-time high. What was needed was a fresh face and a fresh voice, someone strong enough to have the older generation remember their better days, and with a song capturing the desire to restore the world behind. What was needed was the young Frank Sinatra and the instant classic “I’ll Never Smile Again.”

On this day, May 23, in 1940, Frank Sinatra recorded his first major hit “I’ll Never Smile Again”, a song written a year earlier by Ruth Lowe, in memory of her husband who died during surgery.

Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra played the music, with vocals provided by Sinatra and The Pied Pipers. The song climbed to #1 on the Billboard Best Sellers chart by July of that year and stayed there for twelve weeks. This was the first of many more Frank Sinatra smash hits.