Song 462: This week the playlist recognizes Those Were the Days by Mary Hopkin, written by Boris Fomin and Gene Raskin, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. I graduated HS 50 years ago, in June of 1969, and during the fall of my senior year, this 45 had gotten a lot of spins from the local station. It seemed to fit my final HS year quite well, and it also seems to fit the 50th anniversary. When it came out, Gene Raskin got credit for the composition, and I only recently learned that in the early 1960s he had actually written new English lyrics for a Russian song from decades earlier. During its chart run, I really liked the sound of this record, which Paul McCartney had produced, though I didn't then consider myself much of a folk music fan, so perhaps it's not that surprising that within a couple of years I became much more of a folkie, both as an artist and a listener. While in my friend circle we did not meet in a tavern, we might sometimes raise a glass or two (of soda), and we often laughed away the hours and dreamed of all the great things we would do, certain that 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. Of course, then the years went rushing by us and we lost our starry notions on the way, but I will also admit that in my heart, the dreams are still the same - not all of them, but a few of the major ones.
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