Frank Sinatra: My Way (50th anniversary edition) [CAPITOL]

Why you'll love it

This 50th anniversary edition brings Sinatra's late-60s classic back to vinyl in stereo, arranged and conducted by Don Costa. The title song became his signature, and the album finds him taking on the best new songs of the day.

This edition

• 50th anniversary edition
• Stereo mix

About the album

On December 30, 1968, a few hours before heading to Las Vegas to ring in the new year, Frank Sinatra stepped into Western Recorders in Los Angeles and cut a song that would follow him for the rest of his career. "My Way" grew out of a French tune, with English words by a young Ottawa-born songwriter named Paul Anka, and it became the anthem of Sinatra's later years.

The rest of the album is Sinatra taking on the modern songbook with Don Costa's lush arrangements: The Beatles' "Yesterday," Simon and Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson," Jacques Brel's "If You Go Away," Jimmy Webb's "Didn't We" and Michel Legrand's "Watch What Happens." "For Once In My Life" swings, "Hallelujah, I Love Her So" nods to Ray Charles, and "All My Tomorrows" is pure late-night Sinatra. Sonny Burke produced, and the voice, now a little weathered, carries more feeling than ever.

Bono later wrote about the song in liner notes for an anniversary reissue, which tells you how far it travelled. Paul Anka is from Ottawa, by the way; we mention it purely so you know whom to thank.

Also at Kops: more Frank Sinatra on vinyl · browse Vocal Jazz

Tracklist

Listen

On Capitol / Reprise, a reissue of the 1969 album.