Explore popular quotes and sayings by a Canadian musician Paul Anka.
Last updated on November 8, 2024.
Paul Albert Anka is a Canadian-American singer, songwriter and actor. He is best known for his signature hit songs including "Diana", "Lonely Boy", "Put Your Head on My Shoulder", and "(You're) Having My Baby". Anka also wrote the theme for The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson; one of Tom Jones' biggest hits, "She's a Lady"; and the English lyrics to Claude François and Jacques Revaux's music for Frank Sinatra's signature song "My Way", which has been recorded by many, including Elvis Presley. Three songs he co-wrote with Michael Jackson: "This Is It" "Love Never Felt So Good", and "Don't Matter to Me", which became posthumous hits for Jackson in 2009, 2014, and 2018, respectively.
My father, my mother, and then my father was always on top of me - 'Keep your nose clean. Do you love what you're doing?' 'Yes.' 'Then be aware, or you're going to lose it.'
The thing is to be able to outlast the trends.
When I'm writing, I generally toy with an idea until it manifests itself - meaning a phrase or a tune comes into my head and eventually begins to jell. When something hits me, I write it down immediately. I don't wait, or it's gone.
I wrote 'She's a Lady' on the back of a TWA menu, flying back from London after doing Tom Jones's TV show. Jones's manager wanted me to write him a song. If I have an idea and I don't have a pad of paper, I'll write on whatever is available. What's the difference? Paper is paper.
Once you realize that you're in something that you've always wanted and you don't want to lose it, you behave differently. And that means the integrity, the professionalism, and knowing what's right from wrong and still making choices that you probably wouldn't have made.
My demographic of people have been very supportive.
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.
My family was a good family, I had a great Canadian education and I came up in a great, little town like Ottawa.
The technology is good and it's bad. You know what you're dealing with out there musically, but my head stops at this electronic stuff. I don't quite know what I'm dealing with out there yet.
I believe in criticism.
If you're in pop music, you've got to deal with the changing of the guard every few years. By the time the '70s arrived, I was well aware of the cyclical nature of the game. Pop music is a creature of the moment; it thrives on the mood of its time. Either you hook into that or you're not going to be part of it.
I had this talent for these stupid little teenage songs.
As long as you're growing in your profession and you're respected, you're going to stay as clean as you can, because you've got something that you love that you don't want to lose.
I've always believed that if you don't stay moving, they will throw dirt on you.
Things began to pick up for me record-wise when in 1971 I wrote 'She's a Lady' for Tom Jones.
I learned a lot about what I do with my craft, how I present my music. A lot of things about him were very much an influence on me and everybody else. Once you get in that fold and you're around it, you get to experience something that I don't think we'll ever see again. There will never be anybody like Frank Sinatra. Ever.
Canada is a good country to be from. It has a gentler slower pace - it lends perspective.
I respect Jay-Z. I like him.
I just couldn't get anyone to sing my songs, so I had to sing my own tunes.
I had this talent for these stupid little teenage songs. I just couldn't get anyone to sing my songs, so I had to sing my own tunes. ... The thing is to be able to outlast the trends. ... They are actually manufactured entertainment groups. They are a product of technology. What you are listening to is technology.
There were times, I'm sure you knew, when I bit off more than I could chew. But through it all, when there was doubt, I ate it up and spit it out.
Regrets, I've had a few but then again too few to mention. And more, much more than this, I did it my way.
I've lived a life that's full, I traveled each and ev'ry highway, And more, much more than this, I did it my way.
I don't think you can get an idea of what Israel is like until you get here. People don't realize what a great place it is.
You know, my grandmother used to say, 'While I'm down here planning, God's up there laughing.' I guess the thing with most things that are worthwhile is that you can't give up easily. You've got to hang in.
And now the end is near And so I face the final curtain, My friends, I'll say it clear, I'll state my case of which I'm certain. I've lived a life that's full, I've travelled each and evr'y highway And more, much more than this, I did it my way.
I had this talent for these stupid little teenage songs. I just couldn't get anyone to sing my songs, so I had to sing my own tunes.