"As Time Goes By" is a song written by Herman Hupfeld in 1931. It became most famous in 1942 when it was sung by Sam (Dooley Wilson) in the movie Casablanca. The song was voted #2 on the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Songs special, commemorating the best songs in film.
It has been covered numerous times.
History
Herman Hupfeld wrote "As Time Goes By" for the 1931 Broadway musical Everybody's Welcome. In the original show, it was sung by Frances Williams. It was recorded that year by several artists, including Rudy Vallee.
The song was re-introduced in 1942 in the film Casablanca, 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 — but a re-issue of Rudy Vallee's 1931 recording became a major seller in 1942. The piano playing in the film version was performed by Elliot Carpenter, with Dooley Wilson singing.
The song's famous opening line - "You must remember this..." - is actually the start of the fourth verse as originally written and performed. However, Dooley Wilson did not sing the preceding three in Casablanca. Most subsequent versions have similarly omitted them, leading them to have become virtually unknown to most listeners.
Since 1999, "As Time Goes By" has been used as the opening theme for Warner Bros. films. The first film to adopt this new theme was Lethal Weapon 4. A truncated version of the theme debuted in 2003 as the closing logo for Warner Bros. Television.
Cover versions
The song has been performed by several artists, including Billie Holiday, Perry Como, Frank Sinatra, Harry Nilsson, Barbra Streisand, Carly Simon, Tony Bennett, Jane Monheit, Gal Costa, Bryan Ferry, Sal Viviano, Willie Nelson, Vera Lynn, Johnny Mathis, and more recently, Rod Stewart and Queen Latifah.
- Javier Mora Godinez translated the lyrics into Spanish for this piece.
- Barbra Streisand originally recorded the song for "The Third Album". and performed the song in the 1972 film "What's Up, Doc?". In 2000, Barbra performed the song on her "Timeless Tour" and a live recording was included on the live album "Timeless: Live in Concert", and the accompanying DVD release.
- Jimmy Durante on his 1963 pop standards album September Song. This rendition was later included on the soundtrack of Sleepless in Seattle.
- KISS drummer Peter Criss sang the intro to this track as a hidden bonus track on his 1980 solo album Out of Control.
- One on the Clapometer performed a cover version of this song on their album "Seven Inch LP" released in 1980.
- Jason Donovan released the song as a single in 1992. It reached UK #26.
- Kenny Rogers included it on his multi-million selling Love Songs album in 1997.
- An acoustic guitar version of the song by Steve Goodman can be found on his album "Anthology:No Big Surprise".
- A snippet of the song is currently included in the 1999 opening logo sequence of Warner Bros. films and in the 2003 closing logo for Warner Bros. Television productions.
- This song has also been part of a long-running radio jingle played on most Smooth Jazz stations.
- Kenny G covered the song for his 2006 standards album I'm In The Mood For Love...The Most Romantic Melodies of All Time.
- In 1999, National Public Radio included it in the NPR 100, in which NPR's music editors sought to compile the one hundred most important American musical works of the 20th century.
- In the same year, Bryan Ferry released a version on his album of the same name.
- The song was performed by Lee Hazlewood in 2002 on the album Bootleg Dreams & Counterfeit Demos.
- A version of the song was recorded by Rod Stewart as a duet with Queen Latifah for his 2003 cover album As Time Goes By: the Great American Songbook 2
- American Idol finalist John Stevens performed the song during Movie Soundtracks week (Top 8).
- The song was covered in 2006 by Taiwanese pop star, Leehom Wang, and was used to advertise Sony Ericsson.
- In a 2008 episode of Family Guy, "Play it Again, Brian," it was sung by voice artist/creator/writer/producer Seth MacFarlane in a montage of two of its main characters, Brian and Lois Griffin, on a date.
- In 2008 a LIVE Concert version of the song with full Symphony Orchestra was included on Sal Viviano's album, THE STANDARDS OF LOVE.
- Widespread Panic played a cover of this song to bring in the new year of 2009 at their New Year's Eve Concert in Denver, Colorado.
- In the 1993 film In the Line of Fire, Clint Eastwood's character plays the opening to this song in the piano lounge as Rene Russo's character leaves.
- Elaine Paige covered the song for her 1993 album, Romance & the Stage.
- Mandy Patinkin sings a version of this song on his 1994 album, Experiment.
Television
- The song was featured prominently in a 1975 episode of All in the Family, in which Edith has an argument with Archie and goes to Kelcy's Bar alone. She plays "As Time Goes By" on the piano for the other patrons, as Archie enters, and not realizing it's Edith playing, he begins singing along.
