The Russian composer Boris Fomin composed the song known in English as “Those Were the Days” in 1924. In Russian, the song is named “By the Long Road.” In 1968, the song, as sung by the British singer Mary Hopkin, became a big hit in the United States and Great Britain. It was produced by Paul McCartney of the Beatles. Fomin was born in 1900 in St. Petersburg and could play the accordion at age 4 even though he had difficulty holding it. He studied piano at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. He joined the Communist Party after the 1917 revolution and became very active in the party before eventually becoming a professional musician. Fomin wrote more than 400 songs, three ballets, and three operettas. He was considered the master of Russian popular music about romance—although he music was called counter-revolutionary at one point. But in the post-Stalinist Soviet Union, he once again became popular. He died of tuberculosis at age 48.
- Those Were the Days
Composer: Boris Fomin (1900-1948), arranged Roland Smeets
Performer: Royal Belgian Navy Band
Album: Spanish Trilogy
- Slowenische Grusse (Slovenian Greetings)
Composer: Slavko Avsenik (1929-2015) & Vilko Avsenick
Performer: Woodstock Oberkrainer Mob
Album: Best of Woodstock der Blasmusik, Vol. 11
- Fureinander da (To be there for each other)
Composer: Martin Hutter & Stephan Hutter
Performer: Die Kleine Egerlander Besetzung
Album: Best of Woodstock der Blasmusik, Vol. 11
- All of Me
Composer: Gerald Marks (1900-1997) & Seymour Simons (1896-1949)
Performer: Coleman Hawkins & Red Allen
Album: Standards and Warhorses
- Overture to "Candide"
Composer: Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990)
Performer: Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra
Album: Wind Master Overtures, Vol. 1
- Nautical Variations
Composer: Jeffrey Taylor (musician in the U.S. Navy Band, 1945- )
Performer: U.S. Navy Band
Album: Anchors Aweigh: Best of the U.S. Navy Band
- Concertino for Piccolo and Symphonic Band
Composer: Samuel Pascoal
Performer: Portuguese Symphonic Band
Album: Hamlet
- Day In, Day Out (1939 song, 1961 recording)
Composer: Rube Bloom (music, 1902-1976) & Johnny Mercer (lyrics, 1909-1976)
Performer: Terry Gibbs Big Band
Album: Too Marvelous for Words
- Men of the Navy
Composer: George F. Briegel (1890-1968)
Performer: U.S. Navy Band
Album: Anchors Aweigh: Best of the U.S. Navy Band
- Hands Across the Sea
Composer: John Philip Sousa (1854-1932)
Performer: U.S. Navy Band
Album: Anchors Aweigh: Best of the U.S. Navy Band
- We Are the Navy
Composer: Joseph Olivadoti (1893-1977)
Performer: U.S. Navy Band
Album: Anchors Aweigh: Best of the U.S. Navy Band
- Before the Mast
Composer: Louis-Philippe Laurendeau (1861-1916)
Performer: U.S. Navy Band
Album: Anchors Aweigh: Best of the U.S. Navy Band
Also see.