My Way (song)
Encyclopedia
"My Way" is a song popularized by Frank Sinatra
. Its lyrics were written by Paul Anka
and set to music based on the French
song "Comme d'habitude
" composed in 1967 by Claude François
and Jacques Revaux
, with lyrics by Claude François and Gilles Thibault. Anka's English lyrics are unrelated to the original French song. "My Way" is often quoted as the most covered
song in history.
(as usual) performed by Claude François
, while on holiday in the south of France. He flew to Paris to negotiate the rights to the song. In a 2007 interview, he said: "I thought it was a bad record, but there was something in it." He acquired publishing rights at no cost except the melody's rights kept by the authors, and, two years later, had a dinner in Florida
with Frank Sinatra and "a couple of Mob
guys" at 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 and changing the lyrics:
- he was at Caesar's Palace
- and said, 'I've got something really special for you.'" Anka claimed: "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." Despite this, Anka would later record the song in 1969 (very shortly after Sinatra's recording was released), in 1996 (as a duet with Gabriel Byrne
, performed in the movie Mad Dog Time
), and in 2007 (as a duet with Jon Bon Jovi
).
Frank Sinatra recorded his version of the song on December 30, 1968, and it was released in early 1969 on the album of the same name
and as a single. It reached #27 on the Billboard Hot 100
chart and #2 on the 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 49 weeks in the Top 75 but never bettered the #5 slot achieved upon its first chart run.
also released a rendition of "My Way" in Summer 1970. Her recording reached number 10 on the UK Singles Chart and re-entered the chart twice more during that year.
began performing the song in concert during the mid-1970s, in spite of suggestions by Paul Anka, who told him it was not a song that would suit him. Nevertheless, on January 12 and 14 of 1973 Presley sang the song during his satellite show "Aloha from Hawaii", beamed live and on deferred basis (for European audiences, who also saw it in prime time), to 43 countries via Intelsat
, the only time that a single entertainer faced such a worldwide audience. In the continental US, the show was carried by NBC, and shown in primetime on April 14, thus achieving very high ratings and eventually helping the show reach a worldwide viewership of over 1 billion.
On October 3, 1977, several weeks after his 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 (higher than Frank Sinatra's peak position), number 6 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, and went Gold for its successful sales of over half 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.
' bassist
Sid Vicious
did a punk rock
version of the song. This version, in which a large body of the words were changed and the arrangement was sped up, charted at #7 in the UK in 1978. 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 did not know all the lyrics to the song when it was recorded, so he improvised several lyrics. Vicious' reference to a "prat who wears hats" was an in-joke directed towards Vicious' friend John Lydon
, who was fond of wearing different kinds of hats he would pick up at rummage sales.
An edited version of the Sid Vicious cover is played during the closing credits of the movie Goodfellas
.
In her album The End
, released in conjunction with the film Nana 2
, singer and actress Mika Nakashima
performs a cover of Sid Vicious' version of the song with what sounds like an audience singing background vocals.
In the film The Great Rock'n'Roll Swindle the original footage for the track shows Sid Vicious at the end taking out a hand gun and opening fire on the audience, we see two members graphically shot and slumping dead into their seats. Sid then sneers, throws the gun away, and flicks the V's at the audience and ascends the stair case he walked down to the stage from. For the music video version, director Julien Temple
removed the original footage featuring actors playing the audience and the final graphic violence and replaced a few of the audience cutaways with stock footage of a theatre audience from the 1950s (he also drowned out Sid's use of the F-word in the third verse with audience applause). Although the censored version was still controversial, it merely showed Sid wildly shooting a gun towards the crowd. All of the footage of the bullet impacts and corpses were removed. The music video was recreated for director Alex Cox
's film Sid and Nancy
, with the final person Sid (Gary Oldman
) shoots being girlfriend Nancy Spungen
(Chloe Webb
), eerily foreshadowing her eventual murder at Sid's hands. However, in the film, she gets up and the two embrace as the stage lights are turned off.
had success with her re-arranged version of the song, released on 1971's Here Comes the Sun
, which was more upbeat and melodic, and included a syncopated rhythm highlighted by the addition of conga drums. It became a staple of her live concerts.
Brook Benton
hit the pop, R&B, and easy listening charts with a recording of the song in 1970.
Shirley Bassey
recorded the song for her 1970 album Something
. She also performed it live on numerous occasions notably the 1976 Royal Variety Performance. In the weeks following Sinatra's death in 1998, Bassey sang it as a tribute to him on her "Diamond" concert tour.
The leading gorilla, Ape, in 1997's George of the Jungle performs the song at the movie's conclusion.
The Romanian rock singer Dida Drăgan recorded this song in 1977, with Romanian lyrics, accompanied by National Radio-Television Pop Orchestra, conducted by Sile Dinicu.
Gonzo the Great
performed the song in a 1980 episode of The Muppet Show
. He sings this song before leaving the show to pursue a movie career in Bombay
.
Nina Hagen
released a version of "My Way" as a single in 1980. It contained "My Way" (4:25), "Alptraum" (4:06) and "No Way" (1:05).
