He began singing as a child, first starting in the St Elijah Syrian Orthodox Church choir in Ottawa. As a student at Ottawa's Fisher Park High School he was part of a trio called the Bobby Soxers.
Encouraged by his parents, at age 14 he recorded his first single, I Confess. In 1957 he went to New York City where he auditioned for ABC, singing a lovestruck verse he had written to a former babysitter, Diana Ayoub. The song, Diana, brought Anka instant stardom as it rocketed to number one on the charts. Diana is one of the best selling 45s in music history. He followed up with four songs that made it into the Top 20 in 1958, making him one of the biggest teen idols of the time. He toured Britain and then, with Buddy Holly, toured Australia.
His talent went beyond singing, writing Buddy Holly's giant hit, It Doesn't Matter Anymore, the theme for Johnny Carson's Tonight Show, Tom Jones' biggest hit record, She's A Lady, and the English lyrics for My Way, Frank Sinatra's signature song and sung by many well known artists, including Greta Keller, for whom the words were very fitting.
In the 1960s, Anka would begin acting in motion pictures as well as writing songs for them, most notably the theme for the hit movie The Longest Day. From his movie work, he wrote and recorded his monster hit, Lonely Boy. He then went on to become one of the first pop singers to perform at the Las Vegas casinos.
After more than ten years without a hit record, in 1974 he teamed up with Odia Coates to record the number 1 hit, Having My Baby. They would record two more duets that both made it into the Top 10. In 1975, he wrote a jingle for Kodak called The Times of Your Life. The jingle became so popular, he recorded it as a full song, The Times of Your Life, and it became a hit a year later.
By the 1970s, Anka's career centered around adult contemporary and big-band standards, played regularly in Las Vegas. On September 6, 1990, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States. He returned to his home town to buy a part of the Ottawa Senators hockey team.
In 1999 he visited Lebanon for sell-out performances at the Forum de Beyrouth (The Beirut Forum).
Paul Anka was elected to the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1980. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6840 Hollywood Blvd. In 1991, the Government of France honored him with the title "Chevalier in the Order of Arts and Letters". He was appointed an officer of the Order of Canada in 2005.
On the WB show Gilmore Girls, Lorelai named her new dog Paul Anka. He also made a guest appearance as himself in the episode "The Real Paul Anka", which aired April 11, 2006.
Paul Anka recently did a live session on Live @ The Orange Lounge playing songs from his new cover-CD Rock Swings.
Notable rap artist Jay-Z featured his vocals on the track I Did it my Way on The Blueprint 2: The Gift & the Curse in 2002.
He became infamous amongst musicians (and more recently to internet users) for a mid-70's after-show tirade which was secretly recorded by a "snake we later fired" (Anka: Fresh Air interview). The diatribe, in which Anka berates his crew and band members, has spawned a number of in-joke references and quotations, the main ones being: "The guys get shirts", "Where's Joe?", and "Slice like a hammer."
A Foggy Day
Paul Anka Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Out of town were the people I knew
I had that feeling of self-pity
What to do? What to do? What to do?
The outlook was decidedly blue
But as I walked through the foggy streets alone
It turned out to be the luckiest day I've known
Had me low and had me down
I viewed the morning with alarm
The British Museum had lost its charm
How long, I wondered, could this thing last?
But the age of miracles hadn't passed,
For, suddenly, I saw you there
And through foggy London Town
The sun was shining everywhere.
In Paul Anka's "A Foggy Day," the first verse establishes the singer as a stranger in the city who is feeling sorry for himself. These feelings of loneliness and despair are reflected in the description of the outlook being "decidedly blue." The second verse references that he is specifically in London, and despite his initial negative feelings towards the city, a chance encounter with a love interest changes his entire perspective. When he sees this person, he sees the sun shining "through foggy London Town," indicating that his dreary view of the city and himself has been lifted. The song embodies the idea that love can bring light into the darkness of one's life.
