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My Way" is an English version of a French song. The English
lyrics were
written by Paul Anka and
popularized by Frank
Sinatra on his 1969 album My
Way. The melody is that of the French song "Comme d'habitude"
composed in 1967 by Claude François and Jacques Revaux.
Anka's English lyrics
are unrelated to the original
French by Claude
François and Gilles
Thibaut. "My Way" is often quoted as the most remade song in history.
Paul Anka heard the original 1967 French pop song, Comme
d'habitude (as usual) performed by Claude Francois with
music by
Claude Francois and Jacques Revaux and lyrics by Claude Francois and
Gilles
Thibault, while on holiday in the south of France. He flew to Paris to
negotiate
the rights to the song.[1] In a
2007 interview,
he said: "I thought it was a bad record, but there was something in it."[2] He
acquired publishing rights at no cost[3] and,
two years later, had a dinner in Florida with Frank
Sinatra and "a couple of Mob guys" at which Sinatra
said he was
"quitting the business. I'm sick of it, I'm getting the hell out". [2]
Back in New York, Anka re-wrote
the original French song for Sinatra, subtly altering the melodic
structure and
changing the lyrics: "At one o'clock in the morning, I sat down at an
old IBM
electric typewriter and said, 'If Frank were writing this, what would he
say?'
And I started, metaphorically, 'And now the end is near.' I read a lot
of
periodicals, and I noticed everything was 'my this' and 'my that'. We
were in
the 'me generation' and Frank became the guy for me to use to say that. I
used
words I would never use: 'I ate it up and spit it out.' But that's the
way he
talked. I used to be around steam
rooms with the Rat Pack guys -
they liked to talk like Mob guys, even though they would have been
scared of
their own shadows." Anka finished the song at 5am. "I called Frank up in
Nevada - he was at Caesar's Palace -
and
said, 'I've got something really special for you.'"[2] Anka
claimed: "When my record company caught wind of it, they were very
pissed that I didn't keep it for myself. I said, 'Hey, I can write it,
but I'm
not the guy to sing it.' It was for Frank, no one else."[2]
Frank Sinatra recorded his version of the song on December 30, 1968
and it
was rush-released in early 1969. It reached #27 in the U.S. In the UK
the single
achieved a still unmatched record, becoming the recording with most
weeks inside
the Top 40. It spent 75 weeks between April 1969 and Sep 1971. It has
spent a
further 49 weeks in the Top 75 but never bettered the #5 slot achieved
upon its
first chart run. [4]
| Frank Sinatra | |
|---|---|
 Frank Sinatra in 1960 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Francis Albert Sinatra |
| Also known as | Ol' Blue Eyes[1] The Chairman of the Board[1] The Voice[1] Frankie |
| Born | December 12, 1915 Hoboken, New Jersey, United States[2] |
| Died | May 14, 1998 (aged 82) Los Angeles, California United States |
| Genres | Traditional pop, jazz, big band, vocal[3] |
| Occupations | Singer[1] actor producer[1] director[1] conductor[4] |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Years active | 1935–1995[5] |
| Labels | Columbia, Capitol, Reprise |
| Associated acts | Rat Pack Bing Crosby Nancy Sinatra Quincy Jones |
| Website | www.franksinatra.com |