"As Time Goes By" (Binnie Hale, 1932)

This song is so indelibly stamped by Dooley Wilson's fine interpretation in Bogart's "Casablanca" that earlier renditions have been mostly forgotten.

AS TIME GOES BY

You must remember this
A kiss is still a kiss
A sigh is just a sigh
The fundamental things apply as time goes by

And when two lovers woo
They still say "i love you"
On that you can rely
No matter what the future brings, as time goes by

Moonlight and love songs never out of date
Hearts full of passion, jealousy, and hate
Woman needs man, and man must have his mate
That no one can deny

It's still the same old story
A fight for love and glory
A case of do or die
The world will always welcome lovers as time goes by...


Here's a performance by Liverpool music hall star Binnie Hale worth hauling out of the mothballs--she's joined here by the Savoy Orpheans and Carroll Gibbons, piano. More on the tune from Wiki:

"As Time Goes By" is a song written by Herman Hupfeld for the 1931 Broadway musical Everybody's Welcome. Frances Williams sang the song in the original show.

It was recorded by several artists in 1931 including Rudy Vallee. The song was re-introduced in 1942 in the film Casablanca in which it was sung by Dooley Wilson. Wilson never released a single of the song because of a musicians' strike at the time of the film's release. A re-issue of Rudy Vallee's 1931 recording became a major seller in that year.

The lyrics of the verse that contain the title phrase are: You must remember this: A kiss is just a kiss, a sigh is just a sigh. The fundamental things apply As time goes by. And when two lovers woo, they still say "I love you," On that you can rely, no matter what the future brings, As time goes by . . . Moonlight an' love songs never out of date, Hearts full of passion, jealousy an' hate, Woman needs man and man must have his mate, That no one can deny . . . It's still the same old story, a fight for love an' glory, A case of do or die, the world will always welcome lovers, As time goes by . . .

• Category

  Music