My Way

“My Way” is considered to be one of American songwriter’s Frank Sinatra’s most well known tracks. It is the sixth track from the same titled album released by Sinatra in 1969.

“My Way” was originally a 1967 French pop song, titled “Comme d’habitude” (As Usual), performed by French singer Claude François. Paul Anka, a songwriter, heard the track while he was on holiday in the south of France. Anka flew to Paris to negotiate the rights to the song, and in a 2007 interview with British newspaper The Daily Telegraph, Anka stated that he “thought it was a shitty record, but there was something in it”. Eventually, Anka acquired adaptation recording and publishing right for the tracks, however subject to the provision that the original melody’s composers would retain their original share of the royalty rights (with respect to alternate versions Anka or his team produce). In the same interview from The Daily Telegraph, Anka stated that he had a dinner with Frank Sinatra and “a couple of Mob guys”, in which Sinatra said “I’m quitting the business. I’m sick of it; I’m getting the hell out.” When Anka was back in New York, he re-wrote the original track for Sinatra, as well as subtly altering the melodic structure of that track: “”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 track at 5 in the morning, and called Sinatra when he had finished. “I called Frank up in Nevada – he was at Caesar’s Palace – and said, ‘I’ve got something really special for you’”. 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.” However, Anka went on to later record the track 5 times – singing it himself as well as featuring other musicians.

There is no music video for the track, but an official audio upload that can be found on Frank Sinatra’s official YouTube in December 2018. As of October 2019, the video has over 5.6 million views, and over 66 thousand likes.

Release Date: 1st January 1969

Songwriter/s: Claude François & Jacques Revaux (Original French version); Paul Anka (English version)

Producer/s: Sonny Burke

Label: Reprise

Chart Rankings & Certifications: In its year of release, “My Way” ranked in charts across the world. Ranking at #28 and #2 on different Canadian charts, #4 in Ireland, #5 in the UK, #27 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, #2 on the US Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, and #29 on the US Cash Box Top 100 chart. The track as Gold certification in Italy and Silver in the United Kingdom.