My Way (song)
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"My Way" is a popular song, which in its English-language version is an adaptation by Paul Anka of the French song Comme d'habitude, written by Claude François and Jacques Revaux. It became the signature song for Frank Sinatra, even though Sinatra himself did not rate the song highly.
Written in 1968 and released on the album of the same name in 1969, the lyrics of "My Way" picture a dying man, facing the "final curtain," looking back in his life and deciding that he is satisfied with the way he lived it.
- "Regrets, I've had a few, but then again too few to mention...."
The song is very popular within the karaoke subculture and is a favorite of Dogbert. It is also a song that is a popular choice for funerals, along with Don't Stop Me Now by Queen.
Greta Keller always included the song during her last decade performing and did a duet with Rod McKuen singing the song at Lincoln Center in New York City and in Vienna.
Sinatra duetted the song with two performers before his death: Luciano Pavarotti (released on the album Sinatra 80th: Live In Concert) and Willie Nelson (recorded for the Duets series in the mid-1990s but not released until 2005 in the Collector's Edition Set). It should be noted that both recordings use the same Sinatra vocal and instrumental track.
Sinatra Doctrine
Main article: Sinatra doctrine
Gennadi Gerasimov, the spokesman for Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, coined the expression "the Sinatra Doctrine" in 1989 to refer to the Soviet government's decision that the USSR should no longer force other Warsaw Pact nations to do things its way: "We now have the Frank Sinatra doctrine. He has a song, "(I Did It) My Way." So every country decides on its own which road to take."
Covers
Over the years the song has become a standard, and has been the subject of numerous cover versions. The most noteworthy, notorious and successful of these was by Sid Vicious who added a punk rock reworking to the lyrics. His version reached number six on the British singles chart in 1978 and was later used in the closing credits of the movie Goodfellas. Elvis Presley's version also reached the British Top 10 with his version peaking at number nine in 1977, however in the United States it failed to reach the Top 20.
Paul Anka featured the song on his 1998 album Body Of Work. Although it uses Sinatra's vocals from the original 1968 track, Anka duets with Frank along with a new arrangement in memoriam to Sinatra, who died earlier that year.
Robin Williams performs this song in Spanish in the third trailer for the film Happy Feet. [1]
References
David Bowie used it as a basis for his song "Life on Mars?". Bon Jovi referenced it in the line "Like Frankie said 'I did it my way'" in their song "It's My Life". Later, Paul Anka did his own version of Bon Jovi's song. The band Sparks referenced it quite obviously in their song "So when do I get to sing My Way?", specifically the refrain "So when do I get to sing My Way?/So when do I get to feel like Sinatra felt?"fr:Comme d'habitude nl:My Way pl:My Way