Sinatra was not a fan of the song 'My Way' despite its success. Here's why it irritated David Bowie as well.
Early in his career, David Bowie turned on the radio and heard a Frank Sinatra song that shocked him. The British singer didn’t feel stunned by the power of Sinatra’s vocals; instead, he felt furious that Sinatra was singing a version of a song Bowie wrote. It was “My Way,” a song that became one of Sinatra’s signature tunes. Later, Bowie wrote a song in retaliation, as Showbiz report.
In 1968, Bowie attempted to compose English lyrics for the French song “Comme d’habitude.” His version of the song didn’t make it far, but he later heard the tune on the radio.
Below the original lyrics written by David Bowie for the music to My Way in 1970. Bowies lyrics were turned down in favour of Paul Anka's.
“I wrote some really terrible lyrics [to it] — I think it was called ‘Even A Fool Learns To Love,’” Bowie told Michael Parkinson in 2002 (via ABC). “I sent it back again and I thought that will be the last I hear of that. Then I hear it on the radio and I thought ‘That’s that tune, it must be my song … but hang on, these are different lyrics’, and it was Sinatra singing ‘My Way.’“
He said hearing “My Way” both angered and inspired him.
“That really made me angry for so long — for about a year,” Bowie said. “Eventually I thought, ‘I can write something as big as that, and I’ll write one that sounds a bit like it.’”
He decided to write a similarly epic song. The result was “Life on Mars?”
“So I did ‘Life On Mars?,’ which was my sort of revenge trip on ‘My Way.’”
On the back of Hunky Dory, Bowie included the note “Inspired by Frankie” next to the track listing for “Life on Mars?”
David Bowie’s parody of the Frank Sinatra song wowed people. Though the song began as a parody, it was quite strong in its own right. The backing musicians knew right away that they were working on a hit.
“I remember leaving [the studio] and saying to a couple of friends that I met that evening in a local pub that I’d just played on the best song that I’d ever had the privilege to work on,” pianist Rick Wakeman said. “It had every single ingredient.”
Wakeman believed the song showcased Bowie’s strengths as an artist.
“The great thing about David was he was a wonderful melody man, but it wasn’t just the melodies — he had great ideas for chord structures and would always throw in the odd surprise when you were least expecting it.”
