Those Were The Days

Those Were the Days” is a song credited to Gene Raskin, who put a new English lyric to the Russian romance song “Dorogoi dlinnoyu” [ru] (“Дорогой длинною”, literally “By the long road”), composed by Boris Fomin (1900–1948) with words by the poet Konstantin Podrevsky. It deals with reminiscence upon youth and romantic idealism. It also deals with tavern activities, which include drinking, singing and dancing.

Mary Hopkin’s 1968 debut single of “Those Were the Days”, which was produced by Paul McCartney of the Beatles, became a number one hit on the UK Singles Chart and on the Canadian RPM Magazine charts. The song also reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100, behind “Hey Jude” by the Beatles. It was number one in the first edition of the foreign singles sales chart launched by the Centre d’Information et de Documentation du Disque.[3] The song was featured on her debut album Post Card.