In September 1968, the English hit parade was headed for over a month by a romance created in the USSR in 1924. It flew to all corners of the world in various covers. The song hasn’t lost its relevance even today, it is still sung in English, Japanese, French, Italian and other languages. Learn more about its amazing history at liverpool-trend.com.
Beginning of the story
If you listen to the song Dorogoi dlinnoyu, you might think that it comes from somewhere in the 19th century and some even consider it folk. In fact, it was created not so long ago, as the result of the joint efforts of composer Boris Fomin and poet Konstantin Podrevsky.
Over the seven years of collaboration, they created dozens of songs, but the most notable was Dorogoi dlinnoyu, which was very popular in their homeland at that time. However, it didn’t matter, since in June 1929 the romance, like many others, was recognised as counter-revolutionary, bourgeois and decadent. As a result, it was completely banned from public performance and wasn’t allowed to be published in print.
The fate of its creators was unenviable. The poet Podrevsky was late in submitting his income statement. By passing all courts, he was deprived of his property, imposing additional huge fines. The poet became seriously ill and insane because of it. He ended up in the hospital and died six months later.
Composer Fomin spent about a year in the Butyrka prison, after becoming an enemy of the people. The “idealess scoundrel” Fomin became an ideal target. During World War II, he wrote patriotic music for front-line songs, but it didn’t save him. In 1948, the composer died in poverty and deep loneliness. He was only 48 years old.
Further fate of the romance
Still, the song continued to exist outside the USSR. At first, it was popular only in the émigré environment and began to be performed in restaurants of all major European cities, including London and Liverpool. In 1958, Maria Schell performed it for the first time in English in the film The Brothers Karamazov, filmed in the United States.
In the early 1960s, US musician and playwright Eugene Raskin, who played folk music with his wife in a tavern in Manhattan, decided to write his own version of the popular romance. He also registered the copyright for the words and music. In 1962, a new record of The Limeliters folk group included a new version of the song under the name Those Were the Days.
The Beatles didn’t stand aside
One day, Raskin played the romance in one of the most popular clubs in London, which was often visited by Paul McCartney. The musician immediately drew attention to the wonderful melody. Then the legendary Liverpool foursome created the Apple logo and desperately needed drum releases.
McCartney decided to produce Those Were the Days as the first single of 18-year-old singer Mary Hopkin, who was just starting her career. Her vocals made a huge impression on him. Paul produced the single, while multi-instrumentalist Richard Hewson took care of the arrangement.
Of course, the band had to pay Raskin a considerable sum for using his song. But it was worth it because the single turned out to be a real hit! Those Were the Days was released in late August 1968 and topped the English charts for over a month, even overtaking The Beatles with their Hey Jude. That single took first and less often second place in the charts of 1968-69 in almost all European countries as well as in South Africa, Australia and Japan. McCartney also recorded the romance in French, Spanish, German and Italian performed by the young Mary Hopkin. It was a huge success!
How can it be explained? The song Those Were the Days was released in the late 1960s, a period of significant social and cultural changes around the world. This time was marked by the intensification of the civil rights movement, anti-war protests as well as the growth of counterculture and musical experiments.
The song was about nostalgia, that is, memories of better times, which could resonate with an audience that was worried about instability and change. In the conditions of social and political tension, the song offered an emotional retreat to the past and a sense of inner peace. In addition, the musical style of Those Were the Days (folk and pop) corresponded to the trends of the time, as the musicians experimented with mixed genres, striving to create something new and unique. It contributed to the song’s acceptance among different segments of the population and made it a global hit.
Paul McCartney played a key role in the creation and recording of the song for Mary Hopkin. The other members of The Beatles – John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr – didn’t take a direct part in the process. After all, by 1968, The Beatles were actively working on the band’s projects and Paul on his solo career too.
It was the story of the romance that won the hearts of hundreds of thousands of music lovers around the world. The song brought fortune to those who covered and re-sung it. However, oddly enough, it brought only pain and disappointment for its initial creators. Unfortunately, it is a common thing.
