As Time Goes By is a song written by Herman Hupfeld for the show Everybody’s welcome played in 1931 on Broadway. Frances Williams performed the song but it was repeated the same year, among others by Rudy Vallee .

The film Casablanca put back the song in 1942 : The song is used as the theme of the film. It was then Dooley Wilson who sang it but it never came out single because of a strike of the musicians at the time of the exit of the film. This is a reissue of Rudy Vallee in 1931 that sold instead.

The song remained famous until today thanks to the success of the film, recognized as the third largest American film by the American Film Institute in its Top 100 published in 2007 . At the funeral of Ingrid Bergman , the film’s star actress, a violin played the melody.

The chorus of the song:

You must remember this
A kiss is just a kiss, a sigh is just a sigh.
The fundamental things apply
As time goes by.

Reversals

  • The 1972 film What’s Up, Doc? took over some of the song
  • The eponymous British television series has adopted the song as a theme
  • Woody Allen in his film Fall Girls and Be Quiet inspired by Casablanca reuses this song in different interpretations.
  • Many artists have taken up the song:
    • Harry Nilson in 1941
    • Louis Armstrong
    • Chet Baker
    • Jane Birkin
    • Carl Craig was inspired by his album More Songs About Food And Revolutionary Art in 1997.
    • Arielle Dombasle sang it in her album Amor, Amor
    • Ibrahim Ferrer and Omara Portuondo have made a Latin version that can be found on the album Rhythms del Mundo .
    • Bryan Ferry took it back on his album of the same name, in 1999.
    • Henry Mancini .
    • Kenny Rogers included it in his Love Songs album in 1997 .
    • Frank Sinatra in 1961 .
    • ZZ Top on the album Mescalero , which is a hidden piece of Liquor .