Jason King, a professor at NYU's Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, says that in writing "My Way," Anka used Sinatra as a totem for a certain kind of American bravado. Conductor Don Costa completed the equation, arranging "My Way" for a full orchestra with a big, lush sound. He decided to buy the rights to the song and keep its music, but rewrite the lyrics with his hero in mind. On a visit to France, Anka came across a torch song called " Comme d'habitude," performed and co-written by the French pop singer Claude François, that caught his ear. Enter Paul Anka.Īnka was a one-time teen idol, a peer of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons, who had grown up in the shadow of singers like Sinatra. His output during that era does include some of his greatest vocal achievements, such as the masterpiece album Strangers in the Night - but hits were unpredictable, and the future of his career seemed far from certain.
He was sometimes in the news for the wrong reasons - like when his partnership with the Sands Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas reportedly ended in a physical altercation. His ring-a-ding-ding Rat Pack years had wound down, as rock and roll became America's dominant music. Like others in his generation, by the late 1960s, Sinatra was feeling the culture slip past him.
0 kommentar(er)
