Why did Martin Scorsese use Sid Vicious’ version of ‘My Way’ in the ‘Goodfellas’ soundtrack?
Although Martin Scorsese attended New York University’s School of Film in the 1960s, capitalising handsomely to become one of his generation’s finest directors, he might have studied music in another life. Like many auteurs, Scorsese is immensely passionate about music and has taken several opportunities over the years to combine his musical affections with innate cinematic command.
Among Scorsese’s most cherished contributions to the musical world was the 1978 concert movie The Last Waltz. Teaming up with his friend, musician Robbie Robertson, Scorsese directed a final farewell show for The Band in a bumper stage show featuring performances from Muddy Waters, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Neil Young, Eric Clapton and more.
Elsewhere, Scorsese received widespread acclaim for his definitive documentary on the life of George Harrison, Living in the Material World, and his semi-fictionalised Bob Dylan tour documentary, Rolling Thunder Revue. This track record reflects a musical taste rooted in the classic rock of the 1960s and early ’70s, but surprisingly, the legendary director also has a soft spot for punk.
The punk wave took flight in New York City in 1975, with Ramones often cited as its first proponents. Soon after, Sex Pistols hung the banner in the UK. The genre was known for a severe lack of refinement and a sucker-punch of attitude and anarchy to make up for it. The punks sought to strike fear into the parental generation and incite new fashion trends and sociopolitical outlooks in the youth.
Although he was in his mid-30s when punk broke out, he remembers becoming infatuated with the movement. “The last thing I got really excited about was punk rock because it was still angry,” he once stated. According to Paul Simonon, the bassist of The Clash, Scorsese and his frequent collaborator Robert De Niro used to visit the band’s concerts and employed them to design part of the set for the 1983 movie The King of Comedy.
With this in mind, it’s not difficult to understand why Scorsese chose to use Sid Vicious’ sneering version of Frank Sinatra’s ‘My Way’ for the end credits of his seminal 1990 gangster movie Goodfellas. Vicious was a disreputable kid with bucketloads of attitude and very little musical talent, but in those attributes, he embodied the spirit of punk.
As far as Scorses was concerned, the gritty gangster lifestyle depicted in Goodfellas had much in common with the punk outlook. “‘My Way’ is an anthem. I like Sid Vicious’ version because it twists [the original],” Scorsese said in a 1990 interview with Gavin Smith. “His whole life and death was a kind of slap in the face of the whole system, the whole point of existence in a way.”
Scorsese felt that Vicious’ version made the song more provocative and anarchistic, representing the unlawful ways of Henry Hill and his Mafia associates. “And that’s what was fascinating to me – because eventually, yeah, they all did it their way,” Scorsese added.
Watch the closing scene of Goodfellas, including Sid Vicious’ ‘My Way’ below.
