"My Way" is a popular song, which in its English-language version is an adaptation by Paul Anka of the French song Comme d'habitude, written by Claude François and Jacques Revaux. Written in 1968 and released on the album of the same name in 1969, it became the signature song for Frank Sinatra, even though Sinatra himself did not rate the song highly.

The identification of the song with Sinatra became so strong, and the song so iconic, that the Soviet government of Mikhail Gorbachev jokingly referred to their policy of non-intervention in the internal affairs of other Warsaw Pact countries as the Sinatra Doctrine.

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The song

The lyrics of "My Way" tell the story of a man who is nearing death, and introspectively looks back at his life whilst fictionally speaking to a friend who is sitting next to him.

The man's personality as described in the song involves a strong-willed, confident and determined man who is not reliant on others to progress further through life. He is happy with how his life has turned out, and what he has achieved; he acknowledges that he too has regrets and has suffered sadness. However, he remains upbeat and amused that he has made it this far:

"And now, as tears subside, I find it all so amusing..."
"To think, I did all that, and may I say, not in a shy way"
"Oh no, oh no not me, I did it my way"
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Performance, versions, and references

Sinatra duetted the song with two performers before his death: Luciano Pavarotti (released on the album Sinatra 80th: Live In Concert) and Willie Nelson (recorded for the Duets series in the mid-1990s but not released until 2005 in the Collector's Edition Set). Both recordings use the same Sinatra vocal and instrumental track.

Besides the iconic Sinatra versions of the song and Paul Anka's own version, Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols did a well-known version of the song, which charted at # 6 in the UK in 1979.

Greta Keller always included the song during her last decade performing and did a duet with Rod McKuen singing the song at Lincoln Center in New York City and in Vienna.

The song is very popular within the karaoke subculture and is a favorite of Dogbert.

It was played at the 1992 Winston Cup Awards Banquet in honor of Alan Kulwicki.

The chorus of Bon Jovi's It's My Life references the song with the line "My heart is like an open highway/Like Frankie said, I did it my way."

There is a spanish variation of this song, performed by the Gipsy Kings on their debut album "Gipsy Kings" from 1988. The song called "A Mi Manera", which is a literal translation to Spanish.

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Recorded by:

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Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Way_%28song%29"

Old Time Favorite Songs
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