As Time Goes ByWords & Music by Herman Hupfield, 1931
Recorded by Dooley Wilson (as Sam) in "Casablanca," 1942
Dm7 G7 Edim Fdim You must remember this, a kiss is still a kiss. