DOROGOI DLINNOYU
Created on 03/11/2005Latest update on 29/11/2023
Artist: Tamara Tsereteli
Author: Boris Fomin/Konstantin Podrevsky
Label: MK
Year: 1925
Russian for The Long Way. Georgian diva with blue blood. In 1929 Stalin banned sentimental ballads for being anti-revolutionary and decadent. MK stands for Mezhdunarodnaya Kniga, the official Russian state music publishing company, which became Melodiya in 1965.
Covers:
- 1926:
Alexander Vertinsky [Russian (red) star]
- 1927:
Martti Caram [Finnish version]
- 1950s:
Annikki Tähti [idem]
- 1953:
Ludmila Lopato [gypsy singer in film Innocents In Paris]
- 1958:
Maria Schell [in film The Brothers Karamazov]
- 1959:
Theodore Bikel [in Russian]
- 1962:
Limeliters [first translated version as Those Were The Days]
- 1963:
Gene Raskin [idem; his own words]
- 1967:
Engelbert Humperdinck [idem]
- 1968:
Mary Hopkin [idem; n°1 UK & B]
- 1968:
Sandie Shaw [idem]
- 1968:
Dalida [as Le Temps des fleurs and as Quelli Erano Giorni]
- 1968:
Vicky Leandros [as Le Temps des fleurs]
- 1968:
Gigliola Cinquetti [as Quelli Eran Giorni]
- 1969:
- 1969:
- 1993:
- 1995:
Cynthia Lennon [as Those Were The Days]
- 1995:
Sjonnies [as Afscheid]
- 2000:
Brings [melody in Superjeilezick]
- 2002:
Jo Vally [as Waar Is De Tijd M'n Vriend]
- 2004:
- 2004:
Dayna Kurtz [as Those Were The Days]
- 2005:
Dolly Parton [idem; opening track album Those Were The Days]
- 2007:
René Karst [as Supergave Tijd]
- 2007:
- 2012:
Lena Valaitis [as Ein schöner Frühlingstag]
- 2019:
Willy Sommers [as Oh Wat Een Mooie Tijd]
Mary Hopkin was discovered by Twiggy, who tipped Paul McCartney, searching for talent for the new formed Apple label. It was his idea to let Mary sing Those Were The Days. Gene Raskin's was the only version Paul knew. He saw Gene perform in the Blue Lamp club in London and this song intrigued him. Also, the refrain slightly echoes in Edith Piaf's Milord ('59).
