Best Songs Ever

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“Those Were the Days” is a song credited to Gene Raskin, who put English lyrics to the Russian song “Dorogoi dlinnoyu” (“Дорогой длинною“, lit. “By the long road”), written by Boris Fomin (1900–1948) with words by the poet Konstantin Podrevskii. It deals with reminiscence upon youth and romantic idealism. The Georgian Tamara Tsereteli (1900–1968) in 1925 and Alexander Vertinsky in 1926 made what were probably the earliest recordings of the song. However, it is best remembered for Mary Hopkin’s 1968 recording, which was a top-ten hit in both the U.S. and the U.K. On most records of the song, Gene Raskin is credited as the writer of the song, even though he just wrote the English lyrics and not the melody. Read on...