Sinatra’s secret French inspiration

FANS around the world have been celebrating what would have been Frank Sinatra’s 100th birthday this year – but many of them may not know that his legendary song My Way was an adaptation of a song written by two Frenchman.

Claude François wrote Comme D’Habitude in 1967 with Gilles Thibaut, who regularly penned lyrics for French rocker Johnny Hallyday and helped to put words to the French original.

Two years later Comme D’Habitude was adapted into the English version that became known as My Way by American crooner Paul Anka, perhaps better known in more recent times for his swing renditions of rock classics including Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit and Wonderwall by Oasis.

Although of Italian origin, Frank Sinatra made no secret of his love of France with songs such as The French Foreign Legion in 1958, I Love Paris in 1962 and the same year he sang April in Paris at The Olympia, Paris.

A popular singer and producer, François enjoyed a successful career throughout the 1960s and the following decade until his death in 1978, when he electrocuted himself in Paris while adjusting a lightbulb in his bathroom. He was 39.

Known familiarly as Cloclo, one of his songs is being parodied on French TV at the moment, with the advert for low-cost telecoms company Sosh.

Photo: William P Gottlieb