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Sorry, Letty. I got the author wrong, although Anka did have a hit with it in 1959, Turns out it was in a 1945 musical with Frank Sinatra. Couldn't find the author's name.

edgar, as I recall, it was a song written by a woman in another country and met with unprecedented success--perhaps a simple experiment. As a kid, I loved it because it was quite easy to pick out the melody line on piano. c-d-e-f-g-a-b-c. then back down again.

Many songs are appealing in their unorthodox approach.

You know, listeners, we often hold symposiums on WA2K radio. So don't touch that dial; don't go away.

Edgar: All of A Sudden My Heart Sings is another favorite of mine. But Paul Anka can't take credit for that one. :wink: That song was written in 1945. The music was written by a Frenchman, Henri Herpin. Harold Rome put English words to it and it was first sung in the movie Anchors Aweigh by Kathryn Grayson. Later popularized by Hildegarde (loved her doing it) and also by Guy Lombardo.

But you all are too young to remember that.

Paul Anka didn't revive it until 1959.

I always thought Anka wrote "My Way". I just found out that he wrote new lyrics to an old song. My Way was written by two French men, Jacques Revaux and Claude Francois who introduced the song in France in 1969. I remember Anka saying on TV that he wrote the song for Sinatra. I guess he just picked up on the tune and put new lyrics to it. That was a shocker.

Oops. You folks are too fast for me.

The French? The French? Wow! Raggedy. You are our walking, talking OED!

That really surprised me because Anka took full credit for "My Way".

What's an OED?

Oxford English Dictionary....let's make that the SFD. Sheeze, Raggedy, Paul Anka needed to take credit for something. The man wasn't exactly Gershwin.

Where in the hell is Francis? He could clear this up as easy as une, deux, trois.

some songs about causes, just because

Blue Rodeo
Fools Like You

So good at doing
what you don't do
just trying to protect yourself
and other fools like you
So well practised
in your deceit
behind the high walls of stupidity
your endless conceit
behind the locked door
the sleeping dog you beat
I hope I see the day
she satisfies her teeth
Give back to the native
their treaty land
what you preach you preach for others
why don't you practise that first hand
I just don't understand
this world of mine
I must be out of touch
or out of my mind
and will the profits of destruction
forever make your eyes blind
do you bow to the corporations
cause they pay their bills on time
God bless Elijah
with the feather in his hand
stop stealing the Indian land
stop stealing the Indian land
stop stealing the Indian land

**********

Leonard Cohen
Democracy

It's coming through a hole in the air,
from those nights in Tiananmen Square.
It's coming from the feel
that this ain't exactly real,
or it's real, but it ain't exactly there.
From the wars against disorder,
from the sirens night and day,
from the fires of the homeless,
from the ashes of the gay:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.
It's coming through a crack in the wall;
on a visionary flood of alcohol;
from the staggering account
of the Sermon on the Mount
which I don't pretend to understand at all.
It's coming from the silence
on the dock of the bay,
from the brave, the bold, the battered
heart of Chevrolet:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

It's coming from the sorrow in the street,
the holy places where the races meet;
from the homicidal bitchin'
that goes down in every kitchen
to determine who will serve and who will eat.
From the wells of disappointment
where the women kneel to pray
for the grace of God in the desert here
and the desert far away:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

Sail on, sail on
O mighty Ship of State!
To the Shores of Need
Past the Reefs of Greed
Through the Squalls of Hate
Sail on, sail on, sail on, sail on.

It's coming to America first,
the cradle of the best and of the worst.
It's here they got the range
and the machinery for change
and it's here they got the spiritual thirst.
It's here the family's broken
and it's here the lonely say
that the heart has got to open
in a fundamental way:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

It's coming from the women and the men.
O baby, we'll be making love again.
We'll be going down so deep
the river's going to weep,
and the mountain's going to shout Amen!
It's coming like the tidal flood
beneath the lunar sway,
imperial, mysterious,
in amorous array:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

Sail on, sail on ...

