My Way

by Paul Anka, David Dalton

teen idol of the 1950s who virtually invented the singer/songwriter/heartthrob combination that still tops pop music today, Paul Anka rocketed to fame with a slew of hits—from “Diana” to “Put Your Head on my Shoulder”—that earned him a place touring with the major stars of his era, including Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Buddy Holly. He wrote Holly’s last hit, and just missed joining the rocker on his final, fatal plane flight. Anka also stepped in front of the camera in the teen beach-party movie era, scoring the movies and romancing their starlets, including Annette Funicello.
When the British invasion made his fans swoon for a new style of music—and musician--Anka made sure he wasn’t conquered. A rapier-canny businessman and image-builder who took his career into his own hands—just as he had from the very beginning, swiping his mother’s car at fourteen to drive himself, underage, to his first gigs in Quebec—Anka toured the world until he could return home in triumph. A charter member of the Rat Pack, he wrote the theme music for The Tonight Show as well as his friend Frank Sinatra’s anthem “My Way”. By the 1970s, a multi-decade string of pop chart-toppers, including “Puppy Love” and “(You’re) Having My Baby”, cemented his status as an icon.
My Way is bursting with rich, rollicking stories of the business and the people in Anka’s life: Elizabeth Taylor, Dodi Fayed, Tom Jones, Michael Jackson, Adnan Khashoggi, Little Richard, Brooke Shields, Johnny Roselli, Sammy Davis, Jr., Brigitte Bardot, Barnum & Bailey Circus acrobats, and many more. Anka is forthcoming, funny and smart as a whip about the business he’s been in for almost six decades. My Way moves from New York to Vegas, from the casino stage to backstages all over the world. It’s the most entertaining autobiography of the year.

Genres: Biography, Music, Memoir, Nonfiction, Ebooks, Autobiography

371 pages, Hardcover

First published April 2, 2013

Reviews

[Vanessa Fox · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wow, I don't know whether to give this one star or five. It's a total train wreck and is really badly written. He repeats himself in the same paragraph, loves run on sentences, and rambles on with stories that have no point ("This guy is a good friend. Last year we went out to his private island for vacation. It was fun". The end.) He also has a tendency to reference stories he doesn't tell ("That was quite a night. What a story." The end.)

He mentions people that he doesn't introduce until chapters later, alludes to events that he assumes the reader should know ("and of course, we all know what happened to random stranger once the feds caught up with him." The end.) and jumps around so much that it's impossible to keep track of a chronology. Which I guess is awesome as a literary device, because the whole thing is a mystery the entire time, but I don't think it's on purpose.

As a memoir, it totally fails -- it's like someone read a draft and said, hey, you need to include things about your own life, and so he went back and added random details: and this one time, we had dinner; this other time, we went on vacation. He never says how he feels about anything or why he did anything. He was married for like 40 years, then got divorced and instantly remarried to his personal trainer and got divorced almost as instantly. But does he have any feelings about that? Any motivation? Not as far as you can tell from this book.

But as a train wreck, it is awesome. He is pretty confident that he is responsible for nearly everything that's ever happened: the success of the Beatles, the longevity of the rat pack, Vegas itself. The book is a chaotic mess of name dropping and an expose of how everyone in the world but him (an innocent bystander the whole time) was mixed up with the mob, drugs, orgies, and watching women have sex with sheep.

[Morgan · Rating 1 out of 5]

ANKA IS TEDIOUS & BOORISH

I used to think Paul Anka was a nice guy, until now.

What’s wrong with this book? Let me count the ways: 1 to 360 being the number of pages.

I was willing to overlook the bad English; the repetition of the same information in a different sentence following one after another.
He never tires of saying how young he was when he hit it big. If he mentioned it once he mentioned it a thousand times. But the people bashing was more than I could stand.

Page 58. Anka claims “I had an abundance of feelings for my audience…and treated them like a lover wooing his main squeeze. (Bobby) Darin didn’t care to project that kind of warmth. He came off as aloof and arrogant – he was trying to do the Sinatra thing – which was his way of interpreting Pat Pack cool.”
Huh? Really? And you weren’t?