Greta Keller
always included the song during her last decade of performing and did a duet with Rod McKuen
singing the song at Lincoln Center in New York City and in Vienna
.
Gipsy Kings
, a group which popularized the Rumba Flamenca, covered the song using the traditional gipsy sound. Their version is entitled "A Mi Manera (Comme D'habitude)", though most fail to recognize that this is a cover due the lyrics being sung in Spanish
U2
regularly performed a snippet of "My Way" at the end of their song "Ultraviolet (Light My Way)
" during their 1992–1993 Zoo TV Tour
.
Patti LuPone
performs this song as part of her one-woman show Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda.
One of Argentina's top rock performers, Andres Calamaro
released "My Way" in an interesting reggae version in his Las otras caras de Alta Suciedad album.
Runner up Raymond Quinn from the UK TV series X Factor
covered "My Way" for his album Doing It My Way.
Bobby Solo
does a recording of the song in Italian called "La Mia Strada". Another Italian version "La Mia Via" lyrics by Andrea Lo Vecchio was recorded by Fred Bongusto
in 1975.
Popular Ukrainian rock band Okean Elzy
performed the song (the only one of the set in English) during their symphony-accompanied renaissance tour.
A black metal
version of the song has been performed by the French band Mütiilation
on the album From the Entrails to the Dirt
.
Robbie Williams
sang My Way in his concert at the Royal Albert Hall
on October 10, 2001. This version of the song was recorded and released in the DVD Live At The Albert
.
The symphonic metal group Northern Kings
covered this song in their latest album, Rethroned
, released November 19, 2008.
The German Euro Disco artist Fancy
covered the song on his 2008 album Forever Magic.
British satirical show Spitting Image
, who frequently ended each episode with a musical number, rounded off a season with a puppet of Margaret Thatcher
singing the song word-for-word.
The Pogues
' Shane MacGowan
recorded a punk cover of the song, reaching #29 on the UK singles chart. His version was used for a Nike commercial.
Japanese pop
singer Mika Nakashima
covered the song on her 2006 album The End
. The song, like the whole of The End album is credited as Nana starring Mika Nakashima.
Patti Austin
covered the song on her 2011 album Sound Advice
.
Jacky Cheung
performed the song at the 30th Hong Kong Film Awards, on April 17, 2011.
Vicente Fernández
Spanish version titled "A Mi Manera".
TMZ
founder and People's Court
legal analyst Harvey Levin
covered the song with Anka in 2011.
Dutch singer and painter Herman Brood
covered the song. It was part of his posthumous greatest hits album "My Way
" (2001). The title song was released on single and became his first #1 single in the Dutch top 40.
University of Massachusetts Minuteman Marching Band
traditionally covers this song at every post-game show. They also sing it at non-performance events as a way of ending their meetings. In 2010, when their band director George N. Parks
died during a band trip in Michigan, every time they covered this song that year, they did it to commemorate him.
On September 13, 2011, Landau Eugene Murphy, Jr. performed the song during the finals of the sixth season
of the NBC
reality television
series America's Got Talent
. The following evening he was crowned the winner, and was awarded the show's $1 million grand prize.
R. Kelly
covered the song on his Love Letter
album tour in 2011.
The Japanese rockband Kishidan
has covered the song in concerts, and will release a recorded version in December 2011.
In the 2002 movie Happy Feet, Robin Williams (voice of a penguin) sang a cover of the song in spanish.
In Hong Kong TV show East Wing West Wing TV
, a man look like Steve Jobs
sung this song but with a few lyrics changed.
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
. Its lyrics were written by Paul Anka
Paul Anka
Paul Albert Anka, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and actor.Anka first became famous as a teen idol in the late 1950s and 1960s with hit songs like "Diana'", "Lonely Boy", and "Put Your Head on My Shoulder"...
and set to music based on the French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
song "Comme d'habitude
Comme d'habitude
"Comme d’habitude" is a French song written in 1967 by Claude François and Jacques Revaux with lyrics by Claude François and Gilles Thibaut....
" composed in 1967 by Claude François
Claude François
Claude François was a French pop singer, songwriter and dancer. He wrote "Comme d'habitude," the original version of "My Way."-Early life:...
and Jacques Revaux
Jacques Revaux
Jacques Revaux is a French songwriter most famous for his 1968 collaboration with singer Claude François on the song "Comme d'habitude" that singer-songwriter Paul Anka reworked into the English language as "My Way". He co-founded Trema Records with Regis Talar...
, with lyrics by Claude François and Gilles Thibault. Anka's English lyrics are unrelated to the original French song. "My Way" is often quoted as the most covered
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
song in history.
Themes
The lyrics of "My Way" tells the story of a man who is nearly dead. He is comfortable with it and takes responsibility for how he dealt with all the twists of his life while maintaining a respectable degree of integrity.Origin
Paul Anka heard the original 1967 French pop song, Comme d'habitudeComme d'habitude
"Comme d’habitude" is a French song written in 1967 by Claude François and Jacques Revaux with lyrics by Claude François and Gilles Thibaut....
