The Ultimate Theme Song of Selfishness

Robert Malcom mentioned this elsewhere, but I thought it was worthy enough of its own thread.

If there is anyone here who has never heard this song, get thee to Napster or some other music source immediately. Frank Sinatra's version is the ultimate rendition of the ultimate theme song, in my opinion.

"My Way"

And now, the end is near;
And so I face the final curtain.
My friend, I'll say it clear,
I'll state my case, of which I'm certain.

I've lived a life that's full.
I've traveled each and ev'ry highway;
But more, much more than this,
I did it my way.

Regrets, I've had a few;
But then again, too few to mention.
I did what I had to do
And saw it through without exemption.

I planned each charted course;
Each careful step along the byway,
But more, much more than this,
I did it my way.

Yes, there were times, I'm sure you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew.
But through it all, when there was doubt,
I ate it up and spit it out.
I faced it all and I stood tall;
And did it my way.

I've loved, I've laughed and cried.
I've had my fill; my share of losing.
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,
"No, oh no not me,
I did it my way".

For what is a man, what has he got?
If not himself, then he has naught.
To say the things he truly feels;
And not the words of one who kneels.
The record shows I took the blows -
And did it my way!

written by: P. Anka, G. Thibault, J. Revaux & C. Francois

Post 1

Wednesday, May 18, 2005 - 3:05am

Original French Lyrics:

Je me l�ve et je te bouscule
Tu n'te r�veilles pas
Comme d'habitude
Sur toi je remonte le drap
J'ai peur que tu aies froid
Comme d'habitude
Ma main caresse tes cheveux
Presque malgr� moi
Comme d'habitude
Mais toi
Tu me tournes le dos
Comme d'habitude
Alors je m'habille tr�s vite
Je sors de la chambre
Comme d'habitude
Tout seul je bois mon caf�
Je suis en retard
Comme d'habitude
Sans bruit je quitte la maison
Tout est gris dehors
Comme d'habitude
J'ai froid
Je rel�ve mon col
Comme d'habitude

Comme d'habitude
Toute la journ�e
Je vais jouer
A faire semblant
Comme d'habitude
Je vais sourire
Comme d'habitude
Je vais m�me rire
Comme d'habitude
Enfin je vais vivre
Comme d'habitude

Et puis
Le jour s'en ira
Moi je reviendrai
Comme d'habitude
Toi
Tu seras sortie
Et pas encore rentr�e
Comme d'habitude
Tout seul
J'irai me coucher
Dans ce grand lit froid
Comme d'habitude
Mes larmes
Je les cacherai
Comme d'habitude

Comme d'habitude
M�me la nuit
Je vais jouer
A faire semblant
Comme d'habitude
Tu rentreras
Comme d'habitude
Je t'attendrai
Comme d'habitude
Tu me souriras
Comme d'habitude

Comme d'habitude
Tu te d�shabilleras
Comme d'habitude
Tu te coucheras
Comme d'habitude
On s'embrassera
Comme d'habitude

Post 2

Wednesday, May 18, 2005 - 5:34am

Indeed, Jennifer, "My Way" gives me goosebumps every time I hear Frankie sing it.

Kelly, Aquinas and I used to go to a piano bar a couple of years ago, and we'd invariably request (and sing) "My Way."

The English lyrics are breathtaking and the crescendo toward the end makes my heart burst with happiness and my body jump for joy. In fact, the whole song is nearly perfect, in my opinion. Frankie's rendition is defiant, serious, measured and exultant. Magnificent. I can't imagine another human being singing it better -- with a truer understanding of every single word's meaning.

It's one of the 1,200 songs on my IPOD that gets worn out. Thanks for reminding my of it again. :-)

P.S. It's a shame Frankie refused to sing it anymore in later years. It was requested often by his audiences, but he tired of it. There's guy who's a Sinatra knockoff singing the song pretty well now at concerts -- but he can't capture that Frankie essence.

Post 3

Wednesday, May 18, 2005 - 6:48am

I love My Way!

I'm glad I visited the link to see the original mention so I could see Marcus's explanation. I was going to ask if anyone else thought it strange that the French had nothing to do with Sinatra's English version - but I realize that the melody was kept but the lyrics were completely changed. Thanks for the trivia, Marcus!

Jason

Post 4

Wednesday, May 18, 2005 - 7:18am

Here are David Bowies lyrics for "Comme d'habitude" or "I did it my way".

Puke Alarm. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

"When even a fool learns to love"

There was a time, the laughing time

I took my heart to every party

They'd point my way

"How are you today?"

"Will you make us laugh? Chase our blues away?"

