Paul Anka: Rock Swings - Live in Montréal captures the singer/songwriter's dynamic performance at the July 2005 Montreal Jazz Festival. The concert is Anka at his best, interacting with his fans in the audience and introducing a new generation to a voice that has thrilled audiences for nearly five decades. This special encompasses Anka's greatest hits, personal interpretations of his compositions made famous by other artists, and selections from his 2005 release Rock Swings, featuring swing-style covers of popular songs by modern hit makers.

The Canadian-born Anka, now 64, infuses a lifetime of experience into songs he wrote as a sixteen-year-old wunderkind - leading off the performance with his first hit from 1957, "Diana," "You Are My Destiny" and later thrilling his fans as he invites a woman in the audience up for "Put Your Head on My Shoulder." As Anka says in his introduction to another of his famous hits, "Times of Your Life," Paul Anka: Rock Swings ­ Live in Montréal is about "nostalgia, memories, family ­ and all that good stuff" ­ whether his own personal memories seen in a photo montage of his career and family life, or his stories of friends and colleagues like Bobby Darin, whose "Mack the Knife" he interprets here, or Sammy Davis Jr., whose request of Anka for his own song ("I'm Not Anyone") is sung by the songwriter against clips of Davis performing on a vintage television special, or Frank Sinatra, whose veritable theme song, "My Way" was an Anka original and is included here with background vocals by Old Blue Eyes himself.

Throughout, Paul Anka: Rock Swings - Live in Montréal delivers a connection for the memories of a generation ­ whether the bobby soxers who fell in love at high school dances in an era of innocence, the youngsters coming of age listening to Tom Jones' recording of Anka's "She's a Lady," or unexpected arrangements of 1980s hits by Michael Jackson ("The Way You Make Me Feel"), Spandau Ballet ("True") and Eric Clapton ("Tears in Heaven").

Song List:
Act I

  • DIANA
  • FOR ONCE IN MY LIFE
  • MACK THE KNIFE
  • TIMES OF YOUR LIFE
  • THE WAY YOU MAKE ME FEEL (Michael Jackson)
  • YOU ARE MY DESTINY
Act II
  • LONELY BOY
  • SHE'S A LADY
  • DO I LOVE YOU? YES, IN EVERY WAY
  • TRUE (Spandau Ballet)
  • I'M NOT ANYONE
Act III
  • MY WAY
  • (Walk off...)
  • MY WAY (reprise)
  • NEW YORK NEW YORK
  • TEARS IN HEAVEN (Eric Clapton)

A production of Amerimage-Spectra in association with WLIW New York. Executive producer: Luc Chatelain. Producers: Alain Simard and Pierre L. Touchette. Director: Mario Rouleau. CC and ST.

To order the dvd or cd of this program, go to SUPPORT 21.