(as usual) performed by Claude François
Claude François
Claude François was a French pop singer, songwriter and dancer. He wrote "Comme d'habitude," the original version of "My Way."-Early life:...
, while on holiday in the south of France. He flew to Paris to negotiate the rights to the song. In a 2007 interview, he said: "I thought it was a bad record, but there was something in it." He acquired publishing rights at no cost except the melody's rights kept by the authors, and, two years later, had a dinner in Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
with Frank Sinatra and "a couple of Mob
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
guys" at which Sinatra said: "I'm quitting the business. I'm sick of it, I'm getting the hell out."
Back in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, Anka re-wrote the original French song for Sinatra, subtly altering the melodic structure and changing the lyrics:
"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 roomAnka finished the song at 5am. "I called Frank up in NevadaSteam roomA steam room is an enclosed space with large amounts of high temperature steam, creating a high humidity environment. People sit in this room in a similar way to a sauna , for relaxation and purported benefits to health and well being. They can be commonly found in gyms, sanitariums and health...
s with the Rat PackRat PackThe Rat Pack was a group of actors originally centered on Humphrey Bogart. In the mid-1960s it was the name used by the press and the general public to refer to a later variation of the group, after Bogart's death, that called itself "the summit" or "the clan," featuring Frank Sinatra, Dean...
guys - they liked to talk like Mob guys, even though they would have been scared of their own shadows."
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
- he was at Caesar's Palace
Caesars Palace
Caesars Palace is a luxury hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, an unincorporated township in Clark County, Nevada, United States in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. Caesars Palace is owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment Corp....
- and said, 'I've got something really special for you.'" Anka claimed: "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." Despite this, Anka would later record the song in 1969 (very shortly after Sinatra's recording was released), in 1996 (as a duet with Gabriel Byrne
Gabriel Byrne
Gabriel James Byrne is an Irish actor, film director, film producer, writer, cultural ambassador and audiobook narrator. His acting career began in the Focus Theatre before he joined Londo's Royal Court Theatre in 1979. Byrne's screen debut came in the Irish soap opera The Riordans and the...
, performed in the movie Mad Dog Time
Mad Dog Time
Mad Dog Time is a 1996 ensemble cast crime film written and directed by Larry Bishop, released through United Artists...
), and in 2007 (as a duet with Jon Bon Jovi
Jon Bon Jovi
Jon Bon Jovi is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and actor, best known as the founder, occasional rhythm guitarist, and lead singer of rock band Bon Jovi, which was named after him...
).
Frank Sinatra recorded his version of the song on December 30, 1968, and it was released in early 1969 on the album of the same name
My Way (Frank Sinatra album)
My Way is an album by American singer Frank Sinatra, released in 1969.The album is a collection of contemporary pop songs, such as Simon and Garfunkel's "Mrs...
and as a single. It reached #27 on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
chart and #2 on the 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 49 weeks in the Top 75 but never bettered the #5 slot achieved upon its first chart run.
Dorothy Squires version
In the midst of Sinatra's multiple runs on the UK Singles Chart, Welsh singer Dorothy SquiresDorothy Squires
Dorothy Squires was a Welsh vocalist. Among her recordings were versions of "A Lovely Way to Spend an Evening", "I'm in the Mood for Love", "Anytime", "If You Love Me " and "And So to Sleep Again".-Biography:...
also released a rendition of "My Way" in Summer 1970. Her recording reached number 10 on the UK Singles Chart and re-entered the chart twice more during that year.
Elvis Presley version
Elvis PresleyElvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
began performing the song in concert during the mid-1970s, in spite of suggestions by Paul Anka, who told him it was not a song that would suit him. Nevertheless, on January 12 and 14 of 1973 Presley sang the song during his satellite show "Aloha from Hawaii", beamed live and on deferred basis (for European audiences, who also saw it in prime time), to 43 countries via Intelsat
Intelsat
Intelsat, Ltd. is a communications satellite services provider.Originally formed as International Telecommunications Satellite Organization , it was—from 1964 to 2001—an intergovernmental consortium owning and managing a constellation of communications satellites providing international broadcast...
, the only time that a single entertainer faced such a worldwide audience. In the continental US, the show was carried by NBC, and shown in primetime on April 14, thus achieving very high ratings and eventually helping the show reach a worldwide viewership of over 1 billion.
On October 3, 1977, several weeks after his death, his live recording of "My Way" (recorded for the "Elvis In Concert
Elvis In Concert
Elvis In Concert is a posthumous 1977 TV special starring Elvis Presley. It was Elvis' third and final TV special, following Elvis and Aloha From Hawaii. It was filmed during Presley's final tour in the cities of Omaha, Nebraska, on June 19, 1977, and Rapid City, South Dakota, on June 21, 1977...
" 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 (higher than Frank Sinatra's peak position), number 6 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, and went Gold for its successful sales of over half a million copies. The following year the single reached number 2 on the Billboard Country singles chart
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...
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.
