Marc Martel - MY WAY (Frank Sinatra Cover)
One of the great songs of the 20th Century, "My Way" represents for me the perfect convergence of lyric and melody. Die-hard Sinatra fans take for granted that Paul Anka custom wrote the lyrics for Frank, and lifted the music whole-sale from "Comme d'habitude," released by French pop star Claude François. But the idea of taking an existing song and completely re- writing not only the lyrics, but their entire meaning, is in itself an incredible feat. You have to develop completely new ideas, unrelated to the original composer's and make them fit inside the meter. Anka did this so well, that I would even argue his lyrics fit the meter better than the
French lyrics. Never mind that song becoming the greatest crooner of all-time's calling card. Like any songwriter, I've often been asked if melody or lyrics come first. It's always easiest when they come together, of course. But I've always been more of a melody guy myself. And the melody of "My Way" has such conversational momentum in its structure, urged on by the constantly descending and resetting chord progression, it makes you want to know where you're going next as one line feeds into the next. There's no fat to cut, no opportunity for boredom. It's easy to see why Anka believed the English-speaking world needed its own version. That, paired with a lyric Sinatra himself famously, ironically, didn't care much for - perhaps they struck a little too close for comfort, maybe he felt misunderstood - it's no wonder this song blew up. Hearing someone unapologetically tell their story, warts and all, in a way that makes us all secretly wish it could be our own eulogy is a pretty beautiful thing. And all
inside 4 minutes. Amazing.
Thanks for watching and listening.
Microphone - Lauten Audio Eden LT-386
https://www.lautenaudio.com/eden
Microphone Preamp - Avedis MA5
https://avedisaudio.com/ma5/ In-ear headphones - 64 Audio A6t
https://shorturl.at/4qmTS
