Those Were the Days is a song made popular by Mary Hopkin in 1968. It reached No. 1 in the UK Top 100 Singles Chart, and No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.
“Once upon a time there was a tavern
Where we used to raise a glass or two
Remember how we laughed away the hours
And think of all the great things we would do
Those were the days my friend
We thought they’d never end
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.“
Interestingly, the song dates back much further than 1968. Boris Fomin composed the original melody in the 1920s, with words by the poet Konstantin Podrevsky. The title was Dorogoi Dlinnoyu (Дорогой длинною) – which translates as By the Long Road. In 1968, Gene Raskin wrote new lyrics to the traditional melody, adapting the music slightly to match the words. The number one hit song was born!
Those Were the Days is now available for handbell choir. This lively Level 3+ arrangement is guaranteed to have your audiences singing and dancing in the aisles! It’s for 5-7 octaves of handbells, with optional mandolin, tambourine, flute, wood block and… yes, kazoo. What’s not to love?
Here’s an excerpt from the handbell music, showing evidence of kazoo involvement:
Okay, maybe you’ve never particularly yearned to add kazoo to your handbell pieces. Still, if you’d like to play this arrangement, either with or without the optional instruments, the sheet music is available from Choraegus.
More information about buying Choraegus handbell music
Please note that our music is designed to be downloaded as PDFs. You’ll be responsible for printing your own music, and you won’t receive anything in the mail. As with our other full-choir handbell arrangements, the sheet music is available to purchase as an individual copy or as a full-choir version. Purchasing the full-choir version allows you to print and maintain up to fifteen copies for your handbell group.
If you haven’t purchased music online from Choraegus before, you might like to look at our step-by-step guide. We designed this to help you navigate the purchase and download process in a (we hope!) stress-free way.
Any questions for us?
If you have any questions about our music, please start by reading our Frequently-Asked Questions. If you don’t find the answers you need, please contact us, and we’ll do what we can to help!
