<Table> <Tr> <Td> "Together" (1968) </Td> <Td> "Those Were the Days" (1968) </Td> <Td> "Monsieur Dupont" (1969) </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> "Together" (1968) </Td> <Td> "Those Were the Days" (1968) </Td> <Td> "Monsieur Dupont" (1969) </Td> </Tr> <P> "Those Were the Days" is a song credited to Gene Raskin, who put a new English lyric to the Russian romance song "Dorogoi dlinnoyu" ("Дорогой длинною", literally "By the long road"), composed by Boris Fomin (1900--1948) with words by the poet Konstantin Podrevsky . It deals with reminiscence upon youth and romantic idealism . </P> <P> Mary Hopkin's 1968 version of the song, produced by Paul McCartney, became a number one hit on the UK Singles Chart . The song also reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100, behind McCartney's own band The Beatles' hit "Hey Jude". In France the song was at no . 1 in the very first edition of the singles sales chart launched by the Centre d'Information et de Documentation du Disque in October 1968 . </P>

Who wrote the song those were the days