Editing My Way (section)

==Background==
In 1967, [[Jacques Revaux]] wrote a [[Sentimental ballad|ballad]] named "For Me", with English lyrics about a couple falling out of love.<ref name="france24"/> According to Revaux, the demo was then sent to [[Petula Clark]], [[Dalida]], and [[Claude François]], to no avail. Revaux rejected a version by [[Hervé Vilard]], the singer of the international hit "[[Capri c'est fini]]" and reworked the track into "Comme d'habitude" ("As Usual") with the help of Claude François.<ref>{{cite web|date=2020-06-11|title=Once upon a song {{!}} The story of 'Comme d'habitude', which became the international hit 'My Way'|url=https://whatthefrance.org/my-way-the-legendary-song-celebrates-its-50-year-birthday-bertrand-dicale-meets-jacques-revaux-for-what-the-france/|access-date=2021-08-28|website=What The France|archive-date=2021-08-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210828162613/https://whatthefrance.org/my-way-the-legendary-song-celebrates-its-50-year-birthday-bertrand-dicale-meets-jacques-revaux-for-what-the-france/|url-status=live}}</ref> It was released in November 1967 and was at the top of the French pop chart for one week in February 1968.<ref>{{cite web|title=TOP{{snd}}3 février 1968|url=http://www.top-france.fr/html/hebdo/19680203.htm|access-date=2021-08-28|archive-date=2021-08-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210828162612/http://www.top-france.fr/html/hebdo/19680203.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1968, seeking to capitalize on the song's European success, music publisher David Pitt asked a young [[David Bowie]], who was then working as a for-hire songwriter, to tackle an English version of the lyrics to "Comme d'habitude" for release in English-speaking markets.  Bowie wrote and recorded a demo version of his interpretation, "Even a Fool Learns to Love".However, the song was not formally recorded, and the project was shelved. (Bowie later developed his idea into a wholly original song, "[[Life on Mars (song)|Life on Mars]]", which became a hit single for him and one of his signature songs.)<ref>{{cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKx_PH3M0ho  |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/wKx_PH3M0ho| archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live| title=David Bowie - [VH-1] Story Tellers (1/3) | publisher=YouTube | medium=Video | location=see 3:10-minute mark |access-date=9 January 2021}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Arena: The Origins Of My Way |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/5cSdD53NknkB4nWXRKCWwd4/the-origins-of-my-way |publisher=BBC |access-date=9 January 2021}}</ref>

Paul Anka heard the French original while on holiday in the south of France. He flew to Paris to negotiate the rights to the song.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://music.guardian.co.uk/vinylword/story/0,,2129407,00.html|title=How Sinatra did it My Way{{snd}}via a French pop star and a Canadian lounge act|work=the Guardian|date=2007-07-05|access-date=2008-05-12|archive-date=2008-01-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080122200306/http://music.guardian.co.uk/vinylword/story/0,,2129407,00.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Telegraph"/> He acquired adaptation, recording, and publishing rights for the nominal, but formal, consideration of one dollar,<ref>[https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4793881 Paul Anka, "With Paul Anka, 'Rock Swings', Part Two"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170701152209/http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4793881 |date=2017-07-01 }}, interviewed on Fresh Air, WHYY, August 10, 2005</ref> subject to the provision that the three songwriters would retain their original share of royalty rights with respect to whatever versions Anka or his designates created or produced.<ref>The rights holders including [[Jacques Revaux]] and [[Claude François]]' heirs sold it to [[Xavier Niel]] in 2009</ref> Sometime later, Anka had a dinner in Florida with Frank Sinatra and "a couple of Mob guys" during which Sinatra said: "I'm quitting the business. I'm sick of it; I'm getting the hell out."<ref name="Telegraph"/>

Back in New York, Anka re-wrote the original French song for Sinatra, subtly altering the melodic structure{{fact|date=January 2025}} and changing the lyrical theme: <blockquote>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.</blockquote> Anka finished the song at 5 in the morning: "I called Frank up in Nevada—he was at [[Caesars Palace]]{{snd}}and said, 'I've got something really special for you.{{'"}}<ref name="Telegraph"/> Anka asserted: "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."<ref name="Telegraph"/>

On December 30, 1968, Frank Sinatra recorded his version of the song in one take, featuring session drummer [[Buddy Saltzman]] among the band. "My Way" was released in early 1969 on the ''[[My Way (Frank Sinatra album)|My Way]]'' LP and as a single. It reached No. 27 on the [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]] chart and No. 2 on the [[Adult Contemporary (chart)|Easy Listening]] chart in the US. In the UK, the single achieved a still unmatched record, becoming the recording with the most weeks inside the top 40, spending 75 weeks from April 1969 to September 1971. It spent a further 47 weeks in the top 75 but never bettered the No. 5 slot achieved upon its first chart run.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.everyhit.com/record6.html|title=Record-Breakers and Trivia|access-date=2021-04-22|archive-date=2018-10-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181022035502/http://www.everyhit.com/record6.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' said that the "driving, lush and commercial [[Don Costa]] arrangement and production is an added plus to one of Sinatra's finest performances."<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=Billboard|access-date=2023-05-09|date=1969-03-22|page=71|title=Spotlight Singles|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/60s/1969/Billboard-1969-03-22.pdf}}</ref> ''[[Cash Box]]'' said that "The powerful material is matched by a splendidly moving performance which is certain to win rave comments from programmers with teen and adult audiences."<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Cash Box|access-date=2023-05-09|date=1969-03-22|page=18|title=CashBox Record Reviews|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/60s/1969/CB-1969-03-22.pdf}}</ref>

Although this work became Frank Sinatra's [[signature song]], his daughter [[Tina Sinatra|Tina]] says the singer came to hate the song: "He didn't like it. That song stuck and he couldn't get it off his shoe. He always thought that song was self-serving and self-indulgent."<ref>{{cite news|title=Sinatra 'loathed' My Way|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/994742.stm|access-date=2016-06-20|publisher=BBC|date=2000-10-30|archive-date=2021-01-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210120140510/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/994742.stm|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2000, the 1969 release of "My Way" by Frank Sinatra on [[Reprise Records]] was inducted into the [[Grammy Hall of Fame]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.grammy.com/awards/hall-of-fame-award#m|website=Grammy Awards|title=GRAMMY HALL OF FAME AWARD}}</ref>

Despite asserting that he never intended to sing the song himself, Anka recorded "My Way" in 1969, shortly after Sinatra's recording was released. Anka recorded it four other times as well: in 1996 (as a duet with [[Gabriel Byrne]], performed in the film ''[[Mad Dog Time]]''); in 1998 in Spanish as "A mi manera" (duet with [[Julio Iglesias]]); in 2007 (as a duet with [[Jon Bon Jovi]]);<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.last.fm/music/Paul+Anka/Classic+Songs,+My+Way|title=Classic Songs, My Way{{snd}}Paul Anka|website=[[Last.fm]]|access-date=2021-04-22|archive-date=2017-04-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170406120540/https://www.last.fm/music/Paul+Anka/Classic+Songs,+My+Way|url-status=live}}</ref> and in 2013 (as a duet with [[Garou (singer)|Garou]]).<ref>Forever_Gentlemen</ref>