{"id":15277,"date":"2023-06-29T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-29T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/?p=15277"},"modified":"2023-06-29T07:42:50","modified_gmt":"2023-06-29T06:42:50","slug":"doing-it-the-write-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/2023\/06\/29\/doing-it-the-write-way\/","title":{"rendered":"DOING IT THE WRITE WAY"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

DOING IT THE WRITE WAY<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Norman Warwick learns from Tina Benitez Eves.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

about PAUL ANKA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

By the time he was 16 years old, Paul Anka<\/a> (left and on our cover))<\/strong>  had his first charting single. At 14, he recorded his first song, I Confess, with $100 he borrowed from his uncle. Anka used the recording to audition at ABC Records and later released the loving ballad Diana in 1957, about a girl he liked in church but barely knew. The song reached No. 1 in the U.S. and Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The young Anka, born on July 30, 1941, in Ottawa, Ontario Canada, built up his fan base performing early on as a frequent guest on Dick Clark\u2019s American Bandstand<\/em>, and went on to write and record a collection of his own hits, including Put Your Head on My Shoulder, Lonely Boy, and (You\u2019re) Having My Baby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He would also write the theme song to The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson<\/em>, Johnny\u2019s Theme, which officially began airing in 1962, and Anka even acted in a number of films and on television (That \u201970s Show<\/em>, Gilmore Girls<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In December 2022 Tina Benitez Eves wrote in American Songwriter about this singer-writer who penned his first charting hit at about the age he started to wear long trousers. I remembered him for one of those typically twee songs that became hits around the turn of the fifties and sixties and, of course for one particularly global phenomenon he helped create. So come follow your art down the sidetracks & detours of the USA to find out more, from Tina Benitez Eves in Paste<\/em>,  about one of the most successful song-writers of all time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Some of Anka\u2019s songs also became hits for other artists who covered them, like Tom Jones\u2019 (right)<\/em><\/strong> 1971 rendition of \u201cShe\u2019s a Lady,\u201d and everyone from Barbra Streisand, Linda Ronstadt, Nina Simone, Robbie Williams, and more have performed and recorded Anka\u2019s songs over the decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout his career, Anka has had chart-topping singles spanning 37 years and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1993.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Over the decades, Anka also wrote songs for other artists, including the classic crooner My Way<\/a>, which became Frank Sinatra\u2019s signature song (left)<\/em><\/strong>. Later recorded by Elvis Presley, \u201cMy Way\u201d even became a hit for Sex Pistol Sid Vicious in 1979.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Writing for everyone from Buddy Holly and Gladys Knight to The Doobie Brothers and more from the late \u201950s through 1980s, here\u2019s a look at six songs Anka wrote for other artists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cIt Doesn\u2019t Matter Anymore,\u201d Buddy Holly (1959)<\/strong>
Written by Paul Anka<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recorded on Oct. 21, 1958, in New York City, Paul Anka wrote the pop ballad \u201cIt Doesn\u2019t Matter Anymore\u201d specifically for Buddy Holly (left)<\/em><\/strong>. The song was released less than a month before Holly was killed in a plane crash on Feb. 3, 1959<\/a> and reached No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart shortly after his death. It was Holly\u2019s last Top 20 hit in the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anka donated his royalties from the song to Holly\u2019s widow Mar\u00eda Elena. \u201c\u2018It Doesn\u2019t Matter Anymore\u2019 has a tragic irony about it now,\u201d said Anka, \u201cbut at least it will help look after Buddy Holly\u2019s family.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There you go and baby here am I
Well you left me here so I could sit and cry
Well, golly gee what have you done to me
Well I guess it doesn\u2019t matter anymore<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you remember baby, last September
How you held me tight, each and every night
Well oops-a-daisy, how you drove me crazy
But I guess it doesn\u2019t matter anymore<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dozens of artists have covered the Holly hit over the past six decades, including Anka on his 21 Golden Hits album in 1963; Don McLean on his 1978 album Chain Lighting;<\/em> and most recently by Lucius for their album, Wildewoman<\/em>, released in 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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photo  5 \u201cTrain of Love,\u201d Annette Funicello (1960)<\/strong>
Written by Paul Anka<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1960, Annette Funicello (right)<\/em><\/strong> released an album of songs written entirely by Paul Anka. A Mouseketeer on the very first Mickey Mouse Club<\/em>, Funicello went on the star in a number of \u201cBeach Party\u201d movies with Frankie Avalon and also released a collection of albums and singles throughout her career, including Annette Sings Anka<\/em> in 1960. The album featured some covers of Anka\u2019s previously released songs as well as original tracks like \u201cTrain of Love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh the train of love keeps a movin\u2019 on down the track
Well I left so fast that I even forgot to pack
Well I called my baby on the telephone
Told him to meet me at the station, \u2019cause I\u2019m coming home.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Woo woo, shovel more coal in the fire
Well I\u2019m coming home..home to my desire
Well I miss him so, how much you\u2019ll never know
And when I get back I\u2019ll never let him go<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Funicello continued starring in beach-genre movies through 1989. She died from complications of multiple sclerosis at the age of 70 in 2013.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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photo 6  \u201cI\u2019m Not Anyone,\u201d Sammy Davis Jr. (1973)<\/strong>
Written by Paul Anka<\/em> and Johnny Harris<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul Anka wrote \u201cI\u2019m No Anyone\u201d for Sammy Davis Jnior who released it in 1973 as a B-side to \u201c(I\u2019d Be) A Legend in My Time.\u201d The two even performed the song as a duet on Davis Jr.\u2019s TV special, Sammy!<\/em> Shirley Bassey covered the song in 1974. Anka and Davis Jr. also worked together more than a decade earlier when they co-wrote \u201cEverybody Calls Me Joe,\u201d released by Davis as a B-side to the single \u201cThe Fool I Used to Be\u201d in 1962.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not anyone
No not just anyone
I have the right to leed
A life fulfilled with every need
I\u2019m not any man
Designed to fit someones plan
I have my own desires
Of the things a man aspires
I\u2019ll not be used
Misled, decieved or abused
No sir not me
I am free<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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photo 7  <\/strong>\u201cIt\u2019s Me Again\u201d<\/strong>
First recorded by Gladys Knight in 1979; released by Roberto Carlos  in 1981<\/strong>
Written by Paul Anka, Dennis Smith, Doug McCormick<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though Gladys Knight<\/a>  (right, in red)<\/em><\/strong> was the first to record the Paul Anka song \u201cIt\u2019s Me Again,\u201d during sessions for her self-titled second album in 1979, it wouldn\u2019t get released until an expanded version of the album was reissued in 2014. Brazilian singer Roberto Carlos recorded the song and released it first in 1981 on his self-titled album.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Calling just to say I never wanna speak to you
After all the things you put me through
When you left me on my own drive
Through your neighborhood
Just to tell you that I\u2019m gone for good
Make it clear and understood
I\u2019m so much better all alone<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

