was signed to Capitol Records after being discovered by singer Peggy Lee. Montgomery recorded "That's Life", written by Dean Kay and Kelly Gordon, in 1964. It was released the same year, but failed to chart.
While "That's Life" was first recorded by Marion Montgomery, the song came to the attention of Frank Sinatra when he heard O.C. Smith's chart-climbing cover in his car in 1965. He stopped the car, called his daughter Nancy and told her to find the publisher of the song because he wanted to record it; she did. Sinatra first performed the song on his television special A Man and His Music – Part II in 1966, with an arrangement by Nelson Riddle. The recorded version, made after the taping to the TV Special, was arranged and conducted by Ernie Freeman and produced by Jimmy Bowen. The trio had previously worked together earlier in 1966 on "Strangers in the Night", which got Sinatra the Grammy Award for Best Male Vocal. For "That's Life", the background singers were the vocal contractor and singer B.J. Baker, along with Gwen Johnson and Jackie Ward. 40 first-chair musicians were also assembled for Sinatra's recording including Glen Campbell and many of the members of the Wrecking Crew. Sinatra took two passes at the song. He ended the first take with, "Oh yeah." Bowen asked him to perform it again, which annoyed 'one take' Sinatra – resulting in the biting performance Bowen was looking for - which Sinatra tagged with the defiant, "My, My." LA session player Mike Melvoin performed the Hammond organ solo on the recording. Bowen's vision for the rest of the album was to mirror "That's Life" onto the other songs so they all sounded similar, rather than fill it with what he viewed as typical Sinatra-style songs. This was as a result of his work on the Strangers in the Night album, where Bowen felt that the titular single did not match the rest of the album, which was more of a classic Sinatra sound. So for the That's Life album, the other album tracks had similar brass accompaniments. Both the album and the song proved major successes for Sinatra. The song was a number-four hit on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and reached number one on the Easy Listening chart for three weeks in December 1966/January 1967. In Canada, the song reached number three. Sinatra's cover of "That's Life" was later used in the 1993 film A Bronx Tale alongside his recording of "Same Old Song and Dance". It was also featured in the 2004 video game Tony Hawk's Underground 2. The song was also in the 1988 filmLicense to Drive, a scene where the main character puts clown makeup on and the final scene of the 2019 film Joker, and during the final scene of the final episode of the sixth season of the NBC television comedy series Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Usually after home losses, the Vegas Golden Knights play the Sinatra version at T-Mobile Arena.
Other versions
Although the O.C. Smith version had proved successful in areas such Detroit and Los Angeles, it was not until Sinatra's cover of it went high in the charts that the earlier version was released nationally. As well as the Smith release, "That's Life" was covered on several albums following Sinatra's success with it, including the Aretha Franklin album Aretha Arrives, in addition to recordings by The Temptations, Shirley Bassey, and James Brown. Brown recorded the song for his 1968 album Gettin' Down to It, and it subsequently appeared on his 1985 albumLive at the Apollo, Volume II. Brown's studio-recorded version also appeared on the soundtrack for the 1999 filmEDtv. Deana Martin also recorded "That's Life" on her 2016 released album, Swing Street. This was not the only occasion when a cover of the song appeared on a film's soundtrack. In 2002, a recording by Bono and composed by Elliot Goldenthal appeared on the soundtrack for The Good Thief. The song was also covered in "Opening Night", a second-season episode of the American television seriesSmash, by Katherine McPhee and Megan Hilty. David Lee Roth also recorded a version in 1986 for his Eat 'Em and Smile album which was released as a single and video. Vik Sahay performed the song on an episode of Preacher.
