Yes, kids, everything old is new again.
Today’s Page Six has a story about Paul Anka and how he was ripped off by Michael Jackson for the song, “This is It.”
But here’s the real story and the original interview– done my me– in 2009.
The thing Jackson fans don’t like to hear about Michael is that he was sneaky, and lied a lot. He was willful. He was taught all this by his father. He broke agreements all the time, stole tapes from studios and held them for ransom, and so on. Does it make him a bad person? You can decide for yourselves.
In many ways, Michael was a musical genius. But he also depended on collaborators like Quincy Jones and all the songwriters who wrote his hits either on their own or with him. Michael knew a hit when he heard one. In the case of the Anka songs, he tried to get away with a few things. But read the story above.
In any case, Anka made a lot of money from the uncovering of the Jackson songs and tapes. So he can’t really complain. And he’s Paul Anka, for god’s sake, he wrote “My Way” for Frank Sinatra and the “Tonight Show” theme song for Johnny Carson. But he also wrote the worst Top 40 song of all time, “Having My Baby.” C’est la vie!