photo 8 <\/strong>\u201cDedicate This Heart,\u201d The Doobie Brothers (1980)<\/strong>
Written by Paul Anka and Michael McDonald<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A decade after The Doobie Brothers (left)<\/em><\/strong> were guests on Paul Anka\u2018s musical variety show, Midnight Special,<\/em> Michael McDonald co-wrote the title track for Anka\u2019s 1983 album, \u201cWalk a Fine Line.\u201d A few years earlier, Anka also co-wrote \u201cDedicate This Heart\u201d for The Doobie Brothers\u2019 1980 album, One Step Closer<\/em>. The song was later covered by Dionne Warwick<\/a> on her 1981 album, Hot! Live and Otherwise<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No more goodbyes
Or waitin\u2019 for some lucky day
No driftin\u2019 along
No walkin\u2019 away
What I feel inside
Ain\u2019t some idle game I play
This love is alive
And I\u2019m here to stay
Here in your life
There in your heart
There by your side
That\u2019s where I want to be<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

photo 9<\/strong>  \u201cLove Never Felt So Good,\u201d Michael Jackson (1983\/2014)<\/strong>
Written by Paul Anka and Michael Jackson<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Originally recorded in 1983, following the Thriller<\/em><\/a> sessions, Michael Jackson<\/a>  (right) <\/em><\/strong>co-wrote \u201cLove Never Felt So Good\u201d with Anka, but it was never released. In 2014, five years after Jackson\u2019s death, the song was released as the first single off the Xscape<\/em> album, a collection of songs recorded from 1983 through 1999. (Anka and Kathleen Wakefield also reworked the lyrics for Johnny Mathis to record the song in 1983.) The original version of \u201cLove Never Felt So Good\u201d featured Jackson\u2019s vocals, finger snaps, and Anka on piano.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A second remixed version of the track, also released in 2014, was produced by Timbaland and J-Roc and featured Justin Timberlake<\/a> in a duet with Jackson. The updated version of \u201cLove Never Felt So Good\u201d reached No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 and hit the Top 10 in multiple countries making Jackson the first artist to have a top 10 single on the chart in five different decades\u2014six decades, including his chart history with Jackson 5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baby, love never felt so good
And I\u2019d doubt if it ever could
Not like you hold me, hold me
Oh baby, love never felt so fine
And I\u2019d doubt if it\u2019s never mine
Not like you hold me, hold me<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

cover<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In December 2022 Tina Benitez Eves wrote in American Songwriter about this singer-writer who penned his first charting hit at about the age he started to wear long trousers. I remembered him for one of those typically twee songs that became hits around the turn of the fifties and sixties and, of course for one particularly global phenomenon he helped create. So come follow your art down the sidetracks & detours of the USA to find out more, from Tina Benitez Eves in Paste,\u00a0 about one of the most successful song-writers of all time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15288,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15277"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15277\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15417,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15277\/revisions\/15417"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}