My Way

In 1967, Jacques Revaux wrote a ballad named "For Me", with English lyrics about a couple falling out of love. 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.{{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}} It was released in November 1967 and was at the top of the French pop chart for one week in February 1968.{{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}}

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." But the song was not formally recorded, and the project was shelved. (Bowie later developed his idea into a wholly original song, "Life on Mars?," which became a hit single for him and one of his signature songs.){{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}}{{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}}

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.{{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}} He acquired adaptation, recording, and publishing rights for the nominal, but formal, consideration of one dollar,[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 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.The rights holders including Jacques Revaux and Claude François' heirs sold it to Xavier Niel in 2009 Some time 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."

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:

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.

{{Certification Table Top}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Germany|type=single|artist=Frank Sinatra|title=My Way|award=Gold|relyear=1969|certyear=2023|access-date=March 21, 2023}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Italy|type=single|artist=Frank Sinatra|title=My Way|award=Platinum|relyear=1997|certyear=2024|access-date=April 3, 2024|id=12312}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=New Zealand|type=single|artist=Frank Sinatra|title=My Way|award=Platinum|relyear=1969|certyear=2024|source=radioscope|access-date=January 13, 2025}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Spain|artist=Frank Sinatra|title=My Way|type=single|award=Gold|relyear=1969|certyear=2024|id=frank-sinatra-my-way|access-date=February 22, 2024}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|type=single|artist=Frank Sinatra|title=My Way|award=Platinum|relyear=2006|certyear=2022|id=4474-823-1|salesamount=991,563|salesref={{cite web|url=http://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/the-uks-official-chart-millionaires-revealed__20459/|title=The UK's Official Chart 'millionaires' revealed|last=Copsey|first=Rob|date=September 19, 2017 |publisher=Official Charts Company|access-date=October 19, 2017 |archive-date=September 19, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170919122703/http://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/the-uks-official-chart-millionaires-revealed__20459/|url-status=live}}|access-date=July 8, 2022}}

{{Certification Table Bottom|nosales=true|noshipments=true|streaming=true}}

David Bowie wrote the first English-language lyrics to Claude François' original song, though the lyrics and performance were only informally recorded and never commercially published.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/5cSdD53NknkB4nWXRKCWwd4/the-origins-of-my-way|first=Anthony|last=Wall|title=The Origins Of My Way}} The version by Brook Benton reached number 49 in Canada in May 1970.{{cite web|url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/028020/f2/nlc008388.5065.pdf| title=RPM Top 100 Singles – May 16, 1970 | website=Collections Canada | via=Library and Archives Canada | publisher=RPM Magazine | access-date=July 11, 2024}}

In the midst of Sinatra's multiple runs on the UK Singles Chart, Welsh singer Dorothy Squires also released a rendition of "My Way" in summer 1970. Her recording reached number 25 on the UK Singles Chart and re-entered the chart twice more during that year.

{{Infobox song

| name = My Way

| cover = Elvis_Presley_My_Way_Single_Cover.jpg

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = Elvis Presley

| album = Elvis in Concert

| B-side = America

| released = October 3, 1977

| recorded = June 21, 1977

| studio =

| genre = Pop, country

| length = 3:51

| label = RCA Records

| composer = Jacques Revaux

| lyricist = * Gilles Thibaut

• Claude François
• Paul Anka

| producer =

| prev_title = Way Down

| prev_year = 1977

| next_title = Unchained Melody

| next_year = 1978

}}

Elvis Presley began performing the song in concert during the mid-1970s, despite Anka's suggestions that the song did not suit him. Nevertheless, on January 12 and 14, 1973, Presley sang the song during his satellite show Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite, beamed live and on deferred basis (for European audiences, who also saw it in prime time), to 43 countries via Intelsat.

On October 3, 1977, several weeks after Presley's death, his live recording of "My Way" (recorded for the Elvis in Concert CBS-TV special on June 21, 1977) was released as a single. In the U.S., it reached number 22 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart in late 1977/early 1978 (higher than Frank Sinatra's peak position), number 6 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, and went gold for its successful sales of over a million copies. The following year the single reached number 2 on the Billboard Country singles chart but went all the way to number 1 on the rival Cash Box Country Singles chart. In the UK, it reached number 9 on the UK Singles Chart.

Presley's version is featured in the climax of the 2001 film 3000 Miles to Graceland (Paul Anka appears in a cameo as a casino pit boss who loathes Presley).

Presley's studio version of the song, recorded in 1971, was included on the fourth disc of "Walk a Mile in My Shoes: The Essential '70s Masters".

