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Paul Anka Gets Co-Writing Credit for Michael Jackson's 'This Is It'

Michael JacksonLove it or loathe it, Michael Jackson's posthumous single 'This Is It,' which debuted online Monday at midnight, seems destined to be a smash. That news should make crooner Paul Anka happy, as he's set for an influx of cash now that Jackson's estate has acknowledged his co-writing credit and agreed to give him 50 percent of the song's publishing rights.

"They did the right thing," Anka told the AP after threatening legal action over the tune he wrote with Jackson in 1983. "I don't think that anybody tried to do the wrong thing -- it was an honest mistake."

Fans quickly pointed out that Jackson 's recording of 'This Is It' was in fact an early take of the song that was ultimately recorded as 'I Never Heard' by Sa-Fire in 1991. Columbia/Epic Records chairman Rob Stringer publicly acknowledged the error today in a New York Times interview.

After 'This Is It' debuted, Anka told the paper, "It's exactly the same song. They just changed the title." The singer says he and Jackson originally planned to duet on 'I Never Heard,' which was set for Anka's 1983 album 'Walk a Fine Line.' Anka told the Times that Jackson took off with the master tapes, but once Anka revealed he had original multitrack tapes and other evidence that he co-wrote the track, he landed credit for the song from Jackson's estate. The song is the centerpiece of the upcoming documentary, also titled 'This Is It,' which was filmed during Jackson's rehearsals for his London O2 Arena shows.

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Andreia Brazil


MY WAY is a French song of 1967
My Way (Claude François / Jacques Revaux / Paul Anka) is the English title of the French song Comme d'habitude, which was first launched by the author, Claude François [1] in 1967 in France. In 1968, Frank Sinatra [2] launched its English version, adapted by Paul Anka and turned one of his greatest classics. It is one of the most popular songs recorded in history. The English version kept only the melody, because the text is completely different from the original French version.

The studio version of Elvis Presley was recorded in June 1971 and released only in 1995 with the album "Walk A Mile In My Shoes." There are the live versions of the show's Hawaii launched at the live album in 1973 called Aloha from Hawaii and another published in 1977 in a simple compact with America The Beautiful in the "B side", not forgetting the hard version of Elvis in Concert, a live version of 1977 [3].

Information at: http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Way

After .... this music is by Paul Anka or Claude François ??????????

October 14 2009 at 1:05 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
JohnJ

Was this a set-up for publicity all along?

HOW could Sony and the estate not have known about the provenance of the song - particularly as the estate's executor, John Branca, represented both MJ and Paul Anka at that time and 'facilitated' the return of the 'stolen' tapes to Paul Anka.

More to the point - WHY are SONY not releasing tracks that fans have been clamouring for for over 20 years - the BAD TOUR Wembley stadium concert for example - we only have teaser snippets to listen to like at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvdGMrv8PLM
or
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rdvg9AqWxzU

October 14 2009 at 7:58 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply