Crooner Culture

This photo comparison shouldn’t so much as “shock” you, but it should surprise you just a little bit. Me? It makes me smile really big…

I was just floating around the web and happened upon a site playing Bon Jovi’s “It’s My Life” (2000). No, this wasn’t the first time I ever heard the song, it’s actually one of my favorites, but I thought it would make a great post here.

One of the lines in the song goes:

Like Frankie said, “I did it my way”
I just wanna live while I’m alive
It’s my life

How cool is that though, seriously? Of course, the reference is to one of the songs that comes with the iconified territory of Mr. Frank Sinatra – “My Way”

And now, the end is here
And so I face the final curtain
My friend, I’ll say it clear
I’ll state my case, of which I’m certain
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

Regrets, I’ve had a few
But then again, too few to mention
I did what I had to do and saw it through without exemption
I planned each charted course, each careful step along the byway
And more, much more than this, I did it my way

Yes, 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
I faced it all and I stood tall and did it my way

I’ve loved, I’ve laughed and cried
I’ve had my fill, my share of losing
And now, as tears subside, I find it all so amusing
To think I did all that
And may I say, not in a shy way,
“Oh, no, oh, no, not me, I did it my way”

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
The record shows I took the blows and did it my way!

Yes, it was my way

I love finding stuff like this! Even the promo photo from the album that had “It’s My Life” on it has the band in a black suit, white shirt, and skinny tie… which was one of Frank’s signature looks as well.

Sure, lots of bands pay tribute, and they talk about what big fans they are of certain musical figures of the past, but how many of them dress like them?

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