''Rock Swings'' is an

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

Paul Anka Paul Albert Anka (born July 30, 1941) is a Canadian and American singer, songwriter and actor. His songs include " Diana", “ You Are My Destiny", “Lonely Boy", " Put Your Head on My Shoulder", and " (You're) Having My Baby". Anka also wr ...

. Recorded in November 2004 and released on May 31, 2005, in Canada and June 7, 2005, in the United States, it contains

swing jazz Swing music is a style of jazz that developed in the United States during the late 1920s and early 1930s. It became nationally popular from the mid-1930s. Swing bands usually featured soloists who would improvise on the melody over the arrangement ...

covers of popular

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

and pop songs from the 1980s and 1990s. The idea of an established vocalist giving rock hits a "

standards Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object t ...

" treatment was earlier realized by Anka's contemporary

Pat Boone Patrick Charles Eugene Boone (born June 1, 1934) is an American singer, songwriter, actor, author, television personality, radio host and philanthropist. He sold nearly 50 million records, had 38 Top 40 hits, and has acted in many films. Boone ...

in the 1997 album, '' In a Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy,'' with Boone doing covers of songs by

Alice Cooper Vincent Damon Furnier (born February 4, 1948), known by his stage name Alice Cooper, is an American rock singer and songwriter whose career spans sixty years. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusion ...

Van Halen Van Halen ( ) was an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1973. Credited with restoring hard rock to the forefront of the music scene, Van Halen was known for their energetic live performances and the virtuosity of their guit ...

and

Judas Priest Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in Birmingham in 1969. They have sold over 50 million albums and are frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Judas Priest have also been referred to as one of the p ...

. That same year,

Steve Lawrence Steve Lawrence (born Sidney Liebowitz; July 8, 1935 – March 7, 2024) was an American singer, comedian, and actor. He was best known as a member of the pop duo Steve and Eydie with his wife Eydie Gormé, and for his performance as Maury Slin ...

and

Eydie Gormé Eydie Gormé ( ; born Edith Gormezano; August 16, 1928 – August 10, 2013) was an American singer who achieved notable success in pop, Latin, and jazz genres. She sang solo and in the duo Steve and Eydie with her husband, Steve Lawrence, on a ...

covered

Soundgarden Soundgarden was an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1984 by singer and drummer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil, and bassist Hiro Yamamoto. Cornell switched to rhythm guitar in 1985, replaced on drums initially ...

's " Black Hole Sun" in a lounge-jazz style on the 1997 compilation album release, '' Lounge-A-Palooza.'' Anka also covers " Black Hole Sun" on ''Rock Swings.'' Reportedly, the

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

song "

Billie Jean "Billie Jean" is a song by the American singer Michael Jackson, released by Epic Records on January 3, 1983, as the second single from his sixth studio album, ''Thriller (album), Thriller'' (1982). It was written and composed by Jackson, produ ...

" was slated to be on the album in the recording stages, but Paul Anka could not get through a vocal take without bursting into laughter. The album features "It's My Life" by Bon Jovi, a song which includes the line "Like Frankie said, 'I did it my way'", a tongue-in-cheek reference to the Sinatra classic "

My Way "My Way" is Paul Anka's English-language lyrical adaptation of the French song " Comme d'habitude", released by Frank Sinatra in 1969. The original song was written by Jacques Revaux, Gilles Thibaut, and Claude François, and was first recor ...

", the lyrics to which were written by Anka. After the release of this album, Anka was awarded a star on

Canada's Walk of Fame Canada's Walk of Fame () in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is a walk of fame that acknowledges the achievements and accomplishments of Canadians who have excelled in their respective fields. It is a series of maple leaf-like stars embedded in 13 de ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. A

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

release of the same name, including live performances of these songs by Anka, was released on December 6, 2005.