I'm sentimental, if you know what I mean
I love the country but I can't stand the scene.
And I'm neither left or right
I'm just staying home tonight,
getting lost in that hopeless little screen.
But I'm stubborn as those garbage bags
that Time cannot decay,
I'm junk but I'm still holding up
this little wild bouquet:
Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

**********

Phil Ochs
I Ain't Marching Anymore

Oh I marched to the battle of New Orleans
At the end of the early British war
The young land started growing
The young blood started flowing
But I ain't marchin' anymore

For I've killed my share of Indians
In a thousand different fights
I was there at the Little Big Horn
I heard many men lying I saw many more dying
But I ain't marchin' anymore

(chorus)
It's always the old to lead us to the war
It's always the young to fall
Now look at all we've won with the saber and the gun
Tell me is it worth it all

For I stole California from the Mexican land
Fought in the bloody Civil War
Yes I even killed my brothers
And so many others But I ain't marchin' anymore

For I marched to the battles of the German trench
In a war that was bound to end all wars
Oh I must have killed a million men
And now they want me back again
But I ain't marchin' anymore

(chorus)

For I flew the final mission in the Japanese sky
Set off the mighty mushroom roar
When I saw the cities burning I knew that I was learning
That I ain't marchin' anymore

Now the labor leader's screamin'
when they close the missile plants,
United Fruit screams at the Cuban shore,
Call it "Peace" or call it "Treason,"
Call it "Love" or call it "Reason,"
But I ain't marchin' any more,
No I ain't marchin' any more

**********

Bob Dylan
With God On Our Side

Oh my name it is nothin'
My age it means less
The country I come from
Is called the Midwest
I's taught and brought up there
The laws to abide
And that land that I live in
Has God on its side.

Oh the history books tell it
They tell it so well
The cavalries charged
The Indians fell
The cavalries charged
The Indians died
Oh the country was young
With God on its side.

Oh the Spanish-American
War had its day
And the Civil War too
Was soon laid away
And the names of the heroes
I's made to memorize
With guns in their hands
And God on their side.

Oh the First World War, boys
It closed out its fate
The reason for fighting
I never got straight
But I learned to accept it
Accept it with pride
For you don't count the dead
When God's on your side.

When the Second World War
Came to an end
We forgave the Germans
And we were friends
Though they murdered six million
In the ovens they fried
The Germans now too
Have God on their side.

I've learned to hate Russians
All through my whole life
If another war starts
It's them we must fight
To hate them and fear them
To run and to hide
And accept it all bravely
With God on my side.

But now we got weapons
Of the chemical dust
If fire them we're forced to
Then fire them we must
One push of the button
And a shot the world wide
And you never ask questions
When God's on your side.

In a many dark hour
I've been thinkin' about this
That Jesus Christ
Was betrayed by a kiss
But I can't think for you
You'll have to decide
Whether Judas Iscariot
Had God on his side.

So now as I'm leavin'
I'm weary as Hell
The confusion I'm feelin'
Ain't no tongue can tell
The words fill my head
And fall to the floor
If God's on our side
He'll stop the next war.

**********

Billy Bragg
Ideology

When one voice rules the nation
Just because they're on top of the pile
Doesn't mean their vision is the clearest
The voices of the people
Are falling on deaf ears
Our politicians all become careerists
They must declare their interests
But not their company cars
Is there more to a seat in parliament
Then sitting on your arse
And the best of all this bad bunch
Are shouting to be heard
Above the sound of ideologies clashing

Outside the patient millions
Who put them into power
Expect a little more back for their taxes
Like school books, beds in hospitals
And peace in our bloody time
All they get is old men grinding axes
Who've built their private fortunes
On the things they can rely
The courts, the secret handshake
The Stock Exchange and the old school tie
For God and Queen and Country
All things they justify
Above the sound of ideologies clashing

God bless the civil service
The nations saving grace
While we expect democracy
They're laughing in our face
And although our cries get louder
Their laughter gets louder still
Above the sound of ideologies clashing

SFD? Standard French Dictionary?

I have a record of Joan Baez singing My Way in Spanish. I wish I understood Spanish. Maybe she's singing the Spanish version of the French words. (lol)

Wow! dj, the voice of the protester is heard in the wilderness. Where do you come up with all those songs? They were damned good, too.

Raggedy, I was just funnin around. I put those initials to represent The Sorbonne in Paris. I seriously doubt that they have such a creature.

It seems that our Italian artist and landscaper has abandoned us as well. Really don't blame her. Italy is pissed off with the U.S. right now, and rightly so.

I do love the gentle people, who are warriors for peace:
Love Thoreau and Walt Whitman, Al Ginsberg, without cease;
Mother Theresa, Bob Dylan and ole Pete Seeger
And of course Joan Baez; but the list would be meager
With no B. Russell, and with no Martin Luther King,
Ghandi, Phil Ochs, Arlo Guthrie, all so amazing.
But my list would falter and never get its just due
Unless I add all the names of the people just like you.

