The Story Behind Frank Sinatra’s Hit Song My Way

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The Story Behind Frank Sinatra’s Hit Song My Way

Harvey Bell

· Singing

Since launching his career in 1981, Harvey Bell has taken a person-by-person approach to his professional relationships. Outside of his work, longtime New Jersey resident Harvey Bell is a longtime fan of singer Frank Sinatra (1915-1998).

One of Sinatra’s greatest hits, My Way, came to public attention via a circuitous route. It was originally a French song, Comme L’Habitude, written by Gilles Thibault, Jacques Revaux, and the man who first sang it, Claude Francois. American songwriter Paul Anka liked it and purchased the rights to its melody.

Conceiving My Way as a tribute to Sinatra’s life, Anka wrote English lyrics, recorded a preliminary version of it with a session singer, and sent it to him. Sinatra liked it, and, at the end of 1968, he and a 40-piece orchestra committed it to vinyl. (Ironically, British pop star David Bowie also adapted the lyrics. His record company declined.)

Sinatra’s version of the song entered the Billboard charts in March 1969 as the highest new entry. It never climbed higher than number 27, only later becoming an anthem of American individualism. Though Sinatra’s style had fallen out of favor in the late 1960s, My Way kept his name before the public.

Although it was later criticized for its male-centric point of view by no less than Sinatra’s daughter Tina, other performers released their own renditions of the song. The list of cover singers ranges from Brook Benton and Elvis Presley (posthumously) to Willie Nelson and Shane McGowan of the Irish band The Pogues. Perhaps the least likely artist to have recorded the song is the late Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols. 