Dorogoi dlinnoju
Dorogoi dlinnoju (also Dorogoy dlinnoyu , Russian Дорогой длинною , German : "the long way along") is a Russian hit from the 1920s, it is based on a Russian folk song. First it was sung by the Russian singer Alexander Wertinski . The song was written by the composer Boris Fomin (1900–1948) and the lyricist Konstantin Podrewski (1889–1930). Due to its close ties with Russian emigration, the piece was never part of the basic repertoire of Soviet Estrada entertainment music. Nevertheless, it achieved a high level of awareness over the decades and is now one of the most popular Russian songs.
As a metaphor for life, the song is about the journey of a troika . In three stanzas and a refrain it is told how the team with three horses and bells runs "the long way".
In the 1950s, the song became world famous through the film adaptation of the novel The Brothers Karamazov . The song was also sung there.
In 1962, Gene Raskin discovered the song and wrote an English text called Those Were the Days . He recorded the song as a folk song with his wife Francesca, which Paul McCartney produced in 1968 with the young singer Mary Hopkin and which became a million seller on the Beatles record label Apple Records .
In the same year and the year after, the song was sung in many languages. Hopkin himself sang it in English, German ( On that day my friend ), French ( Les temps de fleurs ), Spanish ( Qué tiempo tan feliz ) and Italian ( Quelli erano i giorni ). These versions were also sung several times, including by Sandie Shaw and Dalida . Since then the song has been known all over the world.
Ivan Rebroff recorded a Russian version and released it, among other things, in 1969 on his album Russian Party . His version called Такие дни мой друг (Takije dni, moj drug) is a one-to-one translation of the first two stanzas and the chorus of the English version, but without the rhythm and rhyme.
In the 1991 film Urga by Nikita Mikhalkov , the leading actor, a Russian driver named Sergei, tattooed the song on his back. Sitting in the countryside with her shirt turned up, the song is played by a little Mongolian girl on the accordion.
The Leningrad Cowboys released Those Were the days on their album We Cum from Brooklyn in 1992 . In addition, an excerpt from the Edith Piaf classic Padam… padam and the Russian war song from 1905 На сопках Маньчжурии (Na sopkah Manschurii; On the hills of Manchuria) was added to the song .
Helmut Lotti sang the song on his album From Russia with Love with original Russian lyrics.
In 2007 Shaggy sang the song Those Days with Nasha , which was based on the song's chorus.
Web links
- Information about the Song (English)
- A list of covers of the song
- Original version by Aleksandr Vertinsky on Youtube