The origins of the melody appear to be strongly claimed by the Russians, and Russian gypsies consider it their song. The name of this song seems to be “Dorogoi Dlinnoyu” and translated means “By a long road (or way)” or “Along a long road (or way)” or “On a long way”. It was written by two Russian composers – B. Fomin (music) and K. Podrevsky (lyrics) at the end of the 19th century or in the beginning of 20th century. As a little boy, Boris Fomin already showed his musical talent. In 1918 his family moved to Moscow where Boris Fomin lived till his early death in 1948.
In 1919 during Russia Civil War Boris Fomin volunteered to the front and besides being a soldier he was also giving concerts on the front lines. When he came back to Moscow, he tried himself in different genres but the genre of romance appealed the most to his talent. He wrote many famous romances and “Dorogoi Dlinnoyu” (“By the Long Road”) is one of them. According to some sources, the first version of the song lyrics was written by Boris Fomin himself for his love and future wife Mania Nebolsina and was very personal. Konstantin Podrevsky modified the lyrics giving the song a wider scale and meaning. The year of 1924 is considered to be the official date when the song was born, but it was released unofficially several years earlier.
The earliest known version was recorded in 1926, in the original Russian lyrics, by Tamara Tsereteli.
The Russian lyrics were completely different than the English lyrics that were written for the melody later.
(We) rode on a three-horses carriage (troika) with sleigh bells,
And in the distance lights flickered.
If only I could follow you now
I would dispel the grief in my soul!
Refrain: By the long road, in the moony night,
And with that song that flies far away, ringing,
And with that ancient, seven-stringed (meaning guitar),
That used to torment me by nights.
But it turned out our song was futile,
In vain we burned night after night.
If we have finished with the old,
Then those nights have also left us!
Out into our native land by new paths,
We have to go now!
…(WE) rode on a troika with sleigh bells,
But long since passed by!
In the early 1960s Gene Raskin, with his wife Francesca, played folk music around Greenwich Village in New York, including the White Horse Tavern. Raskin, who had grown up hearing the song, wrote, with his wife, new English lyrics to the old Russian music in 1962 and then copyrighted both music and lyrics in his own name. The Raskins were international performers and had played London’s Folk music venue Blue Angel every year, always closing their show with the song. The song was eventually recorded in over twenty languages and by many different artists, including Gene and Francesca.
The Limeliters subsequently released a recording of the song on their 1962 LP “Folk Matinee”.
Paul McCartney frequented the Blue Angel club, and being quite taken with the song, he attempted to get several singers or groups (including the early Moody Blues) to record it. Failing at that, after the formation of the Beatles’ own Apple Records label, McCartney immediately recorded Mary Hopkin performing the song.
Hopkin’s recording was produced by Paul McCartney. The Russian origin of the melody was accentuated by an instrumentation that was unusual for a top-ten pop record, including balalaika, clarinet, hammered dulcimer, tenor banjo and children’s chorus, giving a klezmer (a musical tradition of the Ashkenazi Jews of Eastern Europe) feel to the song. Mary Hopkin played acoustic guitar on the recording, and Paul McCartney also played acoustic guitar and possibly percussion. The hammered dulcimer, or cimbalom, was played by Gilbert Webster. It is unknown who played the banjo though McCartney is known to be a banjoist.
In 1968, British model Twiggy telephoned McCartney about a singer who performed on the UK TV program “Opportunity Knocks” (the US had a similar TV show in the ’90s – “Star Search”). Three-time winner Mary Hopkin was a 17-year-old from Wales who had people talking about her performances. McCartney returned to London and auditioned Hopkin. He was impressed by her voice and recommended that she record “an American folk song” that he heard a few years earlier, “Those Were the Days.” Versions of the song were also recorded in Spanish, French, Italian and German by Hopkin and McCartney. John Lennon’s first wife, Cynthia, also recorded a version.
Mary Hopkins recording of “Those Were the Days” was catalogue number APPLE 2. It was the second single to be released on the Apple label, the first — “Hey Jude” by the Beatles — had retained the sequential catalogue numbers used by Parlophone (in the UK) and Capitol (in the US). “Those Were the Days” became a number one hit on the UK Singles Chart. The song also reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100, behind The Beatles’ hit “Hey Jude”. In France the song was at no. 1 in the very first edition of the foreign singles sales chart launched by the Centre d’Information et de Documentation du Disque in October 1968.
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