Sid Vicious version
Sex PistolsSex Pistols
The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band that formed in London in 1975. They were responsible for initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspiring many later punk and alternative rock musicians...
' bassist
Bassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
Sid Vicious
Sid Vicious
Sid Vicious was an English musician best known as the bassist of the influential punk rock group Sex Pistols...
did a punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
version of the song. This version, in which a large body of the words were changed and the arrangement was sped up, charted at #7 in the UK in 1978. The orchestral backing was arranged by Simon Jeffes
Simon Jeffes
Simon Jeffes was an English classically trained guitarist, composer and arranger. He formed, and was the core performer of, the Penguin Cafe Orchestra. He composed the ballet Still Life at the Penguin Cafe...
.
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 did not know all the lyrics to the song when it was recorded, so he improvised several lyrics. Vicious' reference to a "prat who wears hats" was an in-joke directed towards Vicious' friend John Lydon
John Lydon
John Joseph Lydon , also known by the former stage name Johnny Rotten, is a singer-songwriter and television presenter, best known as the lead singer of punk rock band the Sex Pistols from 1975 until 1978, and again for various revivals during the 1990s and 2000s...
, who was fond of wearing different kinds of hats he would pick up at rummage sales.
An edited version of the Sid Vicious cover is played during the closing credits of the movie Goodfellas
Goodfellas
Goodfellas is a 1990 American crime film directed by Martin Scorsese. It is a film adaptation of the 1986 non-fiction book Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi, who co-wrote the screenplay with Scorsese...
.
In her album The End
The End (Mika Nakashima album)
The End is Mika Nakashima's fifth full-length Japanese album, her fourth studio album, and her seventh overall, released under the name "Nana starring Mika Nakashima"...
, released in conjunction with the film Nana 2
NANA 2
Nana 2 is the sequel to the Japanese movie Nana, an adaptation of the manga by Ai Yazawa, directed by Kentarô Ôtani. Production for the movie began in mid-September and only one and a half month shootings finished the movie in time for the December 9, 2006 release.-Synopsis:Taking place shortly...
, singer and actress Mika Nakashima
Mika Nakashima
is a Japanese singer, model, and actress. She has achieved five number-one albums in Japan and also embarked on an acting career, most notably in the live-action movie Nana, based on the manga of the same name.- Early life and debut :...
performs a cover of Sid Vicious' version of the song with what sounds like an audience singing background vocals.
In the film The Great Rock'n'Roll Swindle the original footage for the track shows Sid Vicious at the end taking out a hand gun and opening fire on the audience, we see two members graphically shot and slumping dead into their seats. Sid then sneers, throws the gun away, and flicks the V's at the audience and ascends the stair case he walked down to the stage from. For the music video version, director Julien Temple
Julien Temple
Julien Temple is an English film, documentary and music video director. He began his career with short films featuring the Sex Pistols, and has continued with various off-beat projects, including The Great Rock And Roll Swindle, Absolute Beginners and a documentary film about Glastonbury.-Temple...
removed the original footage featuring actors playing the audience and the final graphic violence and replaced a few of the audience cutaways with stock footage of a theatre audience from the 1950s (he also drowned out Sid's use of the F-word in the third verse with audience applause). Although the censored version was still controversial, it merely showed Sid wildly shooting a gun towards the crowd. All of the footage of the bullet impacts and corpses were removed. The music video was recreated for director Alex Cox
Alex Cox
Alexander Cox is a British film director, screenwriter, nonfiction author and sometime actor, notable for his idiosyncratic style and approach to scripts...
's film Sid and Nancy
Sid and Nancy
Sid and Nancy is a 1986 British biopic directed by Alex Cox. The film portrays the life of Sid Vicious , bassist of the seminal punk rock band the Sex Pistols, and his relationship with girlfriend Nancy Spungen .-Plot:The film opens with several police officers dragging Sid Vicious out of the Hotel...
, with the final person Sid (Gary Oldman
Gary Oldman
Gary Leonard Oldman is an English actor, voice actor, filmmaker and musician.A member of the 1980s Brit Pack, Oldman came to prominence via starring roles in British films Meantime , Sid and Nancy and Prick Up Your Ears , with his performance in the latter bringing him his first BAFTA Award...
) shoots being girlfriend Nancy Spungen
Nancy Spungen
Nancy Laura Spungen was the American girlfriend of Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious. Spungen has been the subject of controversy among music historians and fans of the Sex Pistols.-Early life:...
(Chloe Webb
Chloe Webb
Chloe Webb is an American actress.Webb was born in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York. Her New York theater debut was in the original cast of the long-running musical satire Forbidden Broadway...
), eerily foreshadowing her eventual murder at Sid's hands. However, in the film, she gets up and the two embrace as the stage lights are turned off.
Other versions
Nina SimoneNina Simone
Eunice Kathleen Waymon , better known by her stage name Nina Simone , was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist widely associated with jazz music...
had success with her re-arranged version of the song, released on 1971's Here Comes the Sun
Here Comes the Sun (album)
Here Comes the Sun is a cover album by singer-pianist Nina Simone. It features songs recorded in the RCA studios with a full orchestra and backing vocals. Although Simone covers songs by among others Bob Dylan and George Harrison, most of the versions feature alternative arrangements...
