"Those Were the Days" is a song credited to Gene Raskin, who put English lyrics to the Russian song "Dorogoi dlinnoyu" ("Дорогой длинною", lit. "By the long road"), written by Boris Fomin (1900-1948) with words by the poet Konstantin Podrevskii. It deals with reminiscence upon youth and romantic idealism. The Georgian Tamara Tsereteli (1900-1968) in 1925[1] and Alexander Vertinsky in 1926[2] made what were probably the earliest recordings of the song. However, it is best remembered for Mary Hopkin's 1968 recording, which was a top-ten hit in both the U.S. and the U.K.
You can listen to the song below:
Once upon a Time There Was a Tavern
Where We Used to raise a glass or two
Remember how we laughed away the hours
And dreamed of all the great things we would of
Those Were The Days My Friend
We thought they'd never end
We'd sing and dance forever and a day
We'd live the life we choose
We'd fight and never lose
We Were Young and is sure to Have our way.
La la la la ...
Those Were The Days, oh yes Those Were The Days
Then the busy years Went rushing by us
We Lost Our starry notions on the way
If by chance I'd see you in the tavern
We'd smile at one another and we'd say
Those Were The Days My Friend
We thought they'd never end
We'd sing and dance forever and a day
We'd live the life we choose
We'd fight and never lose
We Were Young and is sure to Have our way.
La la la la ...
Those Were The Days, oh yes Those Were The Days
Just tonight I Stood before the tavern
Nothing seemed the way it Used to Be
In the glass I saw a strange reflection
Was That lonely woman really me
Those Were The Days My Friend
We thought they'd never end
We'd sing and dance forever and a day
We'd live the life we choose
We'd fight and never lose
We Were Young and is sure to Have our way.
La la la la ...
Those Were The Days, oh yes Those Were The Days
Through the door there cam familiar laughter
I saw your face and Heard You Call My Name
Oh my friend we're older But the wiser
For In Our hearts the dreams are still the Same
Those Were The Days My Friend
We thought they'd never end
We'd sing and dance forever and a day
We'd live the life we choose
We'd fight and never lose
We Were Young and is sure to Have our way.
La la la la ...
Those Were The Days, oh yes Those Were The Days
Mary Hopkin and the Beatles
Background
It was the British supermodel Twiggy who alerted Paul McCartney to the Welsh singer Mary Hopkin when Apple Records was looking for talent in 1968. The waifish soprano scored a huge, worldwide smash with her first Apple single, the melancholy but rabble-rousing ballad 'Those Were the Days,' in late 1968; it actually knocked the Beatles' own 'Hey Jude' out of the number one position in the U.K. Paul McCartney lent Hopkin a further hand by producing her first album and writing her second single, 'Goodbye,' which was also a hit. Besides 'Days', the highlights on Post Card, her debut Lp, are Donovan's 'Lord of the Reedy River' and 'The Honeymoon Song,'which McCartney himself had sung with the Beatles way back in 1963 on the BBC. Also on board is a rather nice composition, 'The Game,' by Beatles producer George Martin, who contributed some piano and orchestra conducting to the album. The reissue included here contains George Gershwin/Ira Gershwin's'Someone to Watch Over Me', as well as 'Turn! Turn! Turn!' and versions of 'Those Were the Days' that Hopkin sang inItalian and Spanish. More folk-oriented than her first effort, on her beautiful second album Earth Song, Ocean Song, Mary Hopkin's lilting voice soothes the listener like hot tea with honey.
