SIR - In the absence of the late Wild Willi Beckett, may I correct Kevin Howley's silly claims about Mary Hopkin's Those Were The Days (T&A letters, December 7) which would have Willi spinning in his grave had he not chosen pragmatically to have his ashes pressed into vinyl records.
Paul McCartney never wrote it. It was Boris Forman and Konstantin Podrevsky's By The Long Road with new English lyrics by Eugene Raskin. The Wedding Present released a recording of the original song under the title Davni Chasy (Ukrainian for Those Were The Days) in 1989.
Contrary to it being Hopkin's only hit, the follow up Goodbye reached No 2, the next single Temma Harbour No 6, the next Knock Knock Who's There? No 2 again (after finishing runner up in 1970's Eurovision song contest).
Marriage to Tony Visconti and disillusionment with the mainstream music business meant by 1971 she'd effectively returned to the folk circuit she'd always felt more comfortable in; as was to happen in turn to Lindisfarne and the umpteen spawn of Fairport Convention (Albion Band, Steeleye Span, etc).
Mark Boyle, Linn Park Gardens, Johnstone, Renfrewshire
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