, which was more upbeat and melodic, and included a syncopated rhythm highlighted by the addition of conga drums. It became a staple of her live concerts.
Brook Benton
Brook Benton
Brook Benton was an American singer and songwriter who was popular with rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and pop music audiences during the late 1950s and early 1960s, when he scored hits such as "It's Just A Matter Of Time" and "Endlessly", many of which he co-wrote.He made a comeback in 1970...
hit the pop, R&B, and easy listening charts with a recording of the song in 1970.
Shirley Bassey
Shirley Bassey
Dame Shirley Bassey, DBE , is a Welsh singer. She found fame in the late 1950s and was "one of the most popular female vocalists in Britain during the last half of the 20th century"...
recorded the song for her 1970 album Something
Something
"Something" is a song by The Beatles, written by lead guitarist George Harrison in 1969. It was featured on the album Abbey Road, and was also the first song written by Harrison to appear on the A-side of a Beatles' single...
. She also performed it live on numerous occasions notably the 1976 Royal Variety Performance. In the weeks following Sinatra's death in 1998, Bassey sang it as a tribute to him on her "Diamond" concert tour.
The leading gorilla, Ape, in 1997's George of the Jungle performs the song at the movie's conclusion.
The Romanian rock singer Dida Drăgan recorded this song in 1977, with Romanian lyrics, accompanied by National Radio-Television Pop Orchestra, conducted by Sile Dinicu.
Gonzo the Great
Gonzo the Great
Gonzo the Great is a puppet character, one of Jim Henson's Muppets. He was developed and performed by Dave Goelz. The character made his first appearance in a 1970 Christmas special entitled "The Great Santa Claus Switch". Known as a "Whatever" , he is considered one of The Frackles...
performed the song in a 1980 episode of The Muppet Show
The Muppet Show
The Muppet Show is a British television programme produced by American puppeteer Jim Henson and featuring Muppets. After two pilot episodes were produced in 1974 and 1975, the show premiered on 5 September 1976 and five series were produced until 15 March 1981, lasting 120 episodes...
. He sings this song before leaving the show to pursue a movie career in Bombay
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
.
Nina Hagen
Nina Hagen
Nina Hagen is a German singer and actress.-Early years:Hagen was born as Catharina Hagen in the former East Berlin, East Germany, the daughter of Hans Hagen , a scriptwriter, and Eva-Maria Hagen, an actress and singer...
released a version of "My Way" as a single in 1980. It contained "My Way" (4:25), "Alptraum" (4:06) and "No Way" (1:05).
Greta Keller
Greta Keller
Greta Keller-Bacon was a cabaret singer and Hollywood actress.-Biography:Born Margaretha Keller in Vienna, Austria, she studied dance from the age of eight, followed by acting. Her début was in Pavillon, in Vienna. She also appeared on stage with Marlene Dietrich in Broadway, in which she sang and...
always included the song during her last decade of performing and did a duet with Rod McKuen
Rod McKuen
Rod McKuen is an American poet, songwriter, composer, and singer. He was one of the best-selling poets in the United States during the late 1960s. Throughout his career, McKuen produced a wide range of recordings, which included popular music, spoken word poetry, film soundtracks, and classical music...
singing the song at Lincoln Center in New York City and in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
.
Gipsy Kings
Gipsy Kings
The Gipsy Kings are a group of musicians from Arles and Montpellier, who perform in Spanish with an Andalucían accent. Although group members were born in France, their parents were mostly gitanos, Spanish Romani people who fled Catalonia during the 1930s Spanish Civil War. Chico Bouchikhi is of...
, a group which popularized the Rumba Flamenca, covered the song using the traditional gipsy sound. Their version is entitled "A Mi Manera (Comme D'habitude)", though most fail to recognize that this is a cover due the lyrics being sung in Spanish
U2
U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
regularly performed a snippet of "My Way" at the end of their song "Ultraviolet (Light My Way)
Ultraviolet (Light My Way)
"Ultraviolet " is a song by the rock band U2 and the tenth track from their 1991 album Achtung Baby. Ostensibly about love and dependency, the song also lends itself to religious interpretations, with listeners finding allusions to the Book of Job and writers finding spiritual meaning in its...
" during their 1992–1993 Zoo TV Tour
Zoo TV Tour
The Zoo TV Tour was a worldwide concert tour by rock band U2. Staged in support of their 1991 album Achtung Baby, the tour visited arenas and stadiums from 1992 through 1993...
.
Patti LuPone
Patti LuPone
Patti Ann LuPone is an American singer and actress, known for her Tony Award-winning performances as Eva Perón in the 1979 stage musical Evita and as Madame Rose in the 2008 Broadway revival of Gypsy, and for her Olivier Award-winning performance as Fantine in the original London cast of Les...
performs this song as part of her one-woman show Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda.
