Those were the days…

By Klaus Döring

During my time as a radio host at different radio stations in the Philippines, this song was requested innumerable times. “Those Were the Days” is a song credited to Gene Raskin, who put new English lyrics to the Russian romance song “Дорогой длинною” — literally, “By the Long Road” — composed by Boris Fomin (1900–1948), with words by the poet Konstantin Podrevsky. It deals with reminiscence about youth and romantic idealism. It also deals with tavern activities, which include drinking, singing, and dancing.

Mary Hopkin’s 1968 debut single, “Those Were the Days,” which was produced by Paul McCartney of the Beatles and arranged by Richard Hewson, became a No. 1 hit on the UK Singles Chart and the Canadian RPM Magazine charts. The song also reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, behind “Hey Jude” by the Beatles.

McCartney also recorded Hopkin singing “Those Were the Days” in other languages for release in their respective countries: In Spain, “Qué tiempo tan feliz”; in West Germany, “An jenem Tag”; in Italy, “Quelli erano giorni”; and in France, “Le temps des fleurs.”

Yes, time flies by. I think about sitting in a jet plane. Almost November 2024 again. Wow!

Do you always count the days until the next legal holiday when you are not on duty? Or do you start longing for Christmas as early as September? And do you hope the weeks or months pass quickly until the next possible salary increase?

Many times, we are really in too much of a hurry and feel uncomfortable when we notice how time flies. We have no time for someone or something, or even for ourselves.

When I was still a teenager, I longed to be an adult already. Later, I enjoyed listening to my grandmother’s stories, such as “Once upon a time” or “When I was young,” from her “yesterday’s life.”

After a couple of years, especially while observing that time really flies like a rocket to the moon, I also have the same question in mind: Are the present hours and days less valuable?

Of course, each day has its own set of happiness and trials. But it also holds great possibilities for us to take the initiative to do or to move something, if … !

Many of us retreat into the past and forget their present existence. A possible topsy-turvy world of golden youth makes us forget that the past also had its share of disappointments, pains, tears, darkness, tricky and desperate days — yes, lost days and irretrievable time.

Without having achieved anything, we dream our impossible dreams from past to future and vice versa. We forget that between yesterday and tomorrow is our valuable present. Well, now, well then — if we know just how to fulfill this period.

“Once upon a time there was a tavern
Where we used to raise a glass or two
Remember how we laughed away the hours
Think of all the great things we would do?
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
For we were young and sure to have our way…”

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Email: doringklaus@gmail.com or follow me on Facebook, LinkedIn or X – Twitter or visit my www.germanexpatinthephilippines.blogspot.com or www.klausdoringsclassicalmusic.blogspot.com .