The Story of Sinatra and Hoboken and What Went Wrong By Anthony De Palma, Jr. Epilog 1 - "I Don't Know Anybody Here" Maybe Sinatra has changed. Maybe he has resolved whatever personal conflict kept him from coming back home. Perhaps he feels he is ready to confront Hoboken again. He might be waiting for Hoboken to ask him back. It's a different place now, filled with young professionals from New York who have pushed out many of the old-timers who remember. The city has turned itself around, without Sinatra's help. The newcomers wouldn't feel any of the old pain. They'd be thrilled to have Sinatra, and would probably organize a tasteful celebration to honor the man -- a man so well into the autumn of his life. He's been thinking a lot about the past, and the future, lately, working on and off on his autobiography. His recent album Trilogy contains three records, one disc each dedicated to the past, the present, and the future. The last album ends with a haunting suite of reflections. The old man is musing here about those final undone deeds. Before the music ends, Before it fades away; there are sev'ral very necessary things I must do. Friends I must see again. Certain places I must be again. That place is Hoboken. With a heavy accent on the first two syllables. Before the music ends, I must go to Hoboken, one more time. I want to run down the streets where that thin Italian kid ran, And slow down at the school Where those nice old ladies tried to teach me, Unaware that I knew much more than they did, And stop at the poolroom for a beer, And sadly say to myself, "I don't know anybody here." Sinatra. Back in Hoboken. One more time. But then the chorus jumps in and interrupts the dream. "Francis...Don't go home again." [Copyright: 1980 Sergeant Music - ASCAP] 
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