MY WAY

Ray Quinn

Ah, My Way. Classic song. Written years ago by some French blokes, and then re-written by Paul Anka with completely new lyrics (we seem to like doing that to French media, Eric Thompson re-wrote the words for The Magic Roundabout from scratch too). It's probably most famously associated with Sid Vicious, although apparently some obscure singer called Frank something-or-other did quite well with it too. Anyway, I bring this up because there's this chap called Ray, and he's decided to give the old standard a whirl. Bless. Of course, as soon as the video started with That Sign Welcoming You To Las Vegas That Every Single Pop Video Or Movie Set In Vegas Has To Use, well… I should've known what was coming. So, thank you RCA Records and Ray for not disappointing me. He's sitting on a chair in a tuxedo and he's crooning into exactly the same sort of microphone that the BBC probably chucked out in the 1950s for being obsolete and – and this is inspired – when he sings the line "and so I face the final curtain" he actually turns round and stares at one of the curtains behind him! You've got to admit, full marks for paying attention to the lyrical content. Ah, but hang on a minute… is he? You see, we're entering Seasons In The Sun territory here. My Way is a song written from the perspective of someone who's lived a full life, done everything and is now approaching the end. Ray Quinn is 18. The song has a bit more resonance when it's sung by someone who's a little bit older than eighteen, which may partly explain why Frank Sinatra's version is still so popular. He sings it well enough, but this is a big old song to take on and he's not quite up to the task yet – that's not to say that he's a bad singer, but this song really requires the singer to firmly stamp their own personality on the song in order to make you believe that they mean what they're singing. Sinatra managed it because this fitted neatly into his already huge repertoire and even Sid Vicious got away with it because, although he wasn't much older than Mr Quinn, he changed it to suit his style of "singing" by completely destroying the song, even to the point of changing some of the lyrics (you'd never hear Frankie sing "to think, I killed a cat") and rebuilding it into a punk epic. Truth be told, I actually prefer Sid's version, but all I hear here is somebody copying somebody else and not putting their own mark on the song. When Ray sang the final line, "I did it my way", I have to say I wasn't as sure about that as he was, still there you go. This interpretation isn't good, it's not bad, it's just… there. Ah well, onwards and upwards. What's next?

GIRLFRIEND

Avril Lavigne

Everybody's happy nowadays, at least they are in the world of Avril Lavigne. Like My Way, Girlfriend has a storyline, but not one that many people are going to bother making a cover version of in years to come. It's got a big smile on its cheerleader-ish face and it's the sort of song that schoolkids'll listen to, thinking that this represents Proper Rock Music. Mind you, there is a rap in the middle, and she does sound a bit like Fergie, but thankfully it only lasts a few seconds here, not three and a half painful minutes like the real thing does. So, could be worse, could be better, but this is a damned sight more fun to listen to than the song mentioned above it, and that's the important thing. It also marks a slight change of direction for La Vigne (more poppy), whether that's a good or bad thing will become clear when the album arrives. Not all bad news this week, then.