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Paul Anka slammed modern singers and the technology that helps them sound better, saying Franka Sinatra would have thrown a chair at someone if they asked him to use autotune.
Anka called Sinatra and Elvis Presley his two “towers” of music while speaking to Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins on his “The Magnificent Others” podcast this week.
“When Elvis was around, he just – they both owned a room, and they were both given that it factor,” he explained.
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He added, “And Elvis worked his a– off. This was a shy guy. I would sit with him like this: ‘Hey, Paulie,’” he said in a reserved imitation of Presley. “‘How you doing, man? Yeah, Paul. You know, one day I’m going to do that “My Way.” I love that “My Way.”’”
He said he told Presley that he wouldn’t want to cover the song made famous by Sinatra because it wasn’t exactly his style of music.
“But what an amazing force to watch and be around it,” he continued.
The “Put Your Head on My Shoulder” singer said he and Presley learned that it “wasn’t about just getting up there and singing. You had to entertain people.”
The 84-year-old gave the example of the notoriously unpredictable Bob Dylan, whom he admits he loves, but said would sometimes go on stage and “couldn’t give a s— and people walk out, ‘What the f—?’ If you don’t entertain people, you’re dead.”
Regarding Sinatra, he vowed the “Fly Me to the Moon” crooner “will get bigger, young people will learn exactly what true quality is, you know, at a time when there was no autotune.”
“Think about the difference. I don’t know who the f— is doing the singing today. Do you?” he admitted. “Can you imagine back then if you said to Sinatra, ‘We’re going to give you an autotune’? He would have thrown a chair at you.”
Singers in Sinatra’s time, he said, “walked in a studio after rehearsing, as I stated earlier, and you kept singing, and that band kept playing till you got perfect.”
“That was it,” he continued. “And he was the guy.”
Anka said Sinatra set the standard and “made it tough for anybody to ever stand in front of a band again. We all came second, but he was the guy we emulated.”
He also said that Sammy Davis, Jr. was the most “short-changed” on being recognized.
“To Frank and Dean [Martin] and to all of us, he was the most talented,” Anka said.
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“That was the most talented guy,” he professed. “He was a musician. He played drums. He played this, he did that. He sang great. He was the guy that I hope today somehow they put him back in the forefront. And Dean was an underrated singer.”
Anka said a specific song that he wrote for Davis but didn’t name was “as important to me as ‘My Way’ with Sinatra.”
Anka wrote “My Way” for Sinatra in 1968.
He also praised Michael Jackson’s talent, saying, “I never worked with anyone like that … I knew the kid was so talented.”
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