Included in this set, which was produced by Tony Visconti, are her interpretations of Ralph McTell's 'Streets of London,' Cat Stevens' 'The Wind,' and Gallagher & Lyle's 'International.' In my opinion this one is undoubtedly her best album ever. Ms Hopkin is allowed to do what she does best and to perform material that's far better suited to her. It's a beautifully simple and acoustic affair - guitars, strings, harmonium, flutes, etc. - which comes over in the emotion and love that's clear in her voice. Also here is Caneuon Cynnar, a collection of ten songs
Mary recorded circa 1965, when she was just fifteen. Although all sung in Welsh, you will recognise some of the tunes, as they are covers of songs already made famous by others. With Mary's distinctive high soprano and sparse musical backing, they sound different from usual, but fresh. The English titles of the songs covered include 'Turn Turn Turn', 'Tammy', 'Morning of My Life', 'Something Stupid' and 'Can't Help Falling in Love'. There are also covers of 'Plaisir d'Amour' and 'Guantanamera', so it's not only English language songs that were translated into Welsh for Mary to sing. Finally, I added a Bonus Tracks folder which is, more or less, the 1995 Those Were the Days compilation (without the duplicated files and with some more I added). It contains many of Mary's best known songs, precisely those which weren't originally included in her two Apple albums, such as 'Temma Harbour', 'Goodbye', 'Think About Your Children', 'Knock Knock, Who's There', 'Jefferson', 'The Fields of St. Etienne', 'Que Sera Sera', 'Heritage', 'For All My Days' and 'Sparrow'. All in all, you got here 57 Mary Hopkin's songs to enjoy!! http://www.amazon.co.uk/, http://www.allmusic.com/ BTW: you'll find all the cover arts you need here.
The single Goodbye, released on 28 March 1969; it reached #2 in the UK singles chart:
History
Gene Raskin frequented the White Horse Tavern in New York's Greenwich Village the 1960s and the song lamented the passing of the golden folk days of Dylan, Paxton, Ochs, and The Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem.
Although the song was popularized in the early 1960s by The Limeliters, Welsh singer Mary Hopkin did the best known recording. It was released on 30 August 1968, shortly after Hopkin was signed to the Beatles' newly created Apple label. Hopkin's recording was produced by Paul McCartney and became a #1 hit in the UK singles chart, and reached #2 in the US. The tune topped the Billboard Easy Listening survey.
Paul McCartney, who produced the session, also recorded Hopkin singing "Those Were The Days" in four other languages for release in their respective countries:
In Spain, Que Tiempo Tan Feliz
In West Germany, An jenem Tag
In Italy, Quelli Erano Giorni
In France, Le temps des fleurs
The UK and the USA had the B-side, "Turn! Turn! Turn!" which was written by Pete Seeger (but largely taken from the book of Ecclesiastes), which had been a U.S. #1 hit for The Byrds in 1965.
"Those Were the Days" was catalogue number Apple 2 (APPLE 1 designation had been intended for the Beatles single "Hey Jude").
Hopkin's version was released on the back of her success on the television show Opportunity Knocks and around the time of its release popular singer Sandie Shaw was also asked to record the song by her management, feeling that it should be done by a "real" singer. Shaw's version was released as a single but did not beat the success of Hopkin's version.
In the mid 1970s, after Hopkin's contract with Apple ended, "Those Were the Days" and "Goodbye" were re-recorded with producer Tony Visconti. Only these re-recorded versions can be found on music compilation discs because Apple never allows its original recordings to be used.
In 2005, Dolly Parton released a cover of "Those Were the Days," which featured backing vocals by Mary Hopkin. That year, the song became the title track of Dolly Parton's album with the same name.
Other cover versions
1962 - The Limeliters
1967 - Engelbert Humperdinck covers the song on the B-side of his 1967 album "The Last Waltz".
1968 - The French version of the song, "Le temps des fleurs," was popularized by the international recording star, Dalida. She also recorded the song in Italian and German.
1968 - The international recording star Vicky Leandros recorded the French version "Le temps des fleurs" and had a huge hit in Japan, Canada, and Greece with this song.
1968 - Halina Kunicka - To były piękne dni (" Those were a beautiful days " in Polish)
1968 - Violetta Villas - Znowu Ciebie mam (in Polish). Her version caused controversy in Poland as Villas used lyrics she ordered from a songwriter and has re-written them without permission for the recording. As she wasn't happy with this song she wrote new lyrics herself in the 70s and performed this song under a new title "Miłością znów żyję" to this day.
Mary Hopkin and Sandie Shaw also sang the song in French, as well as in Italian, Spanish and German. Both Shaw's and Hopkin's versions were released roughly around the same time, as a sort of competition between the two, to see whose single would fare better with the public. When Hopkin's album, Postcard, was re-released on CD, the Spanish and Italian versions of the songs appeared as bonus tracks. Sandie Shaw has had all of her versions re-released on separate CDs, split up by language.
1968 - Gigliola Cinquetti covered the song in Italian ("Quelli erano i giorni", with Italian lyrics by Claudo Daiano) and Spanish.
1968 - Päivi Paunu covered the song in Finnish. Followed by eight other covers in 1968-1991, before the Leningrad Cowboys.
1969-Mexican version by Los Rockin Devils band, entitled "Esos Fueron Los Dias."
1968-1969 - Olle Bergman lyrics in Swedish, "Ja, det var då", reached Svensktoppen wirh recordings by both Lena Hansson (3 weeks) and Anita Lindblom (7 weeks).
1969 - Margareta Paslaru recorded the Romanian version of Hopkin's song - "Azi vreau sa rad din nou"(Today I want to laugh again)
1968 - Mira Gubik - "Rég elmúlt víg napok" (Hungarian version)
1969 - The 5th Dimension covered the song in their album The Age of Aquarius.
1969 - Teréz Harangozó (Hungarian version: "Azok a szép napok").
1969 - Ivan Rebroff made a Russian version of the song, called "Такие дни, мой друг" (Takiyeh dni, moj drug). The song was a one-by-one-translation of the first two verses and the chorus of "Those were the days" without any rhythm and rhymes. It was found as a single and on the "Live" album Russische Party from the same year.
1969 - Shuli Natan recorded a Hebrew version - "כאלה היו הימים" (ka'ele hayou hayamim), to lyrics translated by Mickey Hartby. Later on, Avi Toledano made another Hebrew cover of the song.
1969 - Ryoko Moriyama and Akemi Hirokawa sung Japanese version of the song, called "Kanashiki Tenshi (悲しき天使)."
196? - Nani Bregvadze (Russian, Original Text, USSR)
1969 - Alexandra (Germany)
1970 - Teresa Teng (Taiwan) sung Traditional Chinese version of the song, called "往日的時光."
197? - Irena Kohont, slovenian singer, made a Slovenian version of the song, named "To so bili dnevi". In the same year, the music video was created for this version.
197? - Ahmad Zahir, Afghan singer, made a Dari version of the song, called "Zeba Negaram"
1976 - Zoi Kouroukli made popular the Greek version of the song, called "Χαμένα Όνειρα (Khamena Oneira)", literally meaning "Lost Dreams", although the Greek version, under the above title, was first performed by Leo Leandros in 1968. The Greek lyrics were by Thanasis Tsongas in 1968.
1989 - Hungarian band Dolly Roll covered the song in Hungarian with different lyrics from the version of Teréz Harangozó. ("Ábrándos szép napok")
1990 - Demon Kogure covered "Those Were the Days" on his first solo album "Koshoku yorozu goe otoko".
1990 - Flamenco duo Azúcar Moreno covered the song in Spanish as "Cuando El Amor Se Va" on their international breakthrough album Bandido.
1991 - Leningrad Cowboys covered "Those Were the Days" for the Aki Kaurismäki short film of the same name. The song was later released on their 1992 album We Cum From Brooklyn.
1992 — Leningrad Cowboys and the Alexandrov Ensemble covered the song in the 1992 Total Balalaika Show and the performance was released on the live album Total Balalaika Show - Helsinki Concert later the same year.
1994 - Cara Jones covered "Those Were the Days" on her debut album Different Skies. Also, Ground Zero covered "Those Were the Days" on their album Plays Standards.
1994 - The Croatian group Vatrogasci (Firefighters) made a parody of this song, translating it into Croatian (naming it "Ajnc, cvaj draj") and making it in turbofolk arrangement.
1995 - The Irish folk group The Clancy Brothers & Robbie O'Connell recorded this song on their album "Older but No Wiser". The title of the album comes from the last verse of the song.
1998 - The German version of the song, "An jenem Tag", was popularized by the international top star Karel Gott on his best of triple album Einmal um die ganze Welt.
2000 - Brings covered "Superjeile Zick"
2001 - Turisas covered "Those Were the Days" on their EP "The Heart of Turisas."
2004 - Dayna Kurtz covered "Those Were the Days" on her album Beautiful Yesterday. Also, New York cabaret artists Kiki & Herb included the song in their Carnegie Hall debut concert Kiki & Herb Will Die for You.