Facts:
(1) Not one ounce of your so-called ‘feelings’ for your audience has come through in this book.
(2) You also were trying to interpret the Rat Pack cool!
(3) Bobby Darin died in December 1973. He was 37 years old.
(4) Darin had every bit as much talent as you AND a thousand times more charisma. He also had a great deal more obstacles to overcome than you ever did.

Page 63. “The Anglos had all these demeaning names like The Crickets, The Spiders, The Beatles, The Animals, The Zombies.” Clearly Anka has no idea what the word ‘demeaning’ means.
Why would you refer to these bands as “Anglos”? Frankly, that’s demeaning.

After Page 63 I only skipped along to the end. If I had found anything positive to say I would have done so. Unfortunately I have nothing more to add except to lament the fact that I spent money buying this guy’s records. Thank goodness I got this book from the library!!!!!!

[JoAnne Pulcino]

MY WAY

Paul Anka

Paul Anka is credited as being the composer of the theme for the Tonight Show, and is also credited with composing MY WAY which is not quite true. Mr. Anka bought a French song called Comm d’habitude and wrote new lyrics for his idol, Frank Sinatra.

Having read many biographies this particular one was a great disappointment as there is very little about Mr. Anka’s life in it other than his wonderful accomplishments. His personal life is passed over so thoroughly that it must have been perfect despite divorce and other challenges. The rest of the book is a mean spirited name dropping about all the people who LOVED HIM.

He claims to be a charter member of the Rat Pack and idolized them. Despite this he proceeds to demean them and tell every gossipy or juicy detail about them that he can come up with. Too bad they’re not able to defend themselves.

Mr. Anka knew everyone, everyone loved him and yet he managed to tell stories about Mafia men, business men, other performers and just about anyone you can name.

Maybe you can tell I didn’t care for this autobiography.

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

So far, so good, but a little slow.

Merged review:

Poorly written and it bounced around the decades on a regular basis. The only negatives traits were awarded to people who are deceased, other people were all "very good friend, warm and giving human being", etc. His personal life was particularly incomplete, with a marriage of 38 years ending somewhat abruptly. Not worth the money.

[Christopher McDonald · Rating 3 out of 5]

Paul Anka pulled off the impossible. He was a teen idol in the 50's and managed to survive the changing tide in music. Why? Because he also wrote his songs and reinvented himself when his breed started to die out. With this book, Paul gives you an inside look into what is was like to tour the country during the birth of rock n' roll. These are the type of stories that never bore me. Paul also writes a very telling story of 60's Vegas and the Rat Pack members, particularly Frank Sinatra. I'm actually only giving this book 3 stars, because Paul goes a little too deep into Sin City. The autobiography goes from an ode to music to a love-letter to Vegas right before your eyes. I'm sure people will enjoy that aspect, but I've never been much of a Las Vegas fan... going there or hearing stories of the heyday. Either way, the book is definitely worth the read!

[Stansherman · Rating 1 out of 5]

Totally self-serving with a few bits of gossip, however nothing to make you sit up and take notice .
According to Anka he never met a woman who didn't want to bed him.
Quite an ego .......

[Frances · Rating 1 out of 5]

I never knew how important an editor was until I read this book which was badly in need of one. The book is repetitive, disorganized, and in parts boring. It sounds like he recorded his musings of his life in a tape recorder and then David Dalton the editor/ghost writer put it into paragraphs and hit spell check. I looked David up and he is a founding editor of Rolling Stone magazine. This book is not a credit to him. Paul is Paul's biggest fan. He is wonderful and responsible for oh so many things. He went on for pages and pages about Vegas and the mob. I did not learn very much about his family. His first wife of 39 years had class and was a great wife and mother according to Paul. He dumped her because he had to be honest. Then married wife number 2 which turned out to be tabloid fodder and a colossal train wreck. Wife number 1 had the last laugh. The sad thing is that I love his music and wanted to really love him. Glad it was only $5.99 when I bought it. He did do it his way.

[Bradleybrad . · Rating 1 out of 5]

Book is poorly written and jumps all over the place. No continuity. It is obvious that there was not a talented editor on board. The poor English throughout is nothing short of scandalous. There are some hundreds of people written about in the book and they are all, “wonderful, very talented, as intelligent as they come, warm and affectionate and willing to do anything for you”. All these people are Paul’s, “Very best friends, known them for years”. It becomes a little tedious.