{{Certification Table Top}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Canada|type=single|artist=Elvis Presley|title=My Way|award=Platinum|relyear=1977|certyear=1978|salesamount=200,000|salesref={{cite magazine|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/70s/1978/Billboard%201978-04-01.pdf|title=Singles Still Sell At RCA|magazine=Billboard|page=75|date=1978-04-01 |access-date=2023-01-04}}}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|type=single|artist=Elvis Presley|title=My Way|award=Silver|relyear=1977|certyear=1977|id=4474-2984-1}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United States|type=single|artist=Elvis Presley|title=My Way|award=Gold|relyear=1977|certyear=1978}}

{{Certification Table Bottom|nosales=yes}}

{{Infobox song

| name = My Way

| cover =

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = Sid Vicious

| album = The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle

| released = June 30, 1978{{Cite web |date=2024-06-20 |title=Sid Vicious- timeline |url=https://www.jungle-records.net/index.php/12-newreleases/52-sid-vicious |access-date=2025-04-13 |website=NME |language=en-GB}}

| recorded = April 10, 1978[http://www.claude-engel.com/home.html] Claude Engel official website (French)

| A-side = No One Is Innocent

| studio =

| genre = Punk rock

| length = 4:06

| label = Virgin Records

| composer = Jacques Revaux

| lyricist = * Gilles Thibaut

• Claude François
• Paul Anka

| producer = Bill Price, Simon Jeffes

| prev_title =

| prev_year =

| next_title =

| next_year =

}}

Sex Pistols' bassist Sid Vicious did a punk rock version of the song, in which a large body of the words were changed and the arrangement was sped up. The orchestral backing was arranged by Simon Jeffes.

Interviewed in 2007, Paul Anka said he had been "somewhat destabilized by the Sex Pistols' version. It was kind of curious, but I felt he [Sid Vicious] was sincere about it."

Vicious and his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, changed many of the words when it was recorded, including use of the swear words "cunt" and "fuck" as well as the word "queer" (slang for a gay man). Vicious's reference to a "prat who wears hats" was an in-joke directed towards Vicious's friend and Sex Pistols bandmate Johnny Rotten, who was fond of wearing different kinds of hats he would pick up at rummage sales.{{citation needed|date=April 2020}}

Leonard Cohen said of the song: {{blockquote|I never liked this song except when Sid Vicious did it. Sung straight, it somehow deprives the appetite of a certain taste we'd like to have on our lips. When Sid Vicious did it, he provided that other side to the song; the certainty, the self-congratulation, the daily heroism of Sinatra's version is completely exploded by this desperate, mad, humorous voice. I can't go round in a raincoat and fedora looking over my life saying I did it my way{{snd}}well, for 10 minutes in some American bar over a gin and tonic you might be able to get away with it. But Sid Vicious's rendition takes in everybody; everybody is messed up like that, everybody is the mad hero of his own drama. It explodes the whole culture this self-presentation can take place in, so it completes the song for me.{{cite web |title="My Way" By Sid Vicious Is On Leonard Cohen's Jukebox |url=https://allanshowalter.com/2020/09/25/my-way-by-sid-vicious-is-on-leonard-cohens-jukebox/#identifier_1_28106 |date=2020-09-25 |access-date=2021-07-14 |archive-date=2021-07-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210714200808/https://allanshowalter.com/2020/09/25/my-way-by-sid-vicious-is-on-leonard-cohens-jukebox/#identifier_1_28106 |url-status=live }}}}

The 1986 film Sid and Nancy features a scene where Gary Oldman, portraying Vicious, performs his version of "My Way" while filming the song's music video.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/movie-lists/25-greatest-punk-rock-movies-of-all-time-103577/sid-and-nancy-1986-2-104175/|title=25 best punk rock movies of all time|last1=Grierson|first1=Tim|last2=Adams|first2=Sam|last3=Fear|first3=Dave|last4=Garber-Paul|first4=Elisabeth|date=2016-08-09|magazine=Rolling Stone|access-date=2020-01-22|archive-date=2020-11-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111045013/https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/movie-lists/25-greatest-punk-rock-movies-of-all-time-103577/sid-and-nancy-1986-2-104175|url-status=live}}

Vicious's version of this song appears in Martin Scorsese's 1990 film Goodfellas, where it plays over the end credits.{{IMDb title|qid=Q42047|title=Goodfellas}}