2005- Folk singer, Susan Lainey, covered "Those Were The Days" in her self titled album. The song would later be selected in October 2006 by the internationally aired #1 television show "Nip/Tuck"; for a scene in Season 3 Episode 4.
2005 - Although not exactly a cover, 50 Cent used an electric guitar version of the melody of "Those Were the Days" in his "When It Rains, It Pours". Also, 2005 was the year Dolly Parton covered "Those Were the Days". Parton's recording featured guest vocals by Hopkin.
2005 - The Hungarian violinist Jozsef Lendvay covered this song on his Echo Klassik CD Lendvay & Friends.
2006 - Il Folklorista covered "Those Were the Days". Il Folklorista is a project by Gigi D'Agostino and Luca Noise.
2006 - "Those Were the Days" was converted to a chant by Carsi,a supporter group of Besiktas JK, Istanbul. It is named as "Opera for Fener" and teases with Fenerbahce, another Istanbul team. The video of chant broadcasts on Youtube and has been watched more than one million times. It is observed that even Fenerbahce supporters can not stop themselves joining the cheer when it is song by a group around. This phenomena could not be explained by sociologists yet and some substantial research is being conducted in different institutes.
2007 - Slovenian singer Manca Izmajlova covered the original Russian version of the song on her album Slovanska duša (Slavic Soul).
2007 - Swedish-born Greek singer Elena Paparizou covered the French version of the song, "Le temps des fleurs", which was released on her CD-single "Fos" and was featured on the bonus CD on her Yparhi Logos: Platinum Edition album.
2007 - Jamaican Dancehall-Artist Shaggy covers the refrain of "Those Were the Days" in his album Intoxication.
2007 - Vietnamese Singer Ngoc Ha spelade in en cover på the new Vietnamese version in Asia DVD 49 as "Nhu la thu vang".
2008 - Bad Boys Blue "Heart & Soul"; Words by Gene Raskin. Music by Boris Fomin. Arranged & produced by Johann Perrier. Co-produced by Antoine Blanc.
2009 - The German band RotFront covered the song in "Red Mercedes" on their album "Emigrantski Raggamuffin"
Trivia
Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (January 2008)
The melody of the song is instantly recognizable to tens of millions of Brazilians, although most of them are probably wholly unaware of its origins or original lyrics and title; it was used for years by Brazilian TV host Silvio Santos in his Show de Calouros, a Gong Show-like talent show, with the lyrics changed to introduce the judges and host of the show.
On Christmas 1975, the President of Equatorial Guinea, Francisco Macías Nguema, had 150 alleged coup plotters executed to the sound of a band playing Mary Hopkin's tune Those Were the Days in a national stadium.
"Those Were the Days" has been adopted by supporters of UK football league club Huddersfield Town FC, as their unofficial club song. The words are modified to "Those were the days my friend we thought they'd never end - We won the league three times in row - we won the FA cup, and now we're going up - we are the Town - Oh yes we are the Town!"
The song also appeared in a documentary on American intellectual Norman Finkelstein entitled American Radical: The Trials of Norman Finkelstein.
[edit]See also
Apple Records discography
[edit]References
^ http://www.secondhandsongs.com/topic/34176
^ http://www.secondhandsongs.com/performance/19937
[edit]External links
Several Russian songs, including Дорогой длинною
Those Were the Days on YouTube
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Goodbye (Mary Hopkin song)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Single by Mary Hopkin
Goodbye is a song written by Paul McCartney (but credited to Lennon-McCartney) and performed by Mary Hopkin. It was released on March 28, 1969 and it reached #2 in the UK singles chart, prevented from reaching the top position by the Beatles' single "Get Back".
The song was produced by Paul McCartney and arranged by Richard Hewson.
You can listen to the song "Goodbye" by Mary Hopkin here:
Paul McCartney Recording
The song was never officially released by the Beatles, although there are bootleg recordings of Paul McCartney singing the song.
References
(1) http://www.keithm.utvinternet.ie/ESCstars26.htm
(2) http://rateyourmusic.com/release/single/mary_hopkin/goodbye___sparrow_f1/buy