However, if you are interested in celebrity trivia you may be interested in such tidbits such as, “Don Rickles wears a toupee”, “Johnny Carson was a notorious drunk”, “Dean Martin sitting alone in a restaurant with his false teeth in a glass”, along with the size of Frank Sinatra’s penis. All of this is written between the pages and pages of how wonderful Paul is. I slogged through the book but it was not as interesting a read as I had expected from someone as well-known as Paul Anka. Boring!

[Rick Elias · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uhhhh...

I don't even know where to start. First, this book needed an editor in the worst way. It jumps around chronologically too much, and it is redundant in too many places. Like the park bench ramblings of an a retiree. Second, for someone who has spent as much time with mobsters, the Rat Pack, corporate robber barons, low level thieves and billionaire crooks - what happened to "omertá"? Geez, this guy spills the beans on everybody who ever crossed his path. If Frank was still alive, his legs would be broken. Finally, he's had an admirable career as a songwriter, casino performer, and suck-up to the powerful, rich, and famous...but the guy isn't making any truly great artist or songwriter lose any sleep. He's an accomplished hack at best. Hell of a life though.

[Tim Van Duyts · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was amazed how mean-spirited this was. Threw almost everyone he has worked with under the bus and for that reason it was hard to like him or his story

[Lori · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was a little disappointed with My Way, the memoir (with the same title as the famous song he wrote for Frank Sinatra) by Paul Anka. I've loved many of his songs over the years -- and, of course (point of patriotic pride) he is Canadian. ; ) And there is no doubt that the guy has been around & has some great stories to tell.

Unfortunately, the telling sometimes leaves something to be desired. My main problem with the book is that it like a verbatim transcript of a taped conversation. Which is all fine & good -- in a memoir, you want to sound real & have an authentic voice -- but the book rambles all over the place and repeats itself in many spots. (I lost track of how many people he described as "my good friend" or "my very good friend.") It really could have used a good edit. Maybe I'm just being picky, but it did spoil my full enjoyment of the book somewhat.

And while Anka obviously has some stories to tell -- and tells many, well -- there is obviously a lot he is NOT telling. For a guy who spent so much time in Vegas but claims to have stayed away from the mob figures who ran the place, he sure knows a lot about them.

And while he's happy to spill about the flings and foibles of the Rat Pack and others, he is less forthcoming about his own personal life, which includes two wives, five (!) daughters and one son. While I understand his desire not to bad-mouth the mother of his young son, I do think he could have been a little more forthcoming.

If you are an Anka fan or enjoy reading about Vegas in its heyday, you will like this book. For me, 2.5 stars.

[Sandi Steinberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great, breezy read that's very insightful about making it in the music world, especially in the 1960s and '70s. A great deal on the history of Las Vegas and the influence of the mob, racism in the music industry, and the influence of the British Invasion of the mid-1960s on American pop stars, who often fell by the wayside if they didn't find new audiences or turn to writing there material (as Anka has always done. He would also become famous for writing for others, esp. for "My Way," written for Frank Sinatra). There's also a great deal about Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr.' especially their last difficult years.

However, the book is very badly edited. Certain sentences are repeated a page or two later, there's at least one misspelling, and "of" is omitted, and the peripatetic Anka, doesn't always keep us apprised of where he's living (so it's rather a shock when he indicates that he's moved!).

There's really nothing about the breakup of his 38-year marriage to international supermodel Anne de Zagheb. He may be overly delicate, but the subject is handled in 1 or two sentences, and the mother of his five daughters is curiously absent from the book as are the 5 girls. It sounds like a midlife crisis, although he insists that he and Anne are still best friends and speak every day.

[Carol · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am of Paul Anka's generation and a Canadian too. Wanted to like this book since I have always liked the man and his music. However, it really isn't very good. I expected him to tell me a lot more about the Rat Pack, especially about Frank Sinatra. Mr. Anka doesn't "dish" at all in this book. I guess that is admirable, but makes the book at bit boring. Most of his anecdotes and stories are about people only industry insiders would recognize, and the story always starts with so-and-so is his "very good, very close, lifelong friend." Maybe everyone Anka meets becomes a close friend, but it does seem somewhat over the top and unbelievable. I did learn that he wrote "She's a Woman" for Tom Jones, and that is something I didn't know.

