Download Instrumental   This is “Ol’ Blue Eyes” at his best. With lyrics like “Regrets, I’ve had a few – but then again, too few to mention”, how can you go wrong?

The lyrics to “My Way” were written by Paul Anka, but the melody came from a French pop song Anka heard while on vacation in the south of France.  He beat a path to Paris to negotiate the rights to the tune, which he acquired for the paltry sum of one dollar.  A dollar well invested, I’d say.

A few months later, he was having dinner with Frank Sinatra and “a couple of mob guys” when Sinatra expressed his disgust with the music business and that he was “getting the hell out”.  That’s when Anka got the inspiration for the first line of his “one dollar” melody.  He wanted to write it expressly for Sinatra to record before Frank retired, and the words “and now the end is near – so I face the final curtain” seemed like the perfect beginning.  The rest of the lyrics came quickly and easily and Frank loved it.  He considered “My Way” to be a final gift to his fans.

I recently watched a world leader mouth the words to this song at his Inauguration Ball, and I couldn’t help but remember the final line that Paul Anka wrote so many years ago – “the record shows – I took the blows – and did it – my way”.