Another Forgotten Hits “Super” Review from Shelley J Sweet-Tufano, this time about “Superman” Paul Anka in Concert! (Re-read her review for that reference, if necessary.)
http://forgottenhits60s.blogspot.com/2023/11/shelleys-latest-review-doin-it-her-way.html
I can only imagine Anka and Sweet-Tufano together saving the Musical World we know so well!
I had the opportunity to meet Anka at one of his concerts many years ago. A terrifically wonderful individual whose Great Songs were part of the soundtrack of my very young romantic experiences of more than one “Puppy Love!”
Shelly mentioned so many of the songs he wrote, many that were notably performed so successfully by others. He, as you may already know, wrote the lyric-less “Tonight Show Theme with Johnny Carson” that Anka, when just 20 years old, “co-wrote” with Carson in the early 1960s!
But that theme music was actually a reworked instrumental Anka had written about four years before that "collaboration" when still in his Late Teens and was recorded by “Tutti Camarata and his Orchestra” called “Toot Sweet.”
Here’s how the results of that
instrumental transformed into “The Tonight Show” Theme ...
And as you, Kent, and others have mentioned before, today we hear many Favorite Forgotten Hits used as background music in TV Commercials every day and night. Some clever tie-ins; others not so much. I've often wondered what songwriters and artists feel when they hear their compositions or performances used in such a manner.
For instance, I wonder what Paul Anka thinks when he hears “My Way,” which he also wrote, in that rather personal and intimate Medical Home Test Kit!
Phew!
CB (which stands for “Crooning Boy!”)
Well, I figure Anka had to sign off on that before they could use it … and I’m sure it’s earning him a few more bucks along the way. (Actually, maybe not … I don’t think Paul wrote the music to that one … just a brand new set of lyrics.)
All I know is (awkward and as uncomfortable a commercial as that one may be when watching it in mixed company), I recently passed MY "poop on a stick" test with flying colors …
And I didn’t even study!!!
I have been a Paul Anka fan for a long, long time … always thought he was a class act and a great entertainer … a true “natural” up on stage. (And I guess at this stage of the game he’s earned the right to “boast” a little bit!) We saw him a few years ago (has it REALLY been seven years already?!?!) at The Arcada Theatre and absolutely LOVED his show … and it sounds like Shelley saw a real winner, too. (Anka mixes things up each time he comes to town … a few years ago, the bulk of his show was a Tribute To Frank Sinatra … if you read Paul’s autobiography, you’ll see how Sinatra took him under his wing when he was just a young kid coming up the ranks … it’s a good book.) kk
https://forgottenhits60s.blogspot.com/2016/05/paul-anka.html
For more about the song “My Way” that WE all know and love (thanks to Old Blue Eyes and The King Of Rock And Roll), check out the true origins of this tune … and see how Paul Anka came to put his own personal stamp on it. (I was right … he didn’t write the melody, just a new set of lyrics catered to Sinatra … I can’t even IMAGINE the amount of royalties this thing has generated over the years … especially when you consider the HUNDREDS of parodies written around it since!)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Way
Paul has also been known to cover OTHER artists’ songs, too …
Here’s one he did, written by a friend of mine …
Of course, just like the rest of us, Paul has been known to lose HIS cool from time to time …
This one certainly made the rounds a few years back …
THE PAUL ANKA HIT LIST:
(and boy what a hit list it is!!!)
1957 – Diana (#1)
1958 – You Are My Destiny (#7)
1958 – Let The Bells Keep Ringing (#15)
1958 – Crazy Love (#15)
1958 – Just Young (#28)
1959 – The Teen Commandments (#29) with George Hamilton IV and Johnny Nash
1959 – All Of A Sudden My Heart Sings (#8)
1959 – I Miss You So (#24)
1959 – Lonely Boy (#1)
1959 – Put Your Head On My Shoulder (#2)
1959 – It’s Time To Cry (#4)
1960 – Puppy Love (#2)
1960 – My Home Town (#8)
1960 – Hello Young Lovers (#12)
1960 – I Love You In The Same Old Way (#40)
1960 – Summer’s Gone (#11)
1961 – The Story Of My Love (#16)
1961 – Tonight, My Love, Tonight (#10)
1961 – Dance On Little Girl (#10)
1961 – Kissin’ On The Phone (#21)
1962 – Love Me Warm And Tender (#8)
1962 – A Steel Guitar And A Glass Of Wine (#13)
1962 – Eso Beso (#19)
1963 – Love Makes The World Go ‘Round (#26)
1963 – Remember Diana (35)
1969 – Goodnight My Love (#18)
1971 – Do I Love You (#38)
1974 – Having My Baby (#1) – with Odia Coates
1974 – One Man Woman, One Woman Man (#7) – with Odia Coates
1975 – I Don’t Like To Sleep Alone (#5) – with Odia Coates
1975 – I Believe There’s Nothing Stronger Than Our Love (#13) – with Odia Coates
1975 – Times Of Your Life (#7)
1976 – Anytime (#33)
1978 – This Is Love (#35)
1983 – Hold Me ‘Til The Mornin’ Comes (#38)