Their funny man won't let them down

No, he'd dance and prance and be their clown

That time, that laughing time

When even a fool learns to love

The clown turned around

And saw her smile, oh how she loved me

She'd clap her hands and beg me stay

To make her laugh, to make her life gay

Who wants the love of all the world

When here was love in the eyes of just one girl

That day, that precious day

When even a fool learns to love

But oh, how I dreamed, a marvellous dream

Where all of the heavens or so it had seemed

With thunderous applause looked down from above

On a clown and an angel so much in love

I'll stay with my dream, it takes such a dream

And even a fool learns to love

That day, that hateful day

The joke turned stale, the game was over

Those spiteful words "Oh, go away. Who wants to play?"

"It's getting late now."

My world, my funny world

Had lost its mask and shown a broken heart

A time, a sour time

When even a fool learns to cry

But oh, how I dreamed, a marvellous dream

Where all of the heavens or so it had seemed

With thunderous applause looked down from above

On a clown and an angel so much in love

I'll stay with my dream, it takes such a dream

And even a fool learns to love

Post 5

Wednesday, May 18, 2005 - 7:52am

Oh my GOD!! The Bowie lyrics are positively FRENCH. heh heh

I can just see Frankie singing THOSE lyrics! ;-))

Post 6

Wednesday, May 18, 2005 - 9:04am

"I've Gotta Be Me" - lyrics and music by Walter Marks, sung exquisitely by Sammy Davis Jr. It surprises me that this song isn't cited more often by individualists:

Whether I'm right or whether I'm wrong
Whether I find a place in this world or never belong
I gotta be me, I've gotta be me
What else can I be but what I am

I want to live, not merely survive
And I won't give up this dream
Of life that keeps me alive
I gotta be me, I gotta be me
The dream that I see makes me what I am

That far-away prize, a world of success
Is waiting for me if I heed the call
I won't settle down, won't settle for less
As long as there's a chance that I can have it all

I'll go it alone, that's how it must be
I can't be right for somebody else
If I'm not right for me
I gotta be free, I've gotta be free
Daring to try, to do it or die
I've gotta be me

I'll go it alone, that's how it must be
I can't be right for somebody else
If I'm not right for me
I gotta be free, I just gotta be free
Daring to try, to do it or die
I gotta be me

Post 7

Wednesday, May 18, 2005 - 9:53am

Actually Frank Sinatra did not like the song "My Way" - which is one of the reasons he stopped performing it live.

Post 8

Wednesday, May 18, 2005 - 1:38pm

I love Frank's "My Way" but Marcus is correct--he hated it. Don't know why. Too obvious and self-contratulatory, is what I remeber from reading a Sinatra bio some years back...

What about Rush's "Free Will"? (Ok, does the q-mark go inside or outside the......never mind!)

Post 9

Wednesday, May 18, 2005 - 2:04pm

I wonder how it is self-contradictory? I once thought it was though.

I am very pleased that Jennifer posted the words as I previously thought that in the verse:

For what is a man, what has he got?
If not himself, then he has naught.
To say the things he truly feels;
And not the words of one who kneels.
The record shows I took the blows -
And did it my way!

That "naught" was actually sang "not".

That changes the meaning completely - because if "not" is sung it seems that he is saying that he needs to be worthy of saying the things of one who kneels. That would be self-contradictory.

However, what was Frankie boy thinking?

Post 10

Wednesday, May 18, 2005 - 2:38pm

Marcus,

Amazing! I used to hear the same thing you did: "not" instead of "naught". But you said:

That changes the meaning completely - because if "not" is sung it seems that he is saying that he needs to be worthy of saying the things of one who kneels. That would be self-contradictory.

However, you would have a double negative:

he has not
To say the things he truly feels;
And not the words of one who kneels.

He can't say "the things he truly feels" but must say the words "of one who kneels".

I always thought that this way (My Way!) was the way it was intended. Besides, Frankie would never say "naught"! Also, if you look at the rest of the song, it is all complete sentences; there are no sentence fragments until the last stanza. So, I contend that it is "not", not "naught"! Any Sinatra scholars out there?

Thanks,
Glenn

Post 11

Wednesday, May 18, 2005 - 2:24pm

I've always liked Bon Jovi's "It's My Life". They even acknowledge Sinatra's My Way in their song.

