Arena Season 1, Episode 117

My Way · BBC Four · Monday, March 12

Q. What do the following have in common? Frank Sinatra, Sid Vicious, Dorothy Squires, Barry John, Paul Anka, Lord George-Brown, Elvis Presley, Prof Wilfrid Mellers, Shirley Bassey, The Disapointer Sisters, The St Paul's School Choir, David Bowie, Claude Francois A. They are all doing it their way in tonight's Arena. "My Way" has become an anthem. It's been recorded over 140 times and for every artist who has put it on wax, countless others sing it in pubs, clubs and private homes. Arena investigates the appeal and staying power of a phenomenally popular song. "It was three o'clock in the morning in New York. It was pouring with rain, and it came to me: 'And now the end is near and so I face the final curtain ...'. And I said wow that's it, that's for Sinatra ... and then I cried." (Paul Anka)