Paul Anka: Still doing it his way

It was a feeling of falling into the air when fans arrived at the McCallum Theater in Palm Desert, California for the opportunity to remember the time with Paul Anka. It was the soundtrack to an era when drive-ins and back seats were the currency of teen romance. He knew what teenagers liked, because he was one of them.

“I’ve been in show business since I was about 10 years old,” he said.

Today, Anka turns 84 years old. And when the lights dim, the room sparkles.

i’m too young and you’re too old
This, my dear, I have been told
i don’t care what they say
‘Cause I will always pray
You and I will be just as free
like birds on trees
Oh please stay with me,
Diana

“When you started out like me, as a little squeaky-voiced kid, and didn’t know what was going to happen when the change came, I couldn’t have imagined you being around for so many decades, you know?” He said.

Nostalgia is real, but so is their staying power. Anka has remained on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for seven consecutive decades. He has invented, re-imagined and re-written himself again and again. He was one of the few who made the lyrical leap from teen singer of the 50s to classic singer, performing consistently with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. in the 1960s.

I asked, “Did you feel like a child? I mean, did you struggle to be taken seriously because you were so young?”

“All that,” Anka replied. “Coming from an ordinary background in a small town, with everyone being around you and you’re famous and you’re a celebrity, it was very difficult to go there. To be honest, I kept saying, ‘How can I not be a ******,’ sorry?”

He was living life, but also learning about life. “Hanging out with the Rat Pack and the crowd and Las Vegas,” he said. “They drank and smoked, and I was fascinated, but I saw them coming in and coughing and spitting, and I was introduced to their doctors. So I never became a smoker. I never became a big drinker.”

He became a voracious reader of medical literature. If it’s healthy, she’s probably given it a try, like her daily shot of olive oil with lemon. Whatever he has done, he has been successful. He has a strong voice, he rocks the stage and still has a wonderful sense of humor. “We’re here for a while, guys,” he told the crowd. “If you need to take pills or go to the bathroom, go when you feel like it.”

Just last week, Anka released her latest album, one of more than 130 she has recorded. He says, it is a collection of music about love and life; He has stocks in both businesses. On the wall of his home outside Los Angeles are more gold records than you can count – not just for his own songs, but ones he wrote for others. Buddy Holly’s “It Don’t Matter Anymore” – That was Anka. “She’s a Woman” – Tom Jones, also indebted to Anka. He even co-wrote with Michael Jackson, a long-forgotten demo they recorded together in the 1980s, which surfaced after Jackson’s death in 2009. “He found these songs in a drawer,” Anka said.

“Love Never Felt So Good” became one of the King of Pop’s last hits.

Anka resurfaced in 2020, when Grammy-winning rapper and singer Doja Cat sampled her “Put Your Head on My Shoulder” song in her song “Freak”. Copying that video became a TikTok trend.

But of all the songs he’s known for, it’s the song he wrote for Ol’ Blue Eyes that still leaves people a little misty. As the story goes, Frank Sinatra told Anka that he was thinking about retiring, and Anka – only 25 at the time – says that the lyrics of “My Way” just came to her. “It started writing itself,” he said.

I have lived a life that is full,
I traveled every highway,
And even more, even more,
I did it my way.

It took about five hours to write. “It was such a hit that it lasted another ten years!” Anka said about Sinatra. “And then ‘Let Me Try Again’ came after that.”

Yes, he wrote that too.

These days it’s more about the family than the fans. He has nine grandchildren, including two from his daughter Amanda and her husband, actor Jason Bateman.

Paul Anka knows he’ll have to put on the brakes at some point, but as the song goes, he’s traveled every highway, and he’ll do it when he gets through His way.

“When it’s time for my body to say enough, I’ll know,” he said. “I’m playing with house money now. I’m a lucky guy!”

Web Exclusive: Paul Anka’s Song for “CBS Sunday Morning”

You can stream the Paul Anka album “Inspirations of Life & Love” by clicking the embed below (free Spotify registration required to hear full tracks):

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The story is produced by Aria Shavelson. Editor: Steven Tyler.