"It Was a Very Good Year" is a song composed by Ervin Drake in 1961 and originally recorded by Bob Shane of the Kingston Trio for their album Goin' Places.
[1][2] It was made famous by Frank Sinatra's version in D minor from his album September of my Years,[3] which won the Grammy Award for Best Male Vocal Performance at the 8th Annual Grammy Awards in 1966 and became Sinatra's first number one Adult Contemporary single, also peaking at No.
In the song's final verse, the singer reflects that he is older, and in the autumn of his years, and he thinks back on his entire life "as vintage wine".
[8] Drake wrote the song in less than a day,[9] although he had been considering employing the metaphor of life as a vintage wine in a lyric for several years prior.
[10] Ervin Drake's inspiration to write the song was his future wife Edith Vincent Bermaine.