One of Argentina's top rock performers, Andres Calamaro
Andrés Calamaro
Andrés Calamaro , is an Argentine musician, composer and Latin Grammy winner. His former band Los Rodríguez was a major success in Spain in the 1990s. He became one of the main icons of the Argentine rock in the last two decades and has sold over 1.3 million copies.-Abuelos de la Nada:Calamaro was...
released "My Way" in an interesting reggae version in his Las otras caras de Alta Suciedad album.
Runner up Raymond Quinn from the UK TV series X Factor
The X Factor (TV series)
The X Factor is a television talent show franchise originating in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for Pop Idol. It is a singing competition, now held in various countries, which pits contestants against each other. These contestants are aspiring pop singers drawn from...
covered "My Way" for his album Doing It My Way.
Bobby Solo
Bobby Solo
Bobby Solo is an Italian singer and musician.Solo was born in Rome.In 1964, he participated in the Sanremo Music Festival with the song "Una lacrima sul viso" , but he was disqualified for singing with playback which was contrary to the festival regulations. The song, however, became a global hit...
does a recording of the song in Italian called "La Mia Strada". Another Italian version "La Mia Via" lyrics by Andrea Lo Vecchio was recorded by Fred Bongusto
Fred Bongusto
Alfredo Bongusto , known by his stage name Fred Bongusto, is an Italian light music singer and songwriter who was very popular in the 1960s and 1970s.-Career history:...
in 1975.
Popular Ukrainian rock band Okean Elzy
Okean Elzy
Okean Elzy is one of the most successful and popular Ukrainian rock bands. It was formed in 1994 in Lviv, Ukraine. The band's vocalist and frontman is Svyatoslav Vakarchuk. Okean Elzy is the best-loved Ukrainian rock band not only in Ukraine but also in most CIS countries...
performed the song (the only one of the set in English) during their symphony-accompanied renaissance tour.
A black metal
Black metal
Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure....
version of the song has been performed by the French band Mütiilation
Mütiilation
Mütiilation is a French one-man black metal band that was affiliated with the Black Legions. Since parting from the The Black Legions in 1996, Meyhna'ch has continued to create music under the band's name.-The Beginning and The Black Legions:...
on the album From the Entrails to the Dirt
From the Entrails to the Dirt
From the Entrails to the Dirt is a three-part vinyl set compiling songs by Malicious Secrets and three other French black metal acts, Antaeus, Mütiilation and Deathspell Omega. It was originally released by End All Life Productions as a set of three gatefold vinyls limited to 666 copies, with one...
.
Robbie Williams
Robbie Williams
Robert Peter "Robbie" Williams is an English singer-songwriter, vocal coach and occasional actor. He is a member of the pop group Take That. Williams rose to fame in the band's first run in the early- to mid-1990s. After many disagreements with the management and certain group members, Williams...
sang My Way in his concert at the Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
on October 10, 2001. This version of the song was recorded and released in the DVD Live At The Albert
Live at the Albert
"Robbie Williams: Live at the Albert" is a DVD that was released in December 2001 of the show performed on 10 October 2001; concert that Robbie Williams gave at Royal Albert Hall a month before the release of the album Swing When You're Winning...
.
The symphonic metal group Northern Kings
Northern Kings
Northern Kings is a Finnish symphonic metal cover supergroup, made up of four musicians who have already become well known in their existing bands: Jarkko Ahola from Teräsbetoni, ex-Dreamtale, Marco Hietala from Nightwish and Tarot, Tony Kakko from Sonata Arctica and Juha-Pekka Leppäluoto from...
covered this song in their latest album, Rethroned
Rethroned
Rethroned is the second album by Finnish symphonic metal band Northern Kings. It was released on November 19, 2008, as a CD in Finland and to download via the European iTunes Store. Upon release, the album entered the Finnish charts at number 16. The album was released in Japan on February 25,...
, released November 19, 2008.
The German Euro Disco artist Fancy
Fancy (singer)
Fancy is a German Eurodance and Euro Disco artist who was popular in the mid to late 1980s.-Career:...
covered the song on his 2008 album Forever Magic.
British satirical show Spitting Image
Spitting Image
Spitting Image is a British satirical puppet show that aired on the ITV network from 1984 to 1996. It was produced by Spitting Image Productions for Central Television. The series was nominated for 10 BAFTA Awards, winning one for editing in 1989....
, who frequently ended each episode with a musical number, rounded off a season with a puppet of Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
singing the song word-for-word.
The Pogues
The Pogues
The Pogues are a Celtic punk band, formed in 1982 and fronted by Shane MacGowan. The band reached international prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. MacGowan left the band in 1991 due to drinking problems but the band continued first with Joe Strummer and then with Spider Stacy on vocals before...
' Shane MacGowan
Shane MacGowan
Shane Patrick Lysaght MacGowan is an Irish musician and singer, best known as the original singer and songwriter of The Pogues.-History:...
recorded a punk cover of the song, reaching #29 on the UK singles chart. His version was used for a Nike commercial.