A beautiful way to say goodnight, edgar, in what ever language.

and I must be off for the evening with a song for you all.

Some like a night at the movies, some like a dance or a show
Some are content with an evening spent home by the radio
Some like to live for the moment, some like to just reminisce
But whenever I have an evening to spend. just give me one like
this
This is a lovely way to spend an evening. can't think of
anything I'd rather do
This is a lovely way to spend an evening, can't think of anyone
as lovely as you
A casual stroll through a garden. a kiss by a lazy lagoon
Catching a breath of moonlight, humming our favorite tune
This is a lovely way to spend an evening
I want to save all my nights and spend them with you
Catching a breath of moonlight, humming our favorite tune
This is a lovely way to spend an evening
I want to save all my nights and spend them with you.

adieu, listeners.

I hope it's an "au revoir"!

As said before, my way is a french song. It has been translated in many languages :

French :

Comme d'habitude

Je me lève
Et je te bouscule
Tu n'te réveilles pas
Comme d'habitude

Sur toi
Je remonte le drap
J'ai peur que tu aies froid
Comme d'habitude

Ma main
Caresse tes cheveux
Presque malgré moi
Comme d'habitude

Mais toi
Tu me tournes le dos
Comme d'habitude

Alors
Je m'habille très vite
Je sors de la chambre
Comme d'habitude

Tout seul
Je bois mon café
Je suis en retard
Comme d'habitude

Sans bruit
Je quitte la maison
Tout est gris dehors
Comme d'habitude

J'ai froid
Je relève mon col
Comme d'habitude

REFRAIN
Comme d'habitude
Toute la journée
Je vais jouer
A faire semblant
Comme d'habitude
Je vais sourire
Comme d'habitude
Je vais même rire
Comme d'habitude
Enfin je vais vivre
Comme d'habitude

Et puis
Le jour s'en ira
Moi je reviendrai
Comme d'habitude

Toi
Tu seras sortie
Pas encore rentrée
Comme d'habitude

Tout seul
J'irai me coucher
Dans ce grand lit froid
Comme d'habitude

Mes larmes
Je les cacherai
Comme d'habitude

REFRAIN
Mais comme d'habitude
Même la nuit
Je vais jouer
A faire semblant
Comme d'habitude
Tu rentreras
Comme d'habitude
Je t'attendrai
Comme d'habitude
Tu me souriras
Comme d'habitude

Comme d'habitude
Tu te déshabilleras
Oui comme d'habitude
Tu te coucheras
Oui comme d'habitude
On s'embrassera
Comme d'habitude

Comme d'habitude
On fera semblant
Comme d'habitude
On fera l'amour
Oui comme d'habitude
On fera semblant
Comme d'habitude



Italian :

Mi alzo
Ti accarezzo un pò
Non ti sveglierò
Sì come sempre

Su te
Io rimboccherò
La coperta blù
Sì come sempre

E poi
Accarezzerò
I capelli tuoi
Sì come sempre

Ma tu
Tu non mi guarderai
Sì come sempre

E poi
Farò piano sai
Me ne andrò di là
Sì come sempre

Di là
Bevo il mio caffè
Ed è tardi già
Sì come sempre

Per via
Non mi volto più
Devo correre
Sì come sempre

Ma tu
Tu non lo capirai
Sì come sempre

E come sempre
Il giorno mio
Lo giocherò
Lo perderò
E come sempre
Si riderà
Sì come sempre
Di te e di me
E come sempre
Non m'importerà
Sì come sempre

E poi
Tutto finirà
Io ritornerò
Sì come sempre

E tu
Tu non ci sarai
Sarai ancora via
Sì come sempre

Ed io
Io mi sentirò
Tanto inutile
Sì come sempre

Il pianto
Io nasconderò
Sì come sempre

Ma come sempre
La notte mia
La giocherò
La vincerò
Sì come sempre
Tu tornerai
Sì come sempre
Io t'aspetterò
E come sempre
Tu mi sorriderai
Sì come sempre

E come sempre
Ci si abbraccerà
Sì come sempre
Ci si bacerà
E come sempre
L'amore vincerà
Sì come sempre

E come sempre
Ci si abbraccerà
Sì come sempre
Ci si bacerà
E come sempre
L'amore vincerà
Sì come sempre

English :

