For what is a man, what has he got? If not himself, then he has naught
To say the things he truly feels, and not the words of one who kneels
These are the lyrics of Frank Sinatra’s 1969 song My Way, an iconic track that star Team India batter Virat Kohli shared to announce his retirement from Test cricket on Monday.
A nod to life and the eventuality of it, the song emerges as a fitting tribute to the cricketing glory of the man who did things his way — like a king, both on and off the field.
Kohli, the former Team India Test skipper who defeated the mighty Australians at their very game of aggression and sledging, hung his boots with an emotional note shared on Instagram Monday.
The announcement featured the song My Way that many of Kohli’s fans, mostly Gen Z and millennials, may not have heard of.
One of Sinatra’s most popular works, My Way is an all-time classic that has been covered by music legends like Elvis Presley.
While several renditions of the song, in different languages and by different artistes, are available online today, the one by Sinatra continues to enjoy the iconic status.
Frank Sinatra recorded his version of the song in one take on December 30, 1968.
The song spent a record 75 weeks in the UK top 40 singles and peaked at No. 27 in the US in May 1969.
Written by Paul Anka specifically for Sinatra, My Way uses the chords of the French song Comme d'habitude by Claude François. Anka reportedly bought the rights for this song for just one dollar.
History has it that when Anka first listened to Sinatra singing My Way on the phone, he broke down in tears.
While the song did not win any major music award, it was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame in the year 2000.
An Italian-origin American singer, Sinatra is remembered as one of the most popular entertainers of the 20th century. He retired following the release of My Way in 1971. However, he came out of retirement two years later and went on to record the theme song for the Martin Scorsese musical film New York, New York (1977).
Although My Way became Frank Sinatra's signature song, his daughter revealed that he came to hate the song. “He always thought that song was self-serving and self-indulgent," she said in an interview with UK-based news portal BBC News in 2000.