<p id=”par-1_66″>Early in his career, <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/tag/david-bowie/?swcfpc=1″>David Bowie</a> turned on the radio and heard a <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/tag/frank-sinatra/?swcfpc=1″>Frank Sinatra</a> 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. </p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-david-bowie-wrote-a-song-in-response-to-frank-sinatra-s-my-way”>David Bowie wrote a song in response to Frank Sinatra’s ‘My Way’</h2>
<p id=”par-2_32″>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.</p>
<p id=”par-3_78″>“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 <a href=”https://web.archive.org/web/20210825113018/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-07/life-on-mars-50th-anniversary/100292906″ target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>ABC</a>). “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 <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/frank-sinatras-my-way-ended-biggest-hits-uk-history.html/”>Sinatra singing ‘My Way.’</a>“</p>
<p id=”par-4_10″>He said hearing “My Way” both angered and inspired him.</p>
<p id=”par-5_36″>“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.’”</p>
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<iframe title=”David Bowie – Life On Mars? (Official Video)” width=”925″ height=”694″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/AZKcl4-tcuo?feature=oembed” frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share” referrerpolicy=”strict-origin-when-cross-origin” allowfullscreen></iframe>
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<p id=”par-6_14″>He decided to write a similarly epic song. The <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/barbie-debuts-david-bowie-life-on-mars-doll.html/”>result was “Life on Mars?”</a> </p>
<p id=”par-7_16″>“So I did ‘Life On Mars?,’ which was my sort of revenge trip on ‘My Way.’”</p>
<p id=”par-8_22″>On the back of <em>Hunky Dory</em>, Bowie included the note “Inspired by Frankie” next to the track listing for “Life on Mars?”</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-david-bowie-s-parody-of-the-frank-sinatra-song-wowed-people-nbsp”>David Bowie’s parody of the Frank Sinatra song wowed people </h2>
<p id=”par-9_28″>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.</p>
<p id=”par-10_47″>“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.”</p>
<p id=”par-11_10″>Wakeman believed the song showcased Bowie’s strengths as an artist.</p>
<p id=”par-12_40″>“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.”</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-the-singer-eventually-came-to-dislike-my-way”>The singer eventually came to dislike ‘My Way’</h2>
<p id=”par-13_16″>Sinatra’s “My Way” frustrated Bowie. It also frustrated Sinatra himself, who grew to <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/frank-sinatra-described-1-famous-song-torturous.html/”>hate performing it</a>. </p>
<p id=”par-14_27″>“Frank Sinatra hated that song,” songwriter Bill Zehme said, per a 1998 article in <a href=”https://www.newsweek.com/” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>Newsweek</a>. “He thought it was pompous and self-aggrandizing, two things he never was.”</p>
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<iframe title=”My Way (2008 Remastered)” width=”925″ height=”694″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/qQzdAsjWGPg?feature=oembed” frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share” referrerpolicy=”strict-origin-when-cross-origin” allowfullscreen></iframe>
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Frank Sinatra’s Cover of a John Denver Song May Be Better Than His Original </a>
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<p id=”par-15_24″>His dislike of the song was no secret; he told one audience that he couldn’t stand performing it as a way of introducing it.</p>
<p id=”par-16_45″>“We have a song we haven’t done in a long time, and we’re gonna drop it in here now,” he told an audience in 1984 (per <a target=”_blank” href=”https://people.com/frank-sinatra-my-way-the-strange-saga-of-a-standard-8655019″ rel=”noreferrer noopener”>People</a>). “I think we did it for about 10 years, and it got to be a real pain you-know-where.”</p>
<p id=”par-17_16″>Later that same year, Sinatra muttered “I can’t stand the song myself” during the instrumental outro.</p>