[Dale Stonehouse · Rating 2 out of 5]

Since this book has not been rated very highly, I was determined to keep an open mind and remember that great talent is not usually resident in average everyday people. But what a mess. Just when you think a narrative is developing, from the 50s to the 60s, then the 70s, oops, we are back in Vegas in the 60s again. About once every 2 pages. I can only surmise this wildly scattered memoir approximates a casual conversation with Mr. Anka. Hearing that he idolized Sinatra and the Rat Pack about 150 times followed by the disclaimer that Sinatra was a world-class prick makes pretty monotonous reading. I gave this book a second star because it is free of spell-checker produced errors and appears to have been fact-checked thoroughly.

[Carolyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thought I'd NEVER finish this book! There were some interesting facts (?) in it about celebrities and "close friends" of Paul Anka's - Frank Sinatra, John Kennedy, Sammy Davis Jr., to name just a few - some of which I think I'd rather not have known about. But he would write one thing and then later completely contradict himself and say the exact opposite. The book was SO disjointed and jumped around so very much it was impossible to keep things straight. Also thoughts were thrown in at random in the middle of a paragraph about something completely unrelated with no explanation. I was determined to finish it because I bought the darn thing, so I made myself read every painful word. I would not recommend this book.

[Carol · Rating 2 out of 5]

Paul Anka covered his early years in great detail. It was interesting to hear about his experiences with others in the music industry. Toward the end of the book, a lot of names seemed to be thrown in for a mention, but with little detail. Perhaps because these people are still alive? Quite a bit of information about the people he met who were connected to the mob.
It was very interesting to read his thoughts on Donald Trump (long before he became our President) who he had some dealings with while performing in the Atlantic City casinos.
The book is somewhat disjointed and jumps around a bit, but would be interesting to a fan or someone with an interest in the music business.

[Paul Wilner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Too funny. Completely sleazy and self-serving, shamelessly namedropping about the little guy's "friendships'' with the likes of Kirk Kerkorian and Donald Trump, and his various romances, it's nevertheless compulsive, popcorn reading. The section on the mob in Las Vegas (he suggests that Scorsese's "Casino'' was a documentary, more or less) is especially revealing. Not exactly Nabokov (although I think they played the same dive once, back in Jersey), but here's a tell all that actually tells all. Or some. Or more than what the others have told. Buy it, read it, put it on the bookshelf alongside your dogeared copies of Carlyle and Ruskin. Frank would approve - or would he?

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finished reading autobiography "My Way" by Paul Anka. Anka was one of my teen idols, with his picture on my bulletion board with Bobby Rydell and Fabian. First part of the book is really interesting - 16 years old - a star. Then the book goes into his life with Rat Pack, a big portion about Las Vegas. Some of this book sounds like boasting (this is who I knew) - many unkind things said about people no longer here.

[Penny Peck · Rating 2 out of 5]

Anka had an interesting life, but unfortunately this narrative is so repetitive that it is boring. Plus, he comes off as quite sexist and patronizing. It is also hard to believe some of his stories - his take on Bobby Darin is full of factual errors - and he brags so much it comes off as defensive. Also, why no mention of son in law Jason Bateman? Still, fans may like this - you can skim through the parts where he retells a story he told 50 pages earlier.

[Jose Ponce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not well written, but an interesting history of one of America's greatest songwriters. It was disappointing that he did not spend more time writing about his family, in particular, his wife and daughters. Lot's of war stories, some not particularly interesting.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really did enjoy this book although it seemed to be just as much about Frank Sinatra and the Rat pack as much as it did Anka. Never get tired of reading about 'old' Vegas during the 60's.

[Jak Krumholtz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Prior to reading this book I couldn’t have told you a song or realized he wrote for others but throughout was thinking oh, I know that one. Lots of interesting stories that suffer from appearing in what appears to be an early draft scattered mess. Timeline jumps all over, repeats, sentences lead in to stories that are never executed etc. Also things were always different then, today’s not the same, everything was better except when it’s not. He drops dirt about seemingly everyone but himself and takes credit for even more. (Brought the Beatles to the US?!) I did enjoy it, a better edit would easily save it.

