Those Were The Days My Friend - Mary Hopkin -

Words © Copyright 1984, 2015 Peter Lloyd
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote the melody to this number, Divertimento in D KV 334

Bringing my son, David, home from the hospital a day or two after he was born, we heard Mozart's Divertimento in D on the radio—the first music David ever heard. I wrote this bit of advice to him soon after.

You were born with one, essential, fundamental thing that no one ever will explain
And if you use it with a bit of common sense, you will avoid unnecessary pain
It really pays to use
Yes, you were made to use
Don’t be afraid to use your brain

You can have the world and all its wonder as your plunder, but before you make your bed
Be sure to broaden your horizons just in case you want to take the universe instead
Don’t ever choose without
Never refuse without
You’re sure to lose without your head

Now it may seem kind of contradictory to you
From time to time when you are forced to listen to
Some old pedantic fool with nothing else to do
But prattle on and on and on
Then your challenge is to keep your balance
While you find the needle somewhere in the hay

Even though you lead and others follow, you will often feel alone because you’ll find
The very fact that you can keep your head in tact, means others are, in fact, the other kind
Don’t disapprove without
Never behoove without
Don’t make a move without your mind

Every now and then you’re bound to run into a few
Fanatics who will try to razzle-dazzle you
With happy hocus pocus hype and very
Unsophisticated points of view
You know better than to let them fetter
You with any rules that tell you not to use

The most precious and essential, fundamental thing that no one ever will explain
Be sure to use it with a bit of common sense. You will avoid unnecessary pain
It really pays to use
Yes, you were made to use
Don’t be afraid to use your brain

Your Brain

Frank Sinatra - Sway

Keren Ann ~ Jardin d'hiver

Miracles

Look at Me

What To Do On Earth
(c) J. Murdock McInnes Vasey

[instrumental]

What things to do on Earth 
when you are dead?
What thoughts are now crossing
through your head?

Are you beginning to wonder?
Are you starting to doubt?
Are you about to start talking?
Pretty soon you will shout

Are there things that I missed?
Who should I have kissed?
Does it matter this late?
and why did I wait?

Should I call her right now?
Would she care anyhow?

aaah aaaah aaah
aaah aaaah aaah
aaah aaaah aaah

Would she care anyhow?

[instrumental]

What things to do on Earth 
when you are dead?

When you know that it's over
When you have nothing to lose
What would you do?
How would you chose?

What things to do on Earth 
when you are dead?

When you know that it's over
When you have nothing to lose
What would you do?
How would you chose?

[instrumental]

Are there things that I missed?
Who should I have kissed?
Does it matter this late?
and why did I wait?

Should I call her right now?
Would she care anyhow?
Would she care anyhow?

aaah aaaah aaah
aaah aaaah aaah
aaah aaaah aaah

Would you try to save something
Would you say "what the hell"
Would hope for some magic
Would you try cast a spell

Would you ask for forgiveness
be let out of this mess
Would you look in her eyes
Would you crave her 
crave her caress

aaah aaaah aaah
aaah aaaah aaah
aaah aaaah aaah

Would you try to save something
Would you say "what the hell"
Would hope for some magic
Would you try cast a spell

Would you ask for forgiveness
be let out of this mess
Would you look in her eyes
Would you crave her caress

[bridge]

There is no way to know
You can't say in advance
We will all have to stay
And finish the dance

There is no way to know
You can't say in advance
At the end of the show
We will all have to go

At the end of the show
We will all have to go

[instrumental]



What To Do On Earth (2)

You didn’t say goodbye, just slipped away,
Like perfume at the break of day.
No tear, no sound, no last caress—
Just silence dressed in your finesse.
You left no shoes beside the door,
But I still feel you in the floor.
The way you danced, the way you sighed—
Still lingers like a tide inside.

Was it love… or just the thrill?
The way you moved, the way you killed
My calm, my breath, my steady ground—
You turned it all around.

Still under my skin, like a whisper in wine,
You play in my rhythm, just out of time.
Still in my veins, like a moonlight spin,
I feel you dance beneath my skin.
Was it love… or just a sweet charade?
A kiss I sip but never fade.
One more night, one last refrain—
Spin me back to you again. 🎵

You smiled like jazz at 2 a.m.,
Too smooth to know where truth begins.
You dressed your words in honey tones,
I swallowed them like saxophone.
You didn’t stay, but you remain—
A note I hum through joy and pain.
It’s not your arms I miss the most—
It’s who I was inside your ghost.

Was it you… or just the dream?
A solo line in my routine.
You never stayed, but played so well—
I bought the magic that you sell.

Still under my skin, like a spice in the air,
You haunt the room, though you’re not there.
Still on my lips, like a song I knew,
One soft refrain that feels like you.
Was it love… or just a melody
That hit too sweet, then danced from me?
If that was love, I’d play it blind—
Loop the night and press rewind. 🎵

Some love is sugar… some is smoke.
Yours was rhythm, yours was joke.
A beat I chased through every bar,
A kiss that played me like guitar.

Still under my skin, like a pulse in the rain,
Still moving slow through joy and pain.
Still in my steps, still in my sway,
You dance with me when jazz starts to play.
If that was love… don’t let it end—
Just one more round, then we pretend…
You never left…
You never left… 🎵

Bajo Mi Piel (Under My Skin – Latin Jazz Version)

Margherita - Riccardo Cocciante Soprano

Les roses de Saadi (Marceline Desbordes-Valmore) - Jef Bourgeau

Mary Hopkin - Those Were The Days - 1968

LOVE / Ahwak mashup by Sway Entertainment

Songwriter since 1966. Can't believe I still have to write protest songs. Prefer writing love songs and songs of praise for stand-up women and men, parodies, lyrical nonsense, blues and adaptations.