The use of weather is a classic literary motif that is employed in this song. The heavy fog represents the singer's internal feelings and the obstacles that cloud his view of the world. The sudden appearance of sunshine is a metaphor for the transformative power of love. By seeing the love interest, the singer's perspective changes, and he views things in a new light. Furthermore, the song speaks to the idea that chance encounters can be the impetus for major life changes. The singer is saved from a state of despair simply by running into the love of his life.
Line by Line Meaning
Was a stranger in the city
I was someone unfamiliar with this place.
Out of town were the people I knew
The people I usually knew were not around that time.
I had that feeling of self-pity
I felt sorry for myself.
What to do? What to do? What to do?
I was lost and unsure of how to proceed.
The outlook was decidedly blue
I felt pessimistic about the future.
But as I walked through the foggy streets alone
However, as I walked through the misty and deserted streets feeling lonely by myself,
It turned out to be the luckiest day I've known
it was the luckiest day of my life.
A foggy day in London Town
It was a misty and gloomy day in London.
Had me low and had me down
I felt dejected and depressed because of the weather.
I viewed the morning with alarm
I looked at the morning with some anxiety and distress.
The British Museum had lost its charm
Even the popular and admired British Museum didn't seem captivating in the current weather and my mood.
How long, I wondered, could this thing last?
I was uncertain how much time this melancholy period would last.
But the age of miracles hadn't passed,
However, it seemed like miracles still happened in some instances.
For, suddenly, I saw you there
And then, without any warning, I saw you at that moment.
And through foggy London Town
Even during London's misty weather,
The sun was shining everywhere.
I could see the brightness in every corner because of you, and it felt like the sun shone all over the city.
Lyrics © RALEIGH MUSIC PUBLISHING, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@sambathrithikofficial7238
Lyrics:
Many men came here as soldiers
Many men will pass this way
Many men will count the hours
As they live the longest day
Many men are tired and weary
Many men are here to stay
Many men won't see the sunset
When it ends the longest day
The longest day the longest day
This will be the longest day
Filled with hopes and filled with fears
Filled with blood and sweat and tears
Mant men the mighty thousands
Many men to victory
Marching on right into battle
In the longest day in history
Filled with hopes and filled with fears
Filled with blood and sweat and tears
Mant men the mighty thousands
Many men to victory
Marching on right into battle
In the longest day in history
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@user-si6im8lb4n
Many men came here as soldiers
Many men will pass this way
Many men will count the hours
As they live the longest day
Many men are tired and weary
Many men are here to stay
Many men won't see the sunset
When it ends the longest day
The longest day the longest day
This will be the longest day
Filled with hopes and filled with fears
Filled with blood and sweat and tears
Mant men the mighty thousands
Many men to victory
Marching on right into battle
In the longest day in history
@johnedwards7360
“Casualties” refers to all losses suffered by the armed forces: killed, wounded, missing in action (meaning that their bodies were not found) and prisoners of war. There is no "official" casualty figure for D-Day. Under the circumstances, accurate record keeping was very difficult. For example, some troops who were listed as missing may actually have landed in the wrong place, and have rejoined their parent unit only later.
In April and May 1944, the Allied air forces lost nearly 12,000 men and over 2,000 aircraft in operations which paved the way for D-Day.
The Allied casualties figures for D-Day have generally been estimated at 10,000, including 2500 dead. Broken down by nationality, the usual D-Day casualty figures are approximately 2700 British, 946 Canadians, and 6603 Americans. However recent painstaking research by the US National D-Day Memorial Foundation has achieved a more accurate - and much higher - figure for the Allied personnel who were killed on D-Day. They have recorded the names of individual Allied personnel killed on 6 June 1944 in Operation Overlord, and so far they have verified 2499 American D-Day fatalities and 1915 from the other Allied nations, a total of 4414 dead (much higher than the traditional figure of 2500 dead). Further research may mean that these numbers will increase slightly in future. The details of this research will in due course be available on the Foundation's website at www.dday.org. This new research means that the casualty figures given for individual units in the next few paragraphs are no doubt inaccurate, and hopefully more accurate figures will one day be calculated.
