A sound reaction

MARY Hopkin has revisited the song that catapulted her to fame in 1968.

Those Were The Days was first released by the singer on Apple Records on August 30, 1968, and reached number 1 in the UK and several other countries around the globe.

Now the singer has made a new recording of Those Were The Days to commemorate her 50-year association with the song.

In May 1968 Hopkin was signed to The Beatles’ Apple Records. Spotted on Opportunity Knocks by the model Twiggy, and recommended to Paul McCartney, Mary moved to London from South Wales and recorded her first song with the label.

Those Were The Days was a tune by Russian composer Boris Fomin, with new lyrics by Gene Raskin. Paul heard Gene and his wife, Francesca, singing the song in a folk club, and knew it would be right for Mary.

Mary remembers her first recording with Paul McCartney: “The recording was quite a momentous occasion for me. It was in Abbey Road Studios. There was a full orchestra there, which was quite intimidating. The song was fresh and new to me, even though I’d learnt it, so when we started recording I was very timid about it. Paul would come in and say, ‘Think about the lyrics and who this person is.’

“I wasn’t happy with what I’d done, so he said, ‘Go home and think about it and we’ll try again on Monday.’ Which I did. And in the meantime John Lennon rang me at home in Wales and said, ‘To err is human, to forgive divine. Just try again. You know you’ll do it.’

That was so sweet because Paul must have told him that I was nervous and didn’t quite get the take. That was such a lovely thing to do.

“I went in on Monday and nailed it, they said… But I was more comfortable with it. Generally the song was about a much older person than I was. I was a little schoolgirl basically. Maybe that’s what worked with the song, the fact that I was almost a child, singing an older woman’s song. That’s what people liked about it. But I felt privileged to have been given that song by Paul.”

After three years of intense activity, touring the world and recording two albums, in 1972 Mary withdrew from the limelight to raise her family.

Morgan Visconti, her son, and Jessica Lee Morgan, her daughter, have since grown up to have musical careers of their own, and collaborate with Mary. They both worked on the new version of Those Were The Days. Jessica played guitar and piano and Morgan played bass and mixed the song.

“I wanted to perform it in a quieter, more reflective way. I’ve really enjoyed singing it again,” said Mary.

In 2005 Jessica founded Mary Hopkin Music in order to release post-Apple recordings, starting with Live at the Royal Festival Hall 1972 and most recently Painting By Numbers in 2014. The 2018 recording is included on a limited edition CD from Mary Hopkin Music, and also through all major digital distribution channels.

The CD and digital downloads are available from www.spacerecords.greedbag.com

For more visit: www.maryhopkin.com