And now
The end is near
And so I face
The final curtain

My friend
I'll say it clear
I'll state my case
Of which I'm certain

I've lived
A life that's full
I've travelled each
And every highway

And more
Much more than this
I did it my way

Regrets
I've had a few
But then again
Too few to mention

I did
What I had to do
And saw it through
Without exemption

I planned
Each chartered course
Each careful step
Along the by way

And more
Much more than this
I dit it my way

Yes, there were times
I'm sure you knew
When I bit off
More than I could chew
But through it all
When there was doubt
I ate it up
And spit it out
I faced it all
And I stood tall
And did it my way

I've loved
I've laughed and cried
I've had my fill
My share of losing

And now
As tears subside
I find it all
So amusing

To think
I did all that
And may I say
Not in a shy way

Oh no
Oh no, not me
I did it my way

German :

Was ich
im Leben tat
das war bestimmt
nicht immer richtig

Ich nahm
was ich bekam
und nahm manches
nicht so wichtig

Wenn ich
auch ganz gewiss
mich nicht von Schuld
und Schwächen frei seh'

Verzeih'n
Sie wenn ich sag
I Did It My Way

Ich kenn'
das Auf und Ab
den Jubel und
die bittren Tränen

Ich stand
auch oft am Rand
das brauch' ich wohl
nicht zu erwähnen

Es ist
für mich ein Trost
daß ich trotz allem
nicht entzwei geh

Verzeih'n
Sie wenn ich sag
I Did It My Way

Und dennoch denk'
ich gern zurück
Ich hatte Glück
verdammt viel Glück
Ich kann zu vielen
Freunden geh'n
die sich sehr freu'n
wenn sie mich seh'n
Und ohne Greul
den Satz versteh'n
I Did It My Way

Ich hab'
ein Publikum
und darauf kann
ich mich verlassen

Es nahm
und nimmt nichts krumm
Ich kann es manchmal
kaum noch fassen

Ich hab
auch eine Frau
an der ich jetzt
beschämt vorbei seh'

Zu oft
hat sie gehört
I Did It My Way

Spanish :

El fin
Muy cerca esta
Lo afrontaré
Serenamente

Ya ves
Yo he sido asi
Te lo diré
Sinceramente

Vivi
La intensidad
Y no encontré
Jamas fronteras

Jugué
Sin descanzar
Y a mi manera

Jamas
Vivi un amor
Que para mi
Fuera importante

Tomé
solo la flor
Y lo mejor
De cada instante

Viajé
Y disfruté
No se si mas
Que otro cualquiera

Si bien
Todo ello fué
A mi manera

Tal vez lloré
Tal vez rei
Tal vez gané
Tal vez perdi
Ahora sé
Que fui feliz
Que si lloré
Tambien amé
Y todo fué
Puedo decir
A mi manera

Quizas
tambien dudé
Cuando mejor
me divertia

Quizas
yo desprecié
Aquello que
no comprendia

Hoy se
que firme fui
Y que afronte
ser como era

Y asi
podre seguir
A mi manera

Porque ya sabras
Que a un hombre al fin
Conoceras
por su vivir
No hay porque
hablar ne que decir
Ni recordar
ni hay que finir
Puedo llegar
hasta el final
A mi manera

musique : Claude François & Jacques Revaux
paroles : Claude François & Gilles Thibault

Adieu is a "farewell".

Au revoir is "see you later" or "goodbye"

'Adieu', in German, is used generally as a synonym of 'goodbye'.

(This isn't used so much anymore like 60, 70 years ago, but still in some parts of (especially southern) Germany [variations: 'adjee'/'adjö', 'ade','adele']. Modern variations, and quite frequently used, are 'tschüs' or 'tschö'.)

'Adieu' originally means "à (la grâce de) dieu", isn't it?

Yes, Walter!

Adieu being a recommendation to god, it's said when someone departs and one is not sure to see him/her again.
In same regions of France, as in Germany, it's still used as a synonym of "goodbye".

What's "à dieu vat", btw? (findinging that in an étymologie, whilest looking up)

"A Dieu va" or "A Dieu vat" :

Expression one said when doing something which issue could be harmful. It means "we throw ourselves in the hands of God"

As you were in the Navy see here :wink:

Hi Francis. That was a wonderful post. I sing karaoke on Friday nights. That's one of my favorite songs to sing. Very often I'm requested to sing it by daughters who remember their fathers singing it to them. There's a sweet sadness to it. I've heard Charles Aznavour sing in both in English and en francais.