Japanese pop
J-pop
, an abbreviation for Japanese pop, is a musical genre that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s. Modern J-pop has its roots in 1960s music, such as The Beatles, and replaced kayōkyoku in the Japanese music scene...
singer Mika Nakashima
Mika Nakashima
is a Japanese singer, model, and actress. She has achieved five number-one albums in Japan and also embarked on an acting career, most notably in the live-action movie Nana, based on the manga of the same name.- Early life and debut :...
covered the song on her 2006 album The End
The End (Mika Nakashima album)
The End is Mika Nakashima's fifth full-length Japanese album, her fourth studio album, and her seventh overall, released under the name "Nana starring Mika Nakashima"...
. The song, like the whole of The End album is credited as Nana starring Mika Nakashima.
Patti Austin
Patti Austin
-Life and career:Austin was born in Harlem, New York. She made her debut at the Apollo Theater at age four and had a contract with RCA Records when she was only five. Quincy Jones and Dinah Washington have proclaimed themselves as her godparents....
covered the song on her 2011 album Sound Advice
Sound Advice
Sound Advice was a radio show on CBC Radio. It aired for fourteen years on Saturday afternoons, latterly on CBC Radio 2. The host was Rick Phillips. Its final broadcast was on March 29, 2008....
.
Jacky Cheung
Jacky Cheung
Jacky Cheung is a Hong Kong singer-songwriter and actor. The Chinese language media refers to him, Aaron Kwok, Andy Lau and Leon Lai as the Cantopop Four Heavenly Kings , with more than 60 million records sold as of 2000....
performed the song at the 30th Hong Kong Film Awards, on April 17, 2011.
Vicente Fernández
Vicente Fernández
Vicente Fernández Gómez is a Mexican singer, producer and actor. Known as Chente or El rey de la canción ranchera throughout the Latin world, Vicente Fernández, who started his career singing for tips on the street, has become a cultural icon, recording more than 50 albums and contributing to...
Spanish version titled "A Mi Manera".
TMZ
TMZ.com
TMZ.com is a celebrity news website that debuted on November 8, 2005. It was a collaboration between America Online and Telepictures Productions, a division of Warner Bros., until Time Warner divested AOL in 2009. However, it is still affiliated with AOL News and has the AOL News logo affixed in...
founder and People's Court
The People's Court
The People's Court is a US television court show in which small claims court cases are heard, though what is shown is actually a binding arbitration....
legal analyst Harvey Levin
Harvey Levin
Harvey Robert Levin is an American television producer, lawyer, legal analyst and a celebrity reporter. He is the founder of celebrity gossip website TMZ.com.-Education:...
covered the song with Anka in 2011.
Dutch singer and painter Herman Brood
Herman Brood
Hermanus "Herman" Brood was a Dutch musician, painter and media personality. Initially a musician who achieved artistic and commercial success in the 1970s and 1980s, and called "the Netherlands' greatest and only rock 'n' roll star," later in life he became a well-known painter.Known for his...
covered the song. It was part of his posthumous greatest hits album "My Way
My Way (Herman Brood album)
My Way is a posthumous compilation album with music by Dutch rock and roll and blues artist Herman Brood, released shortly after his suicide on 11 July 2001. The album produced a number one single, the first of Brood's career: "My Way" reached number one on 18 August 2001. On the Dutch album chart,...
" (2001). The title song was released on single and became his first #1 single in the Dutch top 40.
University of Massachusetts Minuteman Marching Band
University of Massachusetts Minuteman Marching Band
The University of Massachusetts Minuteman Marching Band is the marching band for the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The band currently has about 352 members and was directed by George N. Parks from 1977 until his sudden death in September 2010. Assistant Thomas Hannum was named interim...
traditionally covers this song at every post-game show. They also sing it at non-performance events as a way of ending their meetings. In 2010, when their band director George N. Parks
George N. Parks
George N. Parks was the director of the University of Massachusetts Minuteman Marching Band the University of Massachusetts Amherst from 1977 until his sudden death in 2010. Considered a national authority on drum majoring, he led the George N...
died during a band trip in Michigan, every time they covered this song that year, they did it to commemorate him.
On September 13, 2011, Landau Eugene Murphy, Jr. performed the song during the finals of the sixth season
America's Got Talent (season 6)
The sixth season of America's Got Talent, a reality television series, premiered on May 31, 2011 on NBC. On September 14, 2011, Landau Eugene Murphy, Jr...
of the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
reality television
Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...
series America's Got Talent
America's Got Talent
America's Got Talent is an American reality television series on the NBC television network, and part of the global British Got Talent franchise. It is a talent show that features singers, dancers, magicians, comedians, and other performers of all ages competing for the advertised top prize of...
. The following evening he was crowned the winner, and was awarded the show's $1 million grand prize.
R. Kelly
R. Kelly
Robert Sylvester Kelly , better known by his stage name R. Kelly, is an American singer-songwriter and record producer. A native of Chicago, Kelly began performing during the late 1980s and debuted in 1992 with the group Public Announcement. In 1993, Kelly went solo with the album 12 Play...
covered the song on his Love Letter
Love Letter
Love Letter is a 1995 Japanese film directed by Shunji Iwai, and starring Miho Nakayama. The film was shot almost entirely on the island of Hokkaidō, mainly in the city of Otaru....
album tour in 2011.
