Fridays Are For Frank: “My Way” / Hoboken Historical Museum Gala

If you had to sum up Frank Sinatra in one song, you have to go with “My Way.”

It may seem too obvious, or even too played out. But it’s not… it’s Frank in a nutshell—an entire tumultuous life’s saga set to music and boiled down to four minutes and 35 seconds.

It’s the song we all want played at our funeral, with the sincere hope that it rings true in the end.

It is everything. It is Frank Sinatra at his most frank—yet it was actually written by Paul Anka…

According to Anka, “At one o’clock in the morning, I sat down at an old IBM electric typewriter and said, ‘If Frank were writing this, what would he say?’ And I started, metaphorically, ‘And now the end is near.’ I read a lot of periodicals, and I noticed everything was ‘my this’ and ‘my that’. We were in the ‘me generation’ and Frank became the guy for me to use to say that. I used words I would never use: ‘I ate it up and spit it out.’ But that’s the way he talked. I used to be around steam rooms with the Rat Pack guys—they liked to talk like Mob guys, even though they would have been scared of their own shadows.”

Anka claimed, “When my record company caught wind of it, they were very pissed that I didn’t keep it for myself. I said, ‘Hey, I can write it, but I’m not the guy to sing it.’ It was for Frank, no one else.”

Sinatra recorded his version of the song on December 30, 1968, and it was released in early 1969 on the album of the same name and as a single.

For their annual fundraising event, the Hoboken Historical Museum is holding their “My Way” Gala THIS SATURDAY, April 25 at the Hoboken Elks Club (1005 Washington Street)—with good cocktails, fabulous food, and the music made famous by America’s greatest singer.

The $150 ticket will help the Hoboken Museum create an exhibit dedicated to “The Voice” and his devoted fans to celebrate a century of Sinatra—who was born at 415 Jefferson Street.

Included in the tax-deductible ticket is an open bar, delicious food by Anthony David’s Catering and desserts by Giorgio’s, plus a special cake designed by the Cake Boss.

Dance away the evening to a DJ spinning the best of Sinatra’s swingin’ music. Learn how to Foxtrot with lessons from Ekaterina Bykova, owner of Bienvenue Dance. The evening will also feature three live tribute performers: two Sinatra Idol winners, Eric De Lauro and Peter Cafasso, plus Hoboken resident and vocalist Barbara Simon.

And Eugene Flinn returns as auctioneer extraordinaire in the museum’s annual live auction.

As Hoboken gathers together on Saturday to remember Francis Albert Sinatra, there’s certainly no song more evocative than this…