I guess I owe an apology to all fans of Claude François. Clo-Clo as he is known in France is still a very very big star although he passed away in 1978, at the height of his fame. I had earlier written some stuff about Clo-clo in my post of Sunday, February 15, 2004 THE GREAT DIVIDE ….I was miffed with the reactions of the French audience to a hindi classic ‘Sahib bibi aur ghulam’ and it was my way of getting back…childish. I accept.
So what made me change my mind? I found out yesterday (so very belatedly) that it was Claude François who had composed the music and co-wrote the lyrics for Comme d’habitude in 1967, which was later to become My Way (Paul Anka, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley). Comme d’habitude (As usual) was a sad love song and while the english version had the same music, the text of My Way was very different.
Later on came a Spanish version mi manera by Michel Sardou, a german version by Herald Juhnke. Clo-Clo himself sang the Italian version come sempre and ironically, just a few months before his death, the English version... “now, the end is near and so I face the final curtain...”
I think all explanations are unnecessary.
Lyrics to the French, English, german version and Spanish version HERE.
