Spike Lee is telling me the story of how he had to convince Frank Sinatra to let him use his music for Lee’s 1991 film Jungle Fever. Apparently, Ol’ Blue Eyes was upset about one of the film-maker’s earlier movies, Do the Right Thing. In an unforgettable scene, a ruckus breaks out in Sal’s Pizzeria, the neighborhood restaurant where the film’s protagonists hang. At one point during the chaos, a devastating fire starts, and the walls, adorned with photos of beloved celebrities – such as Frank Sinatra – burn.
Lee was trying to negotiate the rights with Sinatra’s daughter, Tina, who at the time handled the music legend’s business affairs. “You disrespected my father,” Tina told Lee, by his own account. Lee apologized and, for weeks, begged for a way to make amends. He told me that when he began writing Jungle Fever, he had a specific soundscape in mind, one that would establish the texture of a subversive film about interracial relationships in a post-civil rights era.
