Let’s back up. The original song wasn’t even called “My Way.” It was a French tune called “Comme d’habitude,” which means “As Usual.” It was co-written by Claude François and Jacques Revaux, and recorded in 1967. The French version is a depressing song about a guy quietly accepting his girlfriend leaving him, set to routine domestic boredom. Imagine that: the opposite of Sinatra’s swagger.
Paul Anka heard it while on vacation in the south of France. He was instantly hooked by the melody, but he knew the lyrics had to be completely rebooted for an American audience. So he flew back to New York, locked himself in a hotel room—and here’s where the magic (and the irony) kicks in.
Anka’s Midnight Gamble
Anka wrote the lyrics in about an hour, but not on a whim. He was literally thinking about Frank Sinatra’s persona—the aging king of cool who’d just retired (briefly) and was tired of being a “saloon singer.” Anka later said he imagined Sinatra, near the end of his career, looking back with zero regrets. So he scribbled lines like “I’ve lived a life that’s full” and “I ate it up and spit it out.”
Here’s the kicker: Anka wrote it as a spoken-word piece first. He literally typed a poem on napkins, then fitted it to the French melody. He also added that famous, rising crescendo in the bridge—the “And I did it… my way” part—which didn’t exist in the original. He made it bigger, bolder, and more theatrical because he knew Sinatra had the lungs for it.
FRANK SINATRA'S 'MY WAY' 50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION AND 'SINATRA SINGS
But wait—Sinatra almost hated it at first. He told Anka, “I’m not singing that.” He thought it was self-indulgent navel-gazing. Anka had to persuade him by saying, “Frank, this is you. This is your whole damned life.” And Sinatra finally relented, only because his own new song choices were bombing.
