My Way in Kham Mueang: Telling the Song's Ideas

My Way is a worldwide favourite, best known in the voice of Frank Sinatra. It is about someone looking back over their own life near its end. In this article we ask a playful question: how would a Northerner (khon mueang) say these ideas? You pick up Kham Mueang words that work in everyday life.

The word liao lang หลฯวหัลฯง (Kham Mueang reading liao lang) means, in the dictionary, to turn and look behind you. It fits the heart of this song exactly.

This is the first article in a new set, World songs in Kham Mueang, within Kham Mueang through songs and literature. The song is still under copyright, so we do not translate it line by line, and we quote only two short phrases. What we take from it is its ideas, and then we try saying those ideas in Kham Mueang.

Where My Way comes from

The tune of My Way comes from the French song "Comme d'habitude" ("As usual"), recorded by Claude François, with music by Jacques Revaux. Wikipedia says the French words were written by Gilles Thibaut and Claude François. The French song came out in late 1967, while the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame page gives 1968, so the sources do not agree on the year.

Paul Anka, the Canadian singer-songwriter, wrote new English words and called the song "My Way". The new words do not tell the same story as the French song, which is about a marriage drifting apart, according to Jazziz. Anka says he wrote it for Sinatra after hearing him say over dinner that he wanted to quit show business (from an interview in American Songwriter). Sinatra recorded it on 30 December 1968 and it was released in 1969. Wikipedia notes that this recording entered the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2000.

You can hear the two songs side by side on the artists' own official channels. First, the French original, "Comme d'habitude", from Claude François's official channel:

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Second, My Way sung live by Frank Sinatra at the Royal Festival Hall, London, in 1970, from Frank Sinatra's official channel. Listen to how the same tune tells a different story: the French song is about a couple drifting apart (as Jazziz tells it), while My Way is about a whole life lived by one's own choices.

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Liao lang, kuet chai, hon lang: looking back

The first idea of the song is looking back over a whole life. Kham Mueang has several words for it. The dictionary defines liao lang as turning to look behind, hon lang ห฿นฯหัลฯง as an earlier time, and kuet chai คึดฯไจ as thinking something over. To say "I miss you" or "I think of you", use kuet hot คึดฯรอฯด.

When we turn an idea into Kham Mueang we write it in Thai script, following Kham Mueang sounds, and add the Lanna script only for words that exist in the dictionary. If a word is not in the dictionary we do not invent one; we use a Thai word instead.

Kham Mueang rendering by MoradokLanna: กึ๊ดใจ๋ เหลียวหลังไปหนหลัง ("think it over, glancing back at earlier times")

Siadai: the matter of regret

The second idea is admitting that life holds some things to regret. The narrator opens this with a short phrase people all over the world recognise: "Regrets, I've had a few" (Paul Anka, "My Way", 1969). It is so well known that France 24 used it as the headline of an interview with Anka in 2019.

Kham Mueang separates the feeling into two levels. Siadai เสยฯดายฯ is feeling sorry about something you should have got but did not, or should have done but did not. Sia chai เสยฯไจ means being uneasy in the heart.

Kham Mueang rendering by MoradokLanna: ปี๋ผ่านมา มีม่วน มีเสียดาย บ่หลาย ("through the years there was fun, there was regret, not much")

The words in that sentence: pi ปี (year), muan ม่วฯร (pleasing, enjoyable, fun), bo บ (not) and lai หลฯายฯ (many, much). The meaning is that life holds both fun and some regret, but not a lot. It is a general thought, not a translation of any line of the song.

Yia yang tua eng: doing it your own way

The third idea is the heart of the title: the narrator says he lived life his own way. The short phrase that gives the song its name is "I did it my way" (Paul Anka, "My Way", 1969), and it is quoted very often. Wikipedia records that Mikhail Gorbachev's policy of letting Warsaw Pact states make their own decisions was nicknamed the "Sinatra Doctrine" by Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennadi Gerasimov in 1987, with a reference to this phrase.

