Those Were the Days. Engelbert Goes to Eurovision.

Engelbert Humperdink has been selected to represent Britain at Eurovision. 

It is hoped that his experience will attract the audiences.

'It has become an annual television ritual: the UK’s humiliation at Eurovision.' writes the Telegraph. 'Boy bands, pop flops, rappers and a former X Factor finalist have all bid for glory, only to end up with egg on their faces and the ignominy of being beaten by an Israeli transsexual or a Finnish heavy metal act. This year, the brains behind the UK entry have taken a radical new direction.'

The UK Eurovision single is not yet released, but it is said to fit with the 75-year-old crooner's style. 


Here is his version of the Russian song Those Were the Days:





The Russian version of Tetradki runs a series of posts with Those Were the Days in different languages and versions, including Bonnie Tyler and Dolly Parton. Click here to see all the posts with Those Were the Days.


Original song was written by Boris Fomin with the words by Konstantin Podrevsky. It became an emigré hit in 1920s. In 1960s American Gene Raskin wrote English lyrics to the Russian music. The song became an international hit in the 1968 version produced by Paul McCartney with the Welsh singer Mary Hopkin at Apple studios. And was newly discovered in Russia. 

Inspiration for McKayla: Those Were the Days.

At the world gymnastics championship in Tokyo American women's team won gold on Tuesday (11 October). The ever-strong Russians were in the second place. But there was a Russian inspiration in the American performance.

Years ago, in the early 90s, a young British journalist came to interview me at Izvestia in Moscow. The interview was the usual political fare of the day (the journalist is now one of the top UK political commentators). What made it different that day was that she was hopping along on crutches. Ever a gentleman I didn't mention the obvious physical condition until the business was over and I was helping her to the lift.
'What's happened to you?' I asked as casually as possible.
'Oh, I just wanted too much to be like Tourischeva', she replied defensively with what sounded a prepared and perhaps rehearsed phrase. When student, at a gymnastics class she developed a chronic sprain, which returned occasionally.

Tourischeva (centre) at the Munchen Olympics, 1972.

The Soviet gymnastics champion Lyudmila Tourischeva was the darling of the world in 1970s, the pretty face looking out from behind the otherwise grim façade of the 'evil empire'. Girls (and boys) all over the world were dreaming of her.

Young gymnasts competing today are daughters, or maybe even granddaughters of Tourischeva's fans. I wonder if they remember the Russian charm of those days fourty years ago?

Here is the winning performance of American McKayla Maroney in Tokyo. She did her somersaults to the tune of Those Were the Days, the Russian song that became so popular in its 1968 English version that now many don't even realise where it's from. Gene Raskin's lyrics are different from Konstantin Podrevsky's, but the melody by Boris Fomin is the same.




And here is Alexander Vertinsky's recording from 1926 when the song first became a hit among Russian emigres:

Vertinsky in 1910s

Photo of Lyudmila Tourischeva by Ulrich Kohls,  from

Deutsches Bundesarchiv (German Federal Archive).
Photo of Vertinsky from here.