Those Were The Days (song)

Those Were The Days (song)

"Those Were the Days" is a song credited to Gene Raskin, who put English lyrics to the Russian romance song "Dorogoi dlinnoyu" ("Дорогой длинною", lit. "By the long road"), composed by Boris Fomin (1900–1948) with words by the poet Konstantin Podrevskii. It deals with reminiscence upon youth and romantic idealism.

Georgian singer Tamara Tsereteli (1900–1968) and Russian singer Alexander Vertinsky made what were probably the earliest recordings of the song, in 1925 and in 1926 respectively.

The song is best remembered, however, in English-speaking countries, for Mary Hopkin's 1968 recording, which was a top-ten hit in both the U.S. and the U.K. On most recorded versions of the song, Raskin is credited as the writer, even though he wrote only the later English lyrics and not the melody.