Charts

Debuted at: * #120 on the ''Billboard'' 200 * #9 on the Official UK Album Chart * #2 on Billboard's Top Jazz Albums chart * #1 on Amazon.de

Track listing

Certifications

Samples

Personnel

Production

* Paul Anka – executive producer * Alex Christensen – producer * Al Schmitt – engineer, mixing * Steve Genewick – Pro Tools engineer * Steffen Häfelinger – vocal editing * Ralph Kessler – mastering * Sascha Kramer – photography * www.schilko.com – artwork

Musicians

* Paul Anka – vocals * Randy Kerber – acoustic piano * Mike Lang – acoustic piano * Larry Koonse – guitars *

Dean Parks Weldon Dean Parks (born December 6, 1946) is an American session guitarist and record producer from Fort Worth, Texas. Parks has one Grammy nomination. Albums Parks was member of the North Texas State One O'clock Lab Band before moving to Los A ...

– guitars * Mike Valerio – bass *

Vinnie Colaiuta Vincent Peter Colaiuta (born February 5, 1956) is an American drummer known for his technical mastery who has worked as a session musician in many genres. He was inducted into the ''Modern Drummer'' Hall of Fame in 1996 and the ''Classic Drumme ...

– drums * Luis Conte – percussion * Emil Richards –

vibraphone The vibraphone (also called the vibraharp) is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using Percussion mallet, mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone ...

Dan Higgins Dan Higgins (born January 28, 1957, in Boston, Massachusetts, United States) is an American saxophone and woodwind player. He has worked with such artists as John Williams, Seth MacFarlane, Aerosmith, Stevie Wonder, Neil Diamond, Al Jarreau, M ...

– alto sax and flute solos (3, 5, 6) * Jon Crosse – tenor sax solo (12)

Orchestra

* Patrick Williams – arrangements (1, 5, 8), conductor and leader * Randy Kerber – arrangements (2-4, 6, 7, 10-14), conductor and leader * John Clayton – arrangements (9), conductor and leader * Brad Dechter – orchestration (9) * Jon Crosse – conductor and leader * Jules Chakin – contractor * Terry Woodson – music copyist (1, 5, 8) * Joanne Kane – music copyist (2-4, 6, 7, 9-14) Brass and Woodwinds * Dan Higgins and Greg Huckins – alto saxophone,

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

* Joel Peskin – baritone saxophone,

bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common Soprano clarinet, soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays no ...

* Gene Cipriano – tenor saxophone, flute * Bill Liston – tenor saxophone,

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

, flute * Bryant Byers, Steve Holtman, Alex Iles, Andy Martin, Bob McChesney and Bill Reichenbach Jr. – trombone * Sal Cracchiolo, Charles Davis, Gary Grant, Larry Hall and Warren Luening – trumpet * Jim Atkinson, Kurt Snyder and Brad Warnaar –

French horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most o ...

String section * Bruce Dukov – concertmaster * Larry Corbett, Ernie Ehrhardt, Vanessa Freebairn-Smith, Anne Karam, Miguel Martinez, Steve Richards and Andrew Shulman – cello * Gayle Levant –

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

* Marilyn Baker, Pam Goldsmith, Jorge Moraga, Simon Oswell, Karie Prescott, James Ross, Harry Shirinian and Evan Wilson – viola * Rebecca Bunnell, Darius Campo, Mario De Leon, Joel Derouin, Bruce Dukov, Charles Everett, Kirstin Fife, Armen Garabedian, Berj Garabedian, Tiffany Yi Hu, Patricia Johnson, Peter Kent, Miran Kojian, Razdan Kuyumjian, Dennis Molchan, Jennifer Munday, Anatoly Rosinsky, Haim Shtrum, Les Terry, Mari Tsumura and Shari Zippert – violin

References

Verve Music information page

Verve Music press release

Billboard Bits: Paul Anka

Footnotes

External links

Paul Anka Spins Pop His Way with 'Rock Swings
on

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{{Authority control 2005 albums 2000s covers albums Paul Anka albums Verve Records albums