The Japanese rockband Kishidan
Kishidan
, which means "The Knights", are a J-pop band. They have a retro image, wearing Japanese school uniforms in the style of bōsōzoku. The lead singer, Show Ayanocozey, was DJ OZMA, until the persona was "retired" in December 2008. Kishidan announced a "comeback", after a three year break, on January...
has covered the song in concerts, and will release a recorded version in December 2011.
In the 2002 movie Happy Feet, Robin Williams (voice of a penguin) sang a cover of the song in spanish.
In Hong Kong TV show East Wing West Wing TV
East Wing West Wing TV
East Wing West Wing TV is a political comedy show produced by Asia Television Limited of Hong Kong through high-definition technology. It premiered on June 26, 2011 on ATV Home and ATV Asia. The show is based on a stage drama of the same name. Mathias Woo serves as the show's producer, director...
, a man look like Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs
Steven Paul Jobs was an American businessman and inventor widely recognized as a charismatic pioneer of the personal computer revolution. He was co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple Inc...
sung this song but with a few lyrics changed.
In culture
- "My Way" was found to be the song most frequently played at BritishGreat BritainGreat Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
funeral services. - Former German Chancellor Gerhard SchröderGerhard SchröderGerhard Fritz Kurt Schröder is a German politician, and was Chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. A member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany , he led a coalition government of the SPD and the Greens. Before becoming a full-time politician, he was a lawyer, and before becoming Chancellor...
requested the song for his final military sendoff (Zapfenstreich (in German)) prior to the inauguration of Angela MerkelAngela MerkelAngela Dorothea Merkel is the current Chancellor of Germany . Merkel, elected to the Bundestag from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, has been the chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Union since 2000, and chairwoman of the CDU-CSU parliamentary coalition from 2002 to 2005.From 2005 to 2009 she led a...
. - The chorus of Bon JoviBon JoviBon Jovi is an American rock band from Sayreville, New Jersey. Formed in 1983, Bon Jovi consists of lead singer and namesake Jon Bon Jovi , guitarist Richie Sambora, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, as well as current bassist Hugh McDonald...
's "It's My LifeIt's My Life (Bon Jovi song)"It's My Life" is Bon Jovi's first single from the album Crush. It was released on May 23, 2000. It was written by Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, and Max Martin. The song hit #1 across several countries...
" (subsequently coveredCoveredCovered is a term used in popular music in general to refer to a song recorded by different performer from its original or most popular recorded version, and by some disc jockeys in particular to describe a musical recording presented under the guise of a false title and artist name...
by Paul Anka on Rock SwingsRock SwingsRock Swings is an album by Paul Anka. Recorded in November 2004 and released on May 31, 2005 in Canada and June 7, 2005 in the United States, it contains swing jazz covers of popular rock and pop songs from the 1980s and 1990s....
) references the song in the line "My heart is like an open highway/Like Frankie said, I did it my way." - The pop duo SparksSparks (band)Sparks is an American rock and pop band formed in Los Angeles in 1968 by brothers Ron and Russell Mael , initially under the name Halfnelson...
released a song titled "When Do I Get to Sing 'My Way'" on their 1994 album Gratuitous Sax & Senseless Violins. - Rapper Jay-ZJay-ZShawn Corey Carter , better known by his stage name Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and occasional actor. He is one of the most financially successful hip hop artists and entrepreneurs in America, having a net worth of over $450 million as of 2010...
has made reference to the song several times over his career and on The Blueprint 2 he samples the tune for his own song entitled "I Did It My Way". - The identification of the song with Sinatra became so strong, and the song so iconic, that the SovietSoviet UnionThe Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
government of Mikhail GorbachevMikhail GorbachevMikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...
jokingly referred to its policy of non-intervention in the internal affairs of other Warsaw PactWarsaw PactThe Warsaw Treaty Organization of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance , or more commonly referred to as the Warsaw Pact, was a mutual defense treaty subscribed to by eight communist states in Eastern Europe...
countries as the Sinatra DoctrineSinatra Doctrine"Sinatra Doctrine" was the name that the Soviet government of Mikhail Gorbachev used jokingly to describe its policy of allowing neighboring Warsaw Pact nations to determine their own internal affairs...
. - "My Way" is a popular karaoke song around the world, to the point that it has been reported to cause numerous incidents of violence and homicidesMy Way killingsThe "My Way" killings are a social phenomenon in the Philippines, where the killing of karaoke singers who get into disputes about their renditions of Frank Sinatra's signature tune, "My Way", has led some bars to ban the song and other singers to abstain from singing it...
amongst drunkards in bars in the Philippines, referred in the media as the "My Way KillingsMy Way killingsThe "My Way" killings are a social phenomenon in the Philippines, where the killing of karaoke singers who get into disputes about their renditions of Frank Sinatra's signature tune, "My Way", has led some bars to ban the song and other singers to abstain from singing it...
".