Anka earns fans' respect: From Diana to a parody of My Way, singer impresses hometown crowd

Homecomings can wear you out emotionally. Everybody gets dressed up, and there's a big fancy meal. Expectations are sky high, then just like that the celebration can loose its fizz.

But from the first strains of Diana last night, it was clear that this was going to be one heck of a party. Paul Anka was back in town, and in top form.

The nervy kid who split for New York and got famous all those years ago was determined to show his first fans why he is a prime attraction in Las Vegas.

"So here we are 21 years later," he said. "It's good to be back home."

Anka got a thunderous ovation to open the show, a gala dinner and benefit concert at the Congress Centre. It marked Anka's first public performance in Ottawa since he took umbrage over a negative newspaper review over 20 years ago.

If it was respect Anka was after, he earned it last night. And the audience responded with prolonged applause after each song.

About 2,500 people attended the concert, a 90-minute show that was crisply paced with plenty of banter. Anka was backed by his regular touring band, a 10-piece turn-on-a-dime outfit.

Anka described how he wrote the lyrics to My Way, his most famous song, for Frank Sinatra.

"I was sitting in a hotel room in New York and I got the first lines of the song. We lost him a few years ago. This song is his legacy."

The crowd gave him a standing ovation after the song.

Anka then sang a parody version of My Way, which included references to Fisher Park High, his old high school and a line about leaving home with "a hundred bucks and tons of Brylcream."

But he got the biggest laugh with the line: "I potty trained here."

Mostly, Anka sang his own songs about romantic relationships, from the puppy love of Put Your Head on my Shoulder to the full blown passionate to She's a Lady, a million seller he wrote for Tom Jones in 1971.

The show included video segments featuring footage of Anka as a teen idol in the 1950s, as well as a tribute to Sammy Davis Jr.

Anka dedicated his Love Me Warm and Tender to Mayor Bob Chiarelli, then sang it in Italian and English.

Another highlight was Anka's version of Bobby Darin's Mack the Knife.

Anka caused a stir in 1974 with You're Having my Baby, a duet with the late Odia Coates. The song stayed at number one for three weeks, undoubtedly to the chagrin of feminists who objected to the song's lyrical slant.

Anka's last hit as a teen sensation was 1960's My Home Town, so it seemed only fitting that he was given the hero's welcome from hometown fans. There's a line in the song that says "The music comes from my heart."

Last night, from 42 years after writing that lyric, Anka showed that his music is still heartfelt.

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