Kham Mueang uses yia เยยฯะ for "to do". The dictionary says yang อยฯางฯ means a manner, a method, a way; tua ต฿วฯ is used for people, animals and things; and eng เองฯ means alone, one's own. Put together they make a sentence that sounds natural.

Kham Mueang rendering by MoradokLanna: เยียะอย่างตั๋วเอง ("do it in my own way")

On the other side, the dictionary has the saying "tam chai pak lambak tong", a warning that indulging your mouth makes your stomach sick. Kham Mueang therefore has both the courage to do things your own way and a warning against indulging yourself too far.

Hot mue tai: when life reaches its end

The fourth idea is facing the end of life with a steady attitude. Kham Mueang calls death tai ตายฯ, which the dictionary defines as to breathe one's last, to end one's life. Hot รอฯด means to arrive, to be fulfilled; mue มื้ is a time, an occasion; and the dictionary explains chai yai ไจไห่ยฯ as a broad, brave heart.

Kham Mueang rendering by MoradokLanna: ฮอดมื้อต๋าย ใจ๋ใหญ่ ("when the day of death comes, a big heart")

Death is a delicate subject, so we choose short, plain words and do not expand on it.

Yuen san, chuen su: standing tall

The last idea is standing firm and being proud of what has passed. The dictionary defines yuen san อยฯนฯซันฯ as standing still and upright, and chuen su ชื่นฯสู้ as delighted, content, proud.

Kham Mueang rendering by MoradokLanna: ยืนซันอย่างจื้นสู้ ("stand upright, proudly")

The words at a glance

All of these renderings are phrasings we put together from dictionary words. They are not the one standard way to say it, and Northerners from different places may say the same idea with other words.

Compared with Ui Kham: two ways of looking back on a life

Jaran Manopetch's song Ui Kham (ui อุ้ is the word for someone of the grandparents' generation) also has us look back on a single life, but the narrator differs. My Way is told in the voice of the person who lived the life, who stands by the path they chose and is proud of it. Ui Kham is told by a neighbour who watched a kind old woman (chai di ไจดี) work quietly by the pond, until one day the neighbour bo han บหันฯ Ui Kham any more.

One song says "I chose this road". The other says "I watched her live this way". They complement each other: the first says a life belongs to its owner, the second says an ordinary person's life is remembered by others. According to Jaran, the real Ui Kham lived a happy life, not the sad one the song suggests (see the Ui Kham article for details). You can start with either song.

Summary

• Liao lang and kuet chai are for looking back and thinking over a life.
• Siadai is regret for what you should have done but did not; sia chai is being uneasy in the heart.
• Yia is "to do" in Kham Mueang, and ka yia is to dare to do.
• Tai means to die (the dictionary: to breathe one's last), and yuen san and chuen su are for standing upright with pride.
• The "Kham Mueang rendering by MoradokLanna" lines in this article retell ideas; they do not translate the song's lyrics.

Look up more of the words in the MoradokLanna dictionary. Keep reading in the same series: Ui Kham · Phak Kat Cho or see the whole set at Kham Mueang through songs and literature (in Thai).

References

• MoradokLanna Dictionary (dict2): liao lang, hon lang, kuet chai, kuet hot, siadai, sia chai, yia, yang, tua, eng, ka yia, tai, hot, mue, chai yai, yuen san, chuen su, muan, pi, bo, lai.
• Wikipedia. My Way (used as a lead and checked against other sources).
• American Songwriter. Behind the Song: "My Way" by Paul Anka
• Jazziz. #Sinatra100: The story of "My Way"
• Songfacts. My Way by Frank Sinatra, and Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. My Way
• France 24. (13 November 2019). Regrets I've had a few, says 'My Way' songwriter
• Claude François (official channel). Comme d'habitude (Official Lyric Video). YouTube
• Frank Sinatra (official channel). My Way, Live from Royal Festival Hall (1970). YouTube
• Moradok Lanna's article Ui Kham (on the real Ui Kham).

The lyrics of "My Way" are under copyright (English words by Paul Anka, 1969; tune from "Comme d'habitude", 1967). This article quotes only two short phrases, for education and criticism.