Is it just me, or does Michael Bublé come across like an evangelist, albeit an evangelist for singing in front of a stadium full of music fans, when he invites an audience member to sing in the video you’re about to see? “It’s a very beautiful moment of this show for me, a lovely moment to share with you. You know my dream my whole life was to sing in front of people like this,” Bublé says.
He continues: “I’m sure that there’s someone here tonight who wants that dream too – you don’t need to be a professional. Is there someone here in this audience that would like to sing a song right now?” As expected there are a number of volunteers “to get the crowd going crazy”. Bublé settles on a woman named Alba, who elects to sing My Way, waving her forearm to show her My Way tattoo:
Alba does herself proud. This is reflected in the 3,3M YouTube views. Everything Daryl captures the mood of many of the YouTube comments: “I’m in tears of joy that he gave her such an opportunity. Something she’s probably dreamed about her whole life. What a gift.” Gary Laaks writes “My goodness. She can sing so good. Love it when famous artists interact like this. Respect Michael and well done Alba.” Carol G says: “That rendition of My Way was fantastic, even FS would be proud of you.”
FS refers to Frank Sinatra, of course. My Way, written by Paul Anka, was based on a French song, but it has become associated with Frank Sinatra. Though every crooner and his dog has covered the song, for many it remains Frank Sinatra’s signature song. Sinatra himself grew to detest the song and its trite lyrics. He took to mocking the song before singing it, and he was known to stop the song halfway through. I’ll get back to this. First, a Bublé audience member singing a song Sinatra liked:
Fly Me To The Moon, is a much-covered song written by Bart Howard in 1954. By Howard’s estimation, more than 100 versions were recorded in the decade before Frank Sinatra covered the song with Count Basie in 1964. Ironically, Paul Anka recorded a version in 1963. As Sinatra’s luck had it, his swinging take on Fly Me To The Moon became associated with the Apollo moon missions – and any song Frank Sinatra sang became a Frank Sinatra song.
Back to My Way. In 1979 Frank Sinatra once introduced the song saying, “And of course, the time comes now for the torturous moment—not for you, but for me.” Another time he said, “I hate this song. I hate this song! I got it up to here [with] this goddamned song!” Why did Sinatra dislike My Way so much? Besides the vainglorious lyrics and the strident climax of the song, there is the contrived rhyme scheme: “my way”/”highway”/”byway”, and “shy way”.