During a visit to Paris in 1968, Anka had heard Claude Francois' "Come d' Habitude" on the radio. After he secured rights to the song, co-written by Francois, Gillis Thibault, and Jacques Revaux, Anka rewrote it as "My Way," a song so lyrically powerful that it was embraced by Frank Sinatra as his signature song, as well as by Elvis Presley, Tom Jones, Nina Simone, Brook Benton, Nina Hagen, the Sex Pistols' Sid Vicious and hundreds of others.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

 

A few weeks after returning from France, Anka began listening to a piano demo he'd made of the song in his New York apartment. After midnight, and during a thunder storm, he began to write lyrics on his Selectric typewriter. He recalls, "I thought, 'What would Frank say if he was writing this?' I kept playing it at the piano, and eventually went, 'And now the end is near, and so I face the final curtain.' As soon as I wrote the title, I knew I had it. I finished the song at 5 a.m. I called Don Costa (then Sinatra's musical director) and said 'Don, I think I've got something.'"

 

When Sinatra heard the song, he immediately wanted to record it. The track was recorded in two takes, and under a half-hour. "They called me in New York, and played the recording over the speakers," recalls Anka. "I started crying. It was the turning point of my career."

 

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My Way  (äänitiedosto)

 

Co-written by Paul Anka & Frank Sinatra
As performed by Frank Sinatra
Hit # 27 on the Top 40 charts in 1969

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've traveled each and every highway.
And more, much more than this,
I did it my way.

Regrets, 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 way.

Yes, 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 way.

I'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 way".

For 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 way!

I did it my way.