About The Song
Recorded at a time when Frank Sinatra considered retiring, ‘My Way’ has become a timeless anthem for the generations that followed.
Frank Sinatra‘s recording of “My Way” has spent longer on the UK singles chart than any other song – an amazing 124 weeks. That’s almost twice as long as its nearest rival, which you might be surprised to know is “Amazing Grace” by Judy Collins. It’s a timeless anthem that, even in a digital world where songs can be streamed endlessly at the touch of a button, will never be superseded, no matter the prevailing trends.
Sinatra recorded the song on December 30, 1968, at Western Recorders, in what was a rare event for The Chairman: an afternoon recording session. At around 3 pm, 40 musicians, conducted Sinatra’s long-standing pianist Bill Miller, began working on what would become an anthem for Frank – and whole generations to follow. The song was, however, originally composed as “Comme d’Habitude” (“As Usual”), written by Jacques Revaux and Gilles Thibault along with Egyptian-born French singer Claude François. Canadian singer Paul Anka added the English words, turning it into the classic we now know.
According to Anka, “I had a house in France, which was where I heard the Claude François record, and I liked the melody, but not the words so much. I knew the French publisher and they gave me the song, and I thought I would reconstruct the feel of the song. I met Frank where he was filming Tony Rome, and he said he was retiring. The song became a composite of my life and his, but mostly his. I made a demo with a session singer, called him; I said that I thought I had something pretty sensational. Don saw the worth of it – Frank stayed cool, but I knew he liked it. Three, four, five weeks later, I had a phone call and they said, ‘Listen to this,’ and played the record over the phone to me. They were very excited! I’d never had a song quite of that substance. It was pressed up, but they threw the first run of copies away because they didn’t like the mix.”
Anka’s attempt to write an English lyric for “Comme d’Habitude” was not the first. A few months before Anka, David Bowie had a crack calling it “Even A Fool Learns To Love,” but his demo (containing the lyrics “There was a time, the laughing time/I took my heart to every party/They’d point my way/How are you today?”) was rejected.
Sinatra’s version of “My Way” entered the Billboard chart in the last week of March 1969 at No. 69; it was the highest new entry of the week. Six weeks later, it reached its peak of No. 27, where it stalled – surprisingly, given the song’s subsequent status as an anthem. ‘My Way’ made No. 5 in the UK, which accounts for the fact that the LP of the same name did significantly better in Britain in the summer of 1969.
Video
Lyric
Let’s sing along with the lyrics!
And now, the end is near
And so I face the final curtain
My friend, I’ll say it clear
I’ll state my case, of which I’m certain
I’ve lived a life that’s full
I traveled each and every highway
And more, much more than this, I did it my wayRegrets, I’ve had a few
But then again, too few to mention
I did what I had to do
And saw it through without exemption
I planned each charted course
Each careful step along the byway
And more, much more than this, I did it my wayYes, there were times, I’m sure you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew
But through it all, when there was doubt
I ate it up and spit it out
I faced it all and I stood tall and did it my wayI’ve loved, I’ve laughed and cried
I’ve had my fill, my share of losing
And now, as tears subside
I find it all so amusing
To think I did all that
And may I say, not in a shy way
Oh, no, oh, no, not me, I did it my wayFor what is a man, what has he got?
If not himself, then he has naught
To say the things he truly feels
And not the words of one who kneels
The record shows
I took the blows
And did it my wayYes, it was my way