When David Bowie Beat Paul Anka

It was Ziggy who wrote first English lyrics to "My Way" but Anka got his own version to Sinatra first.

Greg Mitchell is the author of a dozen books and now writer/director of award-winning films, including this one coming to PBS stations in May. He was also a longtime editor of the legendary Crawdaddy.

Yesterday I promised a part II to the saga of Sinatra’s “My Way,” which included an amazing, long obscure version by Aretha Franklin and an infamous take by Sid Vicious which even Leonard Cohen hailed. Don’t miss it. Today we look at the surprising early role David Bowie played in the song’s path to hitdom. Our usual cartoons down the page. Enjoy, then please subscribe, it’s still free.

Okay, the story in a nutshell is this. Many people know that former teen idol, later Vegas crooner, Paul Anka penned the lyrics to the 1969 Sinatra hit “My Way”—a song so many have loved or lamented since. Fewer are aware that the original tune was composed by a Frenchman, Jacques Revaux, “Comme d’habitude,” which means “As Usual.” Claude Francois had a hit with it there. Often back then, songs that were smash hits abroad were adapted for English-speaking audiences—for example, Dusty Springfield’s “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me” (although they left “Sukiyaki” and “Dominique” alone). So who had the first crack in this case?

In 1968, David Bowie was still a scuffling London singer/songwriter no longer known as David Jones. His manager heard the French hit and urged David to write lyrics to it; then they could pitch it to a star in America and make a Vegas load of cash. David obliged with a story about a clown and recorded the lyrics in an awkward demo right over the French recording. He explains this in the first four minutes of the video below and you can hear snatches of his version:

Unfortunately, a little later, Paul Anka while vacationing in France heard the French hit and quickly purchased the rights to adapt it with his own lyrics. He went to Sinatra, then on the verge retirement, and pitched him “My Way” as a career topper. So David Bowie was of luck. But he enjoyed the near-miss experience and soon wrote '“Life on Mars” for a famous future album which he derived from the “My Way” style—and even thanked “Frankie” for inspiration on the album jacket….

The Bowie “My Way” lyrics, which he later called “terrible”:

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