Although Anka drops more names here than a track from The Game, somehow my friends and I were never mentioned telling him after an ’04 Don Rickles Vegas show that he made beautiful music. (That same show I also let the Governor know she had a wonderful city.) This was before someone asked to get a picture with me in the lobby. I never learned who they mistook me for as I answered, “Sure, but make it quick.” Viva Las Vegas!

[Volare · Rating 4 out of 5]

Paul Anka's life story is so colourful! This book is chock full of famous names and incidents from Frank Sinatra to Dodi Fayed to Donald Trump! This man has lived an interesting life. Not the best written book, it meanders from time to time and feels repetitive in some sections.

The early parts dragged a bit for me (to use his own words, blah, blah, blah) as he described his early days as a teen idol on the road riding buses but the people he shared those times with were fascinating...Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Frankie Avalon, Fabian, the list goes on and on. In later years, he met up with the real-life characters from the movie Casino! Oh my goodness!!!

Some salacious bits shocked me but they only added to the narrative. I'm surprised he dared to tell some of the stories for fear of retribution. He comes across as everyone's friend but why would a friend share some of these stories?

Truly an "insider" look at the music industry and of Vegas, baby!

[Dave Bahr · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to give this book a higher rating. Great stories, hilarious cometary and insight. The last two chapters were my favorite. However, I had to give it 3 stars because the writing in the rest of the book was dreadfully done. It’s like no one went through and edited all the redundant things. For example, I think Anka says this person (don’t remember who) was in the trucking business probably 3 times. It only needed to be said, maybe, once, maybe twice. But someone just should have gone through the manuscript and eliminated things that had already been said or focused on more than once. Again, great stories, great humor, he did a good job of painting the time. But dear lord, please, re-write the thing and make it flow better.

[Tiffany Mercer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing stories, and what an incredible life this man has led and is still hopefully enjoying in his older age. I loved his sincerity and am amazed at how humble he was able to stay through all of the fans and notoriety. The pranks were always my favorite parts of the stories. As I feel with most memoirs though the writing proficiency is definitely lacking. It’s like a brain dump - choppy and disorganized timing wise along with being repetitive. I put all of this aside when I read a memoir though knowing that this man is an artist, not an author. I focused on the content and did my best to put aside my writing critiques.

[Celeste · Rating 3 out of 5]

Agreeing with some reviews that the time line of events is hard to follow. After awhile I just skipped the year mentioned because it was hard to place all the events he mentioned. However, always liking the teen idol’s music and voice I did enjoy reading about his travels. I think we as readers need to remember he told these stories over and over I’m sure, but with so much happening so quickly there is bound to be overlap, repeated stories, likes and dislikes that changed as he became more popular and as he became older. I still like Paul Anka and enjoyed his story.

[Tony · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like early rock and roll but I wasn’t really familiar with Paul Anka before reading this book. I wish he didn’t get to much into the immoral atmosphere he lived in, but I appreciated that he said little about his own personal life. It was interesting how he got into his friendships with the rat pack despite being much younger than them. I can relate because I do ministry work with a group of men who are about twice my age.

[Theresa Valdivia · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting story of a life well lived

I've loved Paul Anka's music through the years; and I heard about his autobiography from people in a Facebook group dedicated to appreciating Paul's music. Some parts were major eye openers; other parts made me blush, and others helped me understand him and his music more fully. I hope we get a few more years out of him before his time comes. All in all, this was a great read, and I may want to read it again sometime.

[Jean Gucwa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this book because it was my book club choice. I thought I would like it.....Paul Anka was one of my favorites when I was growing up. NOT. It was badly written to the point I would have to stop reading to try to figure what was being said. Constantly repeating over and over again the same information. I was never so happy to finish a book.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly Enjoyed This Book

Paul Anka is nearly six and a half years older than I am, but I remember him on the radio singing his early hits. He is a consummate professional and his early family life is demonstrated in the way he behaves. He is a multimillionaire,but you'll need to read how that happened.