Faces of Death in the Philippines: My Way

If you’ve lived a life that’s full and have traveled every highway—more, much more than this, you have to do things your way. If you’ve lived cautiously, complete with pre-needs plans in the Philippines, you’ll know how stigmatized these lyrics are; how many a man have died after singing the song on videoke, and how this phenomenon garnered global attention.

[nytimes.com]

Frank Sinatra’s My Way (Reprise Records, 1969) from the album of the same name is one of the most referentially defining music of the early 70s, relating song writer Paul Anka’s idea of “If Frank was here, what would he say?” as well as the voice of what he defined as the “Me Generation”. Sooner than Anka expected, the first lines he wrote, “And now, the end is near” would start a global hype.

In the years that followed, around the late 90s & early 2000s, the song has become the seminal song of any videoke session in the Philippines, and with that, a very strange violent phenomenon occurred: the My Way Killings.

The song has a reported kill count of at least 70 in 2011 alone, and all of that is apart from the times that it has sparked outrage that caused brawls among bar goers. Killings range from dying a couple of days after performing the song or right in the middle of it—something you definitely can’t be prepared for even with a pre needs plan in the Philippines.

One killing, and maybe the most internet-famous of them all, is that of Romy Baligula in San Mateo, Rizal in 2010, who was shot by a security guard half way through the song. After arrest, the guard claims that he shot Baligula because the singer was out of tune and, despite being asked to stop by the guard himself, carried the song along.

In Caloocan city, 2 employees were shot to death by a group of armed men after singing my way repeatedly in 2005.

The killings were so rampant that it even made the New York Times.

There are a lot of theories as to why the song moves people to committing the unthinkable, like how the song psychologically relates to individuals so much that Sinatra’s song may only be performed if with the same Sinatra bravado & perfection—anything that falls short merits death. Others believe that the song is cursed, even going so far as to say that it is really the work of the devil and that Sinatra gave his soul for popularity. Some say that the lyrics, because of themes and perspective, defines and deals the singer’s destiny.

The song, however still stigmatized, remains to be classically popular and personally relevant to this day. There are some people who aren’t as affected by the bloody reputation the song has painted for itself. Even with a pre needs plan in the Philippines, there are circumstances that will remain mysterious, albeit melodic, that shall haunt our culture when it comes to talks about death and dying and that’s what My Way has proven.