Casualties on the British beaches were roughly 1000 on Gold Beach and the same number on Sword Beach. The remainder of the British losses were amongst the airborne troops: some 600 were killed or wounded, and 600 more were missing; 100 glider pilots also became casualties. The losses of 3rd Canadian Division at Juno Beach have been given as 340 killed, 574 wounded and 47 taken prisoner.
The breakdown of US casualties was 1465 dead, 3184 wounded, 1928 missing and 26 captured. Of the total US figure, 2499 casualties were from the US airborne troops (238 of them being deaths). The casualties at Utah Beach were relatively light: 197, including 60 missing. However, the US 1st and 29th Divisions together suffered around 2000 casualties at Omaha Beach.
The total German casualties on D-Day are not known, but are estimated as being between 4000 and 9000 men.
Naval losses for June 1944 included 24 warships and 35 merchantmen or auxiliaries sunk, and a further 120 vessels damaged.
Over 425,000 Allied and German troops were killed, wounded or went missing during the Battle of Normandy. This figure includes over 209,000 Allied casualties, with nearly 37,000 dead amongst the ground forces and a further 16,714 deaths amongst the Allied air forces. Of the Allied casualties, 83,045 were from 21st Army Group (British, Canadian and Polish ground forces), 125,847 from the US ground forces. The losses of the German forces during the Battle of Normandy can only be estimated. Roughly 200,000 German troops were killed or wounded. The Allies also captured 200,000 prisoners of war (not included in the 425,000 total, above). During the fighting around the Falaise Pocket (August 1944) alone, the Germans suffered losses of around 90,000, including prisoners.
Today, twenty-seven war cemeteries hold the remains of over 110,000 dead from both sides: 77,866 German, 9386 American, 17,769 British, 5002 Canadian and 650 Poles.
Between 15,000 and 20,000 French civilians were killed, mainly as a result of Allied bombing. Thousands more fled their homes to escape the fighting.
@MrBuingocthang
Nous irons au cœur du monde
Par la poudre et le canon
En comptant chaque seconde
Car ce jour est le plus long
Sous le fer et la mitraille
Des milliers se coucheront
Et le soir de la bataille
Des milliers se compteront
Le jour est long, le jour est long
Et l'espoir est tout au fond
Et les cris sont des millions
Nous irons vers la victoire
Par le sang des compagnons
Qui ont fait marcher l'histoire
En courant pour le jour le plus long
Et la peur est tout au long
Et les cris sont des millions
Nous irons vers la victoire
Par le sang des compagnons
Qui ont fait marcher l'histoire
En mourant pour le jour le plus long
@williamfox6144
If that song don't take a piece out of you then something is terribly wrong. Paul Anka thank god for you. The Greatest DDay song that says it all!
@davidclifton1390
Great song from a great film about D Day. Largely forgotten Paul Anka gem
@josephkondrat7084
The photo at 1.44 sec. is my father. He died peacefully at home Sept. 9, 1991.
@robertholmes2404
Salute to your dad. I had an uncle there too o7
@merlemorrison482
glad he made it home
@ellierfromthebronx4531
Joseph Kondrat ...Rest his soul...
@Georgieboy_4
My biggest thank you goes out to your dad and to every other who has served our wonderful country in battle. You guys are TRUE American heroes. May God bless you and the souls of the heroes who passed while defending our freedoms. I would not have what I have now had it not been for all of you. Forever grateful I am....
@FrankoB1970
so sorry to hear...........
@ronaldofranca8470
Wonderfull music, like the movie and honour the soldiers that stayed there
@eizmeralda9630
Heroism at its best! Paul Anka is a musical genius.