Those Were the Days is the theme song from All in the Family and Archie Bunker's Place. It was composed by Charles Strouse with lyrics by Lee Adams and played at the beginning of every episode beginning with the first in 1971.
Lyrics[]
Boy, the way Glenn Miller played
Songs that made the Hit Parade
Guys like us, we had it made
Those were the days
And you knew what you were then
Girls were girls and men were men
Mister, we could use a man like Herbert Hoover again
Didn't need no welfare state
Everybody pulled his weight
Gee, our old LaSalle ran great
Those were the days
Single Version[]
In 1972, a longer single version was released that reached Number 30 on the Adult Contemporary chart.
Boy, the way Glen Miller played
Songs that made the Hit Parade
Guys like us, we had it made
Those were the days
Didn't need no welfare state
Everybody pulled his weight
Gee, our old LaSalle ran great
Those were the days
And you knew what you were then
Girls were girls and men were men
Mister, we could use a man
Like Herbert Hoover again
People seemed to be content
Fifty dollars paid the rent
Freaks were in a circus tent
Those were the days
Take a little Sunday spin
Go to watch the Dodgers win
Have yourself a dandy day
That cost you under a fin
Hair was short and skirts were long
Kate Smith really sold a song
I don't know just what went wrong
Those were the days