Sounds on Sunday: 50 of 50/16

WHAT WERE WE listening to 50 years ago? Here’s a short series on the hits of 1969 – two years after the Summer of Love, the year that humans landed on our moon, the last year of the 1960s.

Frank Sinatra had gone off the music business for a while and mentioned to Paul Anka he was seriously considering retiring. Anka dug out a French song of which he had acquired the rights and stayed up all night to write some new lyrics. Released in early 1969, My Way became Sinatra’s farewell song – marred only by Sinatra’s very leisurely attitude to retirement and the frequent comeback jaunts that postdated his good-bye tour.

My Way never reached the top of the UK Charts. It got up to number five but no higher. However, it was in the top 40 for 75 weeks – a record feat which is still unbeaten.

It’s an iconic song, perhaps because it deals with a subject rarely covered in popular music – reflecting on an unconventional life or past experience during which the singer stuck to his or her principles and has no regrets. Everyone should listen to it at least once.

•Read more about it:
Sounds on Sunday