"Those Were the Days" is a song credited to Gene Raskin, who put English lyrics to the Russian song "Dorogoi dlinnoyu", written by Boris Fomin with words by the poet Konstantin Podrevskii. It deals with reminiscence upon youth and romantic idealism. In the early 1960s Raskin, with his wife Francesca, played folk music around Greenwich Village in New York. They released an album which included the song, which was taken up by the Limeliters. Raskin wrote lyrics in English and then put a copyright on both tune and lyrics. The Raskins had played London's "Blue Angel" always closing their show with the song. Paul McCartney frequented the club and, after the formation of the Beatles' own Apple Records label, recorded the song with Mary Hopkin, Hopkin made the best known recording, released on 30 August 1968, shortly after Hopkin had been 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. In the US, Hopkin's recording reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the Billboard Easy Listening charts for six weeks. The Russian origin of the melody was accentuated by an instrumentation which was unusual for a top ten pop record, including clarinet, hammer dulcimer and children's chorus, giving a klezmer feel to the song.
The song has been covered and recorded by artists in countries all over the world, including Dolly Parton in the USA in 2005, with backing vocals by Mary Hopkin.
I've heard many versions, but I still think Mary's version is the best by far!