Gerald

"It's My Life"

This ain't a song for the broken-hearted
No silent prayer for the faith-departed
I ain't gonna be just a face in the crowd
You're gonna hear my voice
When I shout it out loud

Chorus:
It's my life
It's now or never
I ain't gonna live forever
I just want to live while I'm alive
(It's my life)
My heart is like an open highway
Like Frankie said
I did it my way
I just wanna live while I'm alive
It's my life

This is for the ones who stood their ground
For Tommy and Gina who never backed down
Tomorrow's getting harder make no mistake
Luck ain't even lucky
Got to make your own breaks

Chorus:
It's my life
And it's now or never
I ain't gonna live forever
I just want to live while I'm alive
(It's my life)
My heart is like an open highway
Like Frankie said
I did it my way
I just want to live while I'm alive
'Cause it's my life

Better stand tall when they're calling you out
Don't bend, don't break, baby, don't back down

Chorus:
It's my life
And it's now or never
'Cause I ain't gonna live forever
I just want to live while I'm alive
(It's my life)
My heart is like an open highway
Like Frankie said
I did it my way
I just want to live while I'm alive

Chorus:
It's my life
And it's now or never
'Cause I ain't gonna live forever
I just want to live while I'm alive
(It's my life)
My heart is like an open highway
Like Frankie said
I did it my way
I just want to live while I'm alive
'Cause it's my life!

Post 12

Wednesday, May 18, 2005 - 3:16pm

Besides, Frankie would never say "naught"!

That's right. Neither do many Americans or Canadians ever use the word "naught".
A Candian that emigrated to the States wrote the song.

Not likely to ever use the word "naught" in a conversation. Still used by the Brits though :-)

Post 13

Wednesday, May 18, 2005 - 5:09pm

I love My Way, but here is my all time pop favorite - even Objectivism-wise. Just think about the most precious thing in the world, like your own integrity for instance - or even your own soul, when you listen. If you do that and connect, the song doesn't leave your mind for days.

It was recorded by many artists and everybody likes the way Joe Cocker cracked the high note at the end (I don't), but my favorite version is not commercially available. It was done in shows in Brazil by JJ Jackson - the one in Brazil, not the MTV one, accompanied only by an acoustic guitar played with normal fingers and a bottleneck - with a really slow lonely sound and a black kickass voice wailing pure gratitude from his gut. (Arranged and produced by guess who?)

Beautiful
Bruce Fisher and Billy Preston

You are so beautiful
To me.
You are so beautiful
To me.
Can't you see?

You're everything I hoped for.
You're everything I need.
You are so beautiful
To me.

Michael

Post 14

Wednesday, May 18, 2005 - 8:16pm

Those words are so vague, so ambiguous - they mean nothing.

Post 15

Wednesday, May 18, 2005 - 8:43pm

Jennifer:

A great Individualist Anthem. Sinatra is a master of expression and does this song justice.

It has one wart, though, which makes me cringe every time I hear it, and that's that "exemption." I've been wanting to gripe to SOMEONE for years--Paul Anka, are you listening? How about My Way 2.0?

The lines meter, but that word smacks my EAR, ahem, without exception.

Regrets, I've had a few;
But then again, too few to mention.
I did what I had to do
And saw it through without exemption.

First, it's just the wrong word. It sounds more like something from the tax code than from lyrical verse.

I would have chosen "exception," even if the rhyme is not as close.

There. I've finally said it in public. Anka and Sinatra be damned.

To think I said all that;
And may I say - not in a shy way,
"No, oh no not me,
I SANG it my way.

LOL

Nathan Hawking

Post 16

Wednesday, May 18, 2005 - 9:50pm

Nathan, I've always liked the use of "exemption," but until you brought it up, couldn't quite figure out why.

Yes, it is poetically awkward, but what I've realized is that the zealous pronunciation of its consonants offers the image of a man gritting his teeth and getting on with it. And Frank doing such a thing, well, let's just say it works for me. ;)

This is my personal anthem, and has been since I was 17 years old. Back then, I was headed off to university -- one I was told was too hard to get into, and that I could never afford. Graduation day was glorious.

For what is a girl, what has she got?
If not her dreams, then she has naught.
To give them life, and make them real;
To stand her ground, refuse to kneel.
The record shows I took the blows -
And did it my way!

:)

Post 17

Wednesday, May 18, 2005 - 9:53pm

Robert M,

Those words are an expression of a very powerful emotion that their very simplicity convey when wedded to the music. The bare-bones simplicity make them universal enough to signify self, love, country, almost any value whatsoever. That makes the emotion from this song a very selfish and individual pleasure.

Those words may mean nothing to you, but I have seen many people cry from the power of this song. And those words speak to me mightily.

Michael

Post 18

Wednesday, May 18, 2005 - 10:09pm

That is precisely the point - it can 'mean' anything to almost anybody - which means it means nothing... you should apply what you valued in another thread - precision,because ambiguity is the hallmark of seeking to deny identity....

Post 19

Wednesday, May 18, 2005 - 10:11pm