Most of people regard “My Way”represents Sinatra. It’s not wrong, but I don’t think “hit songs”always equal “good songs.” Most people need to like them to be “hit songs” even though they are “good songs.”

“Hit songs” seem to come close to us themselves, but “good songs” don’t always come to us. So we need to listen to a lot and find “good songs.” I think vocal lovers tend to find “good songs” from B-sides of records. Of course there are “good songs” among “hit songs.”

“My Way” represents one of the A-sided hit songs. It is a famous story that Paul Anka wrote an English lyric for the song born in France in 1944; “Comme d’habitude” made by Claude Francois. I guess Sinatra sang this song for the general public. He sang in a different mood from the late 1980s to the 1990s as compared with the first version. How many times I have tried to sing like him!

I have a senior friend who I respect; Mr. Akira Ohtomo, who had been friends with Sinatra.

He made a CD named “My Way” in these days. He is not a professional singer but a great businessman. He made it as a 70th birthday anniversary. He sings in his original voice; sweet and full voice in that CD. When you have a chance to see him, please buy one.

The sales will be donated to the disadvantaged children in Philippine.
He was very pleased to receive the CD I edited in 2002. That includes two versions of “My Way;” one was sung for a TV program in Japan named “Untitled Concert,” and another was the one he sang for the 20th anniversary party of Little MANUELA, the live spot in Tokyo. His wife, Mari Yoshimura, a famous TV star in Japan, was also impressed by it.