Here's my second song parody, to be sung to the tune of "My Way"- made famous by Frank Sinatra. It is also most popular Karaoke song in the Philippines. There are stories on line, that this song caused the death of one singer, killed by another singer, because the song was not sang perfectly as expected.
“A Life Well Written”
I have walked through changing skies,
With questions bright behind my eyes;
A scientist who learned to see
The hidden threads of memory.
From island stories, oceans wide,
To California’s gentler side,
I kept the names, the meals, the songs—
The homeland still to me belongs.
I wrote of years that taught me grace,
Of time’s soft lines upon the face;
Not as a closing of the door,
But proof that life can still give more.
I wrote for those who need to know
That age is not a fading glow;
It is a lantern, held up high,
For younger souls still passing by.
At Bridge, I weigh the hand I hold;
At Mahjong, laughter turns to gold.
And in the company of friends,
A good long conversation mends.
I trace the footsteps of my kin,
The lives they carried deep within;
Their courage travels through my pen—
Their voices speak again, again.
I have known sorrow, joy, and change,
And found the ordinary strange:
A bowl of rice, a family name,
A childhood photograph aflame.
So let the passing seasons come;
I greet them not with fear, but drum.
For every page I leave behind
Is one more gift to heart and mind.
And if, one day, my words remain
Like summer’s brief but faithful rain,
Let them say: he looked with care—
And made a life of meaning there.
- The Origins: The song was originally a French pop track called "Comme d'habitude" ("As Usual"), written by Jacques Revaux, Gilles Thibaut, and Claude François.
- The English Lyrics: Singer-songwriter Paul Anka bought the rights to the melody and wrote completely new English lyrics specifically tailored to Sinatra's voice and larger-than-life persona.
- The Recording: Sinatra recorded the track in a single focused afternoon session on December 30, 1968, at Western Recorders in Los Angeles.
- The Legacy: Despite its status as his closing anthem, Sinatra was reportedly never completely fond of the song, finding it overly self-indulgent. Still, it became inseparable from his legacy.
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 traveled each and every highway
And more, much more than this
I did it my way
[Verse 2]
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
[Chorus]
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
Yes, this is almost certainly a real fish, likely a parrotfish photographed head-on in an aquarium.
What looks startlingly human is its specialized mouth: parrotfish have numerous teeth fused into a large, beak-like dental plate for scraping algae and biting coral. The frontal perspective, pale coloration, and wide lens exaggerate the effect, making the mouth and nostrils resemble a human face.
The two small “nostrils” are actually the fish’s nasal openings, used for smelling rather than breathing; its gills do the breathing. The large rounded structure below is its closed, fleshy beak/mouth, not anything anatomical from a mammal.
Parrotfish are real reef fish, and their powerful teeth continuously wear down and are replaced as they graze; in the process, they help produce coral-derived sand.
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