fyi

[Guest guest]

hal , Grammy and -winning

lyricist, Chairman of the Songwriters Hall of

Fame has this to say: " In Chicken Soup for

the Soul: The Story behind the Song,

many of our greatest songwriters reveal the

inspirations behind 101 of the songs that

have often become the stories of our lives. " Anka

" My Way "

Written by Anka

Recorded by Sinatra

I became globalized early in my career. I traveled internationally a great

deal as a kid and lived in several countries. I was sitting outside my house

in the countryside in France one day and heard a Claude Fran�ois record. As

a musician, I hear lots of options in songs and that held true with this

one.

It was the late '60s and, on my way home to the United States, I stopped in

Paris. I was pretty well connected there so I found the publisher of the

song and met with him and told him I thought the song was interesting. He

asked what I wanted and I said, " The rights. " We signed a simple two-page

contract that I took back to the States with me. I transformed the record to

a piano lead sheet and put it in my drawer to come back to later.

I had a close relationship with Sinatra at the time because we worked

together many times when the Rat Pack was at the Sands Hotel and I was the

youngest performer in Las Vegas. We spent quite a bit of time together; he

was like a mentor to me. Thus, one of my career goals was to write for him

even though I knew he hated pop music. He liked Gershwin, Porter. That was

his kind of music.