Song:Those Were The Days
Album:Those Were The Days
When The Beatles started Apple Records in 1967, they started looking around for talent. Mary Hopkin was born May 3, 1950 in Pontardawe, Wales. She had recorded folk songs on a local label. The famous model Twiggy saw Hopkin on the ITV talent show Opportunity Knocks and recommended her to Paul McCartney. He signed her to Apple and went to work with her in the studio. Those Were The Days was the result and it reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was a huge worldwide hit. Hopkin was basically a folk singer but McCartney added pop touches that were very successful. It was also a song about nostalgia at a time when psychedelia was at its peak. And Hopkin's version was a much bigger hit than the version by veteran pop singer Sandie Shaw. Those Were The Days is based on an old gypsy folk tune. The song was adapted and the lyrics were written by folksinger Gene Raskin. McCartney had seen Raskin perform it in London as part of the duo Gene And Francesca. Hopkin's 1969 debut album Postcard didn't have Those Were The Days on it. Her second single Goodbye reached #13 on the Billboard Hot 100. That was an old Lennon/McCartney song that had been sitting around but had never been recorded. She had a few more hits in England but those were the only ones here. This 1995 EMI comp is the only one that has both Those Were The Days and Goodbye. Mary Hopkin married record producer Tony Visconti in 1971 and more or less quit the music business to raise a family. They divorced in 1981. Mary has recorded occasionally, most recently in 2008 on her own label. Here's Mary Hopkin performing Those Were The Days 1968.
No comments:
Post a Comment