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My Way (song)
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Everything about My Way Song totally explained

"My Way" is a song with lyrics written by Paul Anka and popularized by Frank Sinatra. The melody is a French song "Comme d'habitude" composed by Claude François and Jacques Revaux. Anka's English lyrics are unrelated to the original French by Claude François and Gilles Thibaut.

Themes

The Song lyrics of "My Way" tell the story of a man who is nearing death.

Origin

Paul Anka heard the original 1967 French pop song, Comme d'habitude performed by Claude Francois with music by Jacques Revaux and lyrics by Gilles Thibault, while on holiday in Paris. In a 2007 interview, he said: "I thought it was a shitty record, but there was something in it." He acquired publishing rights 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". It was the closing number on his 1974 concert document The Main Event - Live and is also featured as the penultimate song on his Live from Las Vegas 1986 performance. A DVD of a 1978 Vegas performance of it's included in the collection.
   Sinatra also duetted the song with two performers in the last years before his death: Luciano Pavarotti (released on the album ) and Willie Nelson (recorded for the Duets series in the mid-1990s but not released until 2005 in the Collector's Edition Set). Both recordings use the same Sinatra vocal and instrumental track.
   On his 1998 album, A Body of Work, Anka uses Sinatra's original vocal track from 1969 to duet with him on a cover of the song as a tribute to Sinatra, who died that year. The arrangement on the Anka track is completely different from Sinatra's original.

Dorothy Squires version

In the midst of Sinatra's multiple runs on the UK Singles Chart, Welsh singer Dorothy Squires also released a rendition of "My Way", released in Summer 1970. Her recording reached number 10 on the UK Singles Chart, and itself re-entered the chart twice more during that year.

Elvis Presley version

Elvis Presley began performing the song in concert during the mid-1970s. On October 3, 1977, several months after his death, his live recording of "My Way" (recorded for the "Elvis In Concert" CBS-TV special on June 21, 1977) was released as a single. In the U.S., it reached number 22 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart, number 1 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, and the following year reached number 2 on the Country singles chart. In the UK, it reached number 9 on the UK Singles Chart.

Sid Vicious version

Sex Pistols' bassist Sid Vicious did a well-known punk rock version of the song. This version, in which a large body of the words were changed and the arrangement was sped up, charted at #6 in the UK in 1979.
   Interviewed in 2007, Paul Anka said he'd been "somewhat destabilised by the Sex Pistols' version. It was kind of curious, but I felt he (Sid Vicious) was sincere about it."
   Rapper Jay-z covered the song on his 2002 release the .
   In 1969 Richie Ray & Bobby Cruz were the first to release a Spanish version, "A Mi Manera", which later won them a Gold record.
   In 1972 the Spanish singer Raphael recorded a close translation to Spanish "A mi manera" from the lyrics of Paul Anka that got to number one in sales in Spain and Latin America. Paul Potts recorded "A Mi Manera" for his album One Chance.
   Anka also duetted with Julio Iglesias in a unique half-English, half-Spanish version of "My Way" on Anka's duets album Amigos.
   The song "A Mi Manera", on the Gipsy Kings' eponymous 1988 album Gipsy Kings, is a loose translation of Anka's lyrics into Spanish. Robin Williams, voicing the penguin character Ramón, sings A Mi Manera in the CGI animated movie Happy Feet.
   In a segment for Sesame Street, Oscar the Grouch sang an anti-littering song called "Just Throw It My Way", a parody of the song.
   Songwriter Bob Blue wrote a satire about life as a college student called "Their Way" (Lyrics).
   Bollywood Music director Pritam include a version of this song Is This Love in his film Pyaar Ke Side Effects, in 2006.
   Russian singer Iosif Kobzon, during the concert dedicated to his 70th anniversary (in 2007), performed the Russian version of the song "Moy put'" (Russian text written by Ilia Reznik).
   Professional Snooker player Dominic Dale sang a bit of the song in an interview after winning the 2007 Shanghai Masters Cup, with the audience cheering him on.

Cultural references

Popularity as a tribute

"My Way" was found to be the song the most frequently played at British funeral services.
   It was played at the 1992 Winston Cup Awards Banquet in honor of Alan Kulwicki. The tribute was also played on ESPN following Kulwicki's death in April 1993. William Shatner opened the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award tribute to George Lucas by performing a spoken word version of the song.
   Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder requested the song for his final military sendoff (Zapfenstreich (in German)) prior to the inauguration of Angela Merkel.
   At the 2006 Boston Celtics season opener, a video tribute set to Sinatra's version of "My Way" was shown to honor Red Auerbach, who had died days earlier. It was also used during a video tribute for Boom-Boom Geoffrion's jersey retirement.
   The former Serbian president charged with war crimes Slobodan Milošević was said to be a huge fan of the song, which he'd play repeatedly in his prison cell in the Hague during his trial for crimes against humanity.
   The song was used in parting to Plantsbrook Leavers from the class of 2008 where J-Farr-Superstar lip-synched to the final chorus.

References in songs

The chorus of Bon Jovi's "It's My Life" (subsequently covered by Paul Anka on Rock Swings) references the song, in the line "My heart is like an open highway/Like Frankie said, I did it my way."
   The eclectic pop duo Sparks released a song titled "When Do I Get to Sing 'My Way'" on their 1994 album Gratuitous Sax & Senseless Violins.
   Rapper Jay-Z has made reference to the song several times over his career, and on The Blueprint 2 he samples the tune for his own song, entitled "I Did It My Way."
   On his 2005 live DVD Who Put the M in Manchester?, Morrissey kicks off the set list by singing an a cappella snippet of "My Way", prior to launching into "First of the Gang to Die".

Other popular culture references

The identification of the song with Sinatra became so strong, and the song so iconic, that the Soviet government of Mikhail Gorbachev jokingly referred to its policy of non-intervention in the internal affairs of other Warsaw Pact countries as the Sinatra Doctrine.
   It was briefly sung in Russian in by an astronaut. His crew are irritated by the song and shout "Sing at home!", while the singer replies, with a giggle, "At home, they tell me to sing in space."
   "My Way" is one of the most popular songs sung in karaoke bars around the world, to the point that it has been reported to cause numerous incidents of violence and homicides among drunkards in bars in The Philippines.
   "My Way" was in the Buffy season 3 episode "Lover's Walk" twice, first sung by the character Spike in a drunken moment of self-pity, then again at the very end Gary Oldman's version from the film 'Sid And Nancy' was played (as the producers were unable to get permission from the Sex Pistols to use Sid's version).
   My Way is number two on George Carlin's 10 Most Embarrassing Songs of All Time "My Way" was translated into a made-up language called Dogg by Tom Stoppard in his play Dogg's Hamlet, where it's entitled "Satisfied Egg".
   It was played during an episode of Season 6a of The Sopranos while Vito drives back to New Jersey to face Tony regarding his homosexuality.
   "My Way" was played at the 880th victory of Bobby Knight. He passed Dean Smith as the coach with the most wins in NCAA Division I basketball with this win.
   "My Way" has been referenced several times in the comic strip Dilbert, primarily by Bob the Dinosaur.
   A version of "My Way" appears and is sung by Anthony Michael Hall (as Bill Gates) in the movie Pirates of Silicon Valley.
   During an interview with J. K. Rowling she mentioned that My Way was the song that she'd have played at Professor Dumbledore's funeral
   In a holiday episode of General Hospital, the character of Luke Spencer sang the song in a sequence in which he was about to enter heaven while he was having heart surgery.

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Further Information

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