In December 2019 footage of Margaret Mackie, a resident of Northcare Suites Care Home in Edinburgh who suffers from dementia, performing "My Way" with staff member Jamie Lee Morley, went viral after being posted online by Mackie's daughter.{{cite news|url=https://www.scotsman.com/news/people/watch-the-heartwarming-moment-elderly-woman-with-dementia-at-edinburgh-care-home-sings-frank-sinatra-song-at-christmas-party-1-5060204|title=Watch the heartwarming moment elderly woman with dementia at Edinburgh care home sings Frank Sinatra song at Christmas party|last=McKenzie|first=Jamie|date=2019-12-10|work=The Scotsman|access-date=2020-01-22|archive-date=2019-12-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191211140439/https://www.scotsman.com/news/people/watch-the-heartwarming-moment-elderly-woman-with-dementia-at-edinburgh-care-home-sings-frank-sinatra-song-at-christmas-party-1-5060204|url-status=live}}

Morley later arranged to have the song professionally recorded and it was released in January 2020 as a charity single to raise funds for Alzheimer's Society and Dementia UK. The single peaked at number four in the iTunes top 40 UK Pop Songs live chart and number two in the Amazon best seller chart.{{cite news|url=https://metro.co.uk/2020/01/21/care-home-resident-dementia-releases-charity-single-storms-uk-charts-12097746/|title=Care home resident with dementia releases charity single|last=Mahamood|first=Basit|date=21 January 2020|work=The Scotsman|access-date=2020-01-22|archive-date=2020-01-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200122134837/https://metro.co.uk/2020/01/21/care-home-resident-dementia-releases-charity-single-storms-uk-charts-12097746/|url-status=live}}{{cite news|url=https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/people/edinburgh-woman-83-dementia-reaches-no7-itunes-charts-charity-single-duet-frank-sinatras-my-way-1367158|title=Edinburgh woman, 83, with dementia reaches No.7 in iTunes charts with charity single duet of Frank Sinatra's My Way|last=McKenzie|first=Jamie|date=2020-01-17|work=Edinburgh News|access-date=2020-01-22|archive-date=2020-01-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200118005953/https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/people/edinburgh-woman-83-dementia-reaches-no7-itunes-charts-charity-single-duet-frank-sinatras-my-way-1367158|url-status=live}}

In Japan, Yūzō Kayama, who is usually called the Japanese Frank Sinatra, performed "My Way" in 2008 in English.{{cite AV media | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SccMw0LgTM | title=My Way _He is Japanese Frank Sinatra |website=YouTube}} On April 23 and 30, 2015, as part of 2 vocal overdubbed sessions, Yūzō Kayama performed "My Way" with the earlier record of Frank Sinatra as a duet.{{cite AV media | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXtDLfCfmd8 | title=フランク・シナトラ{{snd}}マイ・ウェイ（Duet with 加山雄三） | website=YouTube }}

The song is popularly associated with nostalgia to an individual's lifetime of events.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/dec/10/frank-sinatra-songs-for-young-lovers-and-other-capitol-reissues|title=Frank Sinatra: Songs for Young Lovers and other Capitol reissues|first=Richard|last=Cook|date=2014-12-10|website=The Guardian|access-date=2019-03-02|archive-date=2019-03-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190306044251/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/dec/10/frank-sinatra-songs-for-young-lovers-and-other-capitol-reissues|url-status=live}} Surveys beginning in 2005 have often reported that "My Way" has been the song most frequently played at funeral services in the UK.[http://arts.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,11711,1644251,00.html My Way tops funeral charts] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080210140159/http://arts.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,11711,1644251,00.html |date=2008-02-10}}{{snd}}An article in The Guardian{{cite web |title=Funeral Music Chart |url=https://www.coop.co.uk/funeralcare/music/charts |website=The Co-operative Group |access-date=2020-07-18|archive-date=2020-07-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200719225021/https://www.coop.co.uk/funeralcare/music/charts |url-status=live }} In her memoir Walk Through Walls, Marina Abramović expressed her desire for Nina Simone's version of "My Way" to be performed by Anohni at her funeral.{{cite book |last1=Abramović |first1=Marina |last2=Kaplan |first2=James |author-link=Marina Abramović |author-link2=James Kaplan |date=2016 |title=Prolazim kroz zidove |trans-title=Walk Through Walls |language=sr |publisher=Samizdat B92 |isbn=978-86-7963-485-6 |translator-first=Ivan |translator-last=Radosavljević |page=232}}

