I am going to throw here some Stardust, so pardon my language.
I have been listening to Frank Sinatra’s songs lately, mainly because it was one of the CDs I pulled out of my 15 years old dusted songs collection. I must have listened to My Way several times, yet never really listen to its words for understanding; not till last night, as I was stuck in Jeddah’s highway traffic coming from Makkah, when the lyrics just jumped out of the tunes straight to my heart/mind jazzed combo. The image of early Muslims Way, as they escaped the suffering to Madinah, was underlined by the lyrics. Equally vivid, was the image of Quraysh Way in glorifying Hubal for the monetary and status gains, hence invoking suffering on dissident to their Way.
My thoughts went to the concept of Islam Way, suggesting that Islam was spread geographically like fire because it encouraged Everybody Way, as long as a reference is maintained to a unifying simple thread, the God Way. Islam Way was also continued historically like an ever changing nature because it encouraged Everybody Way. Islam Way was, in fact, numerous geographies and histories, many forms and shapes; it consists of diverse ways with a unifying simple thread, the God Way. Here, geography is defined as cultures in space characterized by diversity, and history as cultures in time characterized by transformation. Both spatial and temporal dimensions form the continuum of Islamic thoughts as I can possibly comprehend and call Islam Way.
God Way is Life Way, an inevitable One Way to a destination with no return. In my mind, Sinatra’s My Way was at the heart of this One Way that Everything subscribes to willy-nilly. The life of Everything, including ours, is One—high or low—Way to the ultimate end, death. However, it is in the process and momentary states that we find joy and ecstasy in the ways we choose freely and proudly call My Way. The sway to the left or to the right, the fixed and straight course or zigzagged one, the less travelled road or jammed with commonality, are but My Ways claimed by individuals as their own. We understand our individual uniqueness when each of us claim their own My Way, but we usually fail to recognize that even when we follow or imitate each other, we still do it differently. Each one of us, despite imitation, can easily claim his or her own My Way. This is a natural tendency that Islam Way has recognized in each individual, as demonstrated by fostering geographical and historical diversity within unity.
Take the performances of the same song My Way by other artists like Elvis Presley[2], Robbie Williams[3], Celine Dion[4], Nina Simone[5], Muslim Magomaev[6], and God knows what Sid Vicious[7] is singing, and you will find that despite the same lyrics and tunes, they still affect different emotions to which we also react differently. Of course, Faudel, Khaled and Taha[8] have it the Arab Way, extending diversity to its maximum. Even Frank Sinatra’s 1971 performance[9] is different from his last concert performance[10] in 1994.
One would also imagine that diversity of origins of My Way, despite its unified spirit, was also present in the transformation of the song and the impact of its various contexts on the process of creation and morphosis; where the Canadian Paul Anka[11], the original writer of the song who was born to Lebanese-Canadian parents, would in 1967 transform a song called Comme d’habitude (as usual) performed by Claude François, a son of Italian mother and French father born in Ismaïlia, Egypt, and Jacques Revaux, born Jacques Abel Jules Revaud. Paul Anka would write the lyrics in English after listening to it in the south of France, claiming his own version of My Way, as did everybody else. It is our natural tendency to claim our own My Way.
My Way has always been and shall continue to be a natural stream adopted by individuals who defy Anti-MyWay forces of whatever form and shape; simply because My Way is a natural and unstoppable flow of life in God Way, the One Way, no matter what we believe in, till the end.
And now, the end is near
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 travelled each and every 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 not
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
[Lyrics from:
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/f/frank+sinatra/i+did+it+my+way_20815694.html]
See: http://bit.ly/uOGrOj for my poem It Has Always been My Way
[1] http://bit.ly/uSpGPy
[2] http://bit.ly/vCfQrX
[3] http://bit.ly/tNb4rB
[4] http://bit.ly/vbORTl
[5] http://bit.ly/uNm0Xy
[6] http://bit.ly/w0sYs4
[7] http://bit.ly/vX0sJ4
[8] http://bit.ly/tPbNKb
[9] http://bit.ly/uHrGrP
[10] http://bit.ly/vzzaJZ
[11] http://bit.ly/rOnnn5
