Last night we watched the HBO Paul Anka doc and I knew from the very beginning, which featured 85 year-old Anka on board his private jet with his sixteen year old wife, that he was a prick. Not that he said or did anything obviously prick-ish. He wouldn’t have let anything remotely negative be shown since he clearly controlled this love-letter to himself. There was just something in his demeanor. Perhaps I’ve been around a few too many older, prick-ish actors and my senses are attuned to this sort of thing. Still, it was an interesting enough doc–though way too long–and I can’t help admiring the fact that he heard the melody of ‘My Way’ in a French version on the radio and quickly snatched up the rights, recognizing that there was something there to be reworked with an English lyric. And he was savvy enough to write it specifically for Sinatra, who he clearly flattered with such a move. The other bit of show-biz savvy that I was amused by was the way he turned his not terribly successful song ‘It’s Really Love’ into ‘The Tonight Show’ theme. First he played it for Johnny. Then Skitch Henderson, the music director of the show, objected saying that he had first dibs on composing the theme. A less sharkish man than Anka (like me) would have then probably proposed to Henderson that they split the rights. No. Not Paul. He bypassed Henderson entirely, went right to Carson and offered him half the royalties. Johnny said sure. Johnny was the star. What the star says goes. Not long afterward, Henderson departed for fields less elysian. I can’t fathom the amount of money playing that theme every night for thirty years brought in for Anka, though an indication might be that private jet we see in film, a Cessna Citation which is worth about 12 million dollars used. Above I’ve posted an infamous recording (taped in secret) of Anka beating up on his band manager. It’s eight painful minutes long and just as wince-inducing and cruel as the Buddy Rich bus-tapes. Listen and enjoy and thank your lucky stars you never worked with him. The big, unanswered question is: ‘Where’s Joe?’ You’ll understand when you listen to the tape.