"My Way" is also a popular karaoke song around the world. However, it has been reported to cause numerous incidents of violence and homicide among karaoke singers in the Philippines, referred to in the media as the My Way killings, which has led to the song being banned in many Filipino bars.{{cite web

|first = Dominic

|last = Utton

|title = My Way: The story behind the song

|url = http://www.dailyexpress.co.uk/posts/view/91687

|work = Daily Express

|location = London

|publisher = Northern and Shell Media Publications

|date = 2009-03-28

|access-date = 2009-07-11

|quote = 'Meanwhile, in the Philippines My Way is so popular at karaoke bars that it has been declared responsible for a number of deaths after arguments over performances degenerated into violence{{snd}}a social phenomenon referred to by the Philippine media as "My Way killings".'

|archive-date = 2009-10-17

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091017042143/http://www.dailyexpress.co.uk/posts/view/91687

|url-status = live

}}{{cite news

|first = Norimitsu

|last = Onishi

|title = Sinatra Song Often Strikes Deadly Chord

|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/07/world/asia/07karaoke.html

|work = The New York Times

|date = 2010-02-06

|access-date = 2009-02-09

|quote = 'Whatever the reason, many karaoke bars have removed the song from their playbooks. And the country's many Sinatra lovers... are practicing self-censorship out of perceived self-preservation.'

|archive-date = 2010-02-09

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100209220920/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/07/world/asia/07karaoke.html

|url-status = live

}}

The song's association with Sinatra led to Mikhail Gorbachev's policy of allowing other states in the Warsaw Pact to make their own policy decisions being nicknamed the Sinatra Doctrine, referencing the lyrics about doing things one's own way. The term was first used by Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennadi Gerasimov in 1987, who was quoted as saying "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."{{cite news |title=His Way |work=Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-11-29-vw-7232-story.html |access-date=2010-09-07}}{{cite news |title='Sinatra Doctrine' at Work in Warsaw Pact, Soviet Says |work=Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-10-25-mn-745-story.html |access-date=2023-04-11}}

In 2024, the song was played at Alexei Navalny's funeral.{{Cite news |date=2024-03-01 |title=Russian opposition leader buried as police keep public at arm's length |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/03/01/alexei-navalny-funeral-moscow-updates/ |access-date=2024-03-01 |newspaper=Washington Post |language=en}} French singer Yseult sang it at the end of the 2024 Summer Olympics Closing Ceremony at Stade de France in Paris.{{Cite web |date=2024-08-11 |title=French artist Yseult delivers stunning rendition of 'My Way' to close 2024 Paris Olympics |url=https://www.today.com/news/paris-olympics/my-way-closing-ceremony-rcna166158 |access-date=2024-08-12 |website=TODAY.com |language=en}}

{{Reflist|refs=

{{cite web|url=https://www.france24.com/en/20191113-regrets-i-ve-had-a-few-says-my-way-songwriter|title=Regrets I've had a few, says 'My Way' songwriter|date=2019-11-13|website=France 24|access-date=2019-11-13|archive-date=2019-11-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191113193025/https://www.france24.com/en/20191113-regrets-i-ve-had-a-few-says-my-way-songwriter|url-status=live}}

{{cite news | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandjazzmusic/3669097/Paul-Anka-One-song-the-Sex-Pistols-wont-be-singing.html | title=Paul Anka: One song the Sex Pistols won't be singing | work=The Daily Telegraph | location=London | first=Neil | last=McCormick | date=2007-11-08 | access-date=2016-11-08 | archive-date=2019-07-24 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190724030500/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandjazzmusic/3669097/Paul-Anka-One-song-the-Sex-Pistols-wont-be-singing.html | url-status=live}}}}

• [https://genius.com/Frank-sinatra-my-way-lyrics Song lyrics]

{{Frank Sinatra}}

{{Frank Sinatra singles}}

{{Paul Anka}}

{{Nina Hagen}}

{{Brook Benton}}

{{Sex Pistols}}

{{Julio Iglesias}}

Category:1969 songs

Category:1969 singles

Category:1970 singles

Category:1977 singles

Category:1980 singles

Category:1960s ballads

Category:Pop ballads

Category:Frank Sinatra songs

Category:Elvis Presley songs

Category:Paul Anka songs

Category:Dorothy Squires songs

Category:Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients

Category:Schlager songs

Category:Songs about nostalgia

Category:Songs about death

Category:President Records singles

Category:RCA Records singles

Category:Songs with music by Claude François

Category:Songs written by Jacques Revaux

Category:Songs written by Gilles Thibaut

Category:Songs written by Paul Anka

Category:Reprise Records singles

Category:Virgin Records singles