1973 Classic Began as a Frank Sinatra Parody, Then Became One of the ‘Most Perfect Songs Ever'

David Bowie and Frank Sinatra aren't necessarily two artists that come to mind as natural musical collaborators, but Bowie's act of revenge against the crooner's rejection of his work helped birth one of his signature songs.

In 1968, a 21-year-old Bowie, still establishing himself as an artist, was hired to write an English lyric translation to the then-recent French-language hit, "Comme d'habitude," reworked by the young musician as "Even a Fool Learns to Love." Bowie's take was ultimately rejected, said to be due to the emerging musician not being a big enough name to make his version a worthy endeavour.

Later, as Bowie recalled to host Michael Parkinson on the show Parkinson, he later discovered a much bigger name at the time, hitmaker Paul Anka, and his translation, titled "My Way," had been picked up and ultimately sold to Sinatra.

"I sent it back again and I thought that will be the last I hear of that," Bowie said of the English-language translation (via ABC News).

"Then, I hear it on the radio, and I thought 'That's that tune, it must be my song … but hang on, these are different lyrics', and it was Sinatra singing 'My Way'."

"That really made me angry for so long - for about a year," Bowie recalled. "Eventually I thought, 'I can write something as big as that, and I'll write one that sounds a bit like it'.

From there, "Life on Mars?", an intergalactic glam rock ballad, took flight. Initially a non-single from the 1971 album Hunky Dory, the track hit the #3 spot on the UK charts, beating Sinatra's "My Way," which only reached #5 in the country.

"There was a sense of revenge in that because I was so angry that Paul Anka had done My Way that I thought, 'right, I'll do my own version,'" Bowie told BBC Radio 2 in 2008. "And it basically was my kind of modern take on 'My Way'...there are clutches of melody in it that were definite parodies of 'My Way.'"

With lyrics detailing one mousy-haired woman, along with her "sunken dream" finding escapism in Hollywood movies, perhaps "Life on Mars?" was partly inspired by a young Bowie's initially shattered hopes of breaking America and the allure of Hollywood glamour, one that resonated with listeners in his home country in a period of '70s economic turmoil.

Rick Wakeman, a fellow Brit who would achieve his own success as a member of the progressive rock band Yes, played the piano on the track, the same one used on The Beatles' "Hey Jude". Like The Beatles, Bowie's talents and ambition in his songwriting, bolstered by a team of talented musicians, including Wakeman on piano and Mick Ronson on guitar, helped "Life on Mars?" reach for the future, and in return, become immortal, despite its origins in dashed dreams of chart success.

Two days after Bowie's death in January 2016, Wakeman told BBC Radio 2 about his time working on the classic, later named No. 3 on Q Magazine's "10 Most Perfect Songs Ever."

"I remember leaving [the studio] and saying to a couple of friends that I met that evening in a local pub that I'd just played on the best song that I'd ever had the privilege to work on,"

the prog rock legend said.

This story was originally published by Men's Journal on Jun 1, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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This story was originally published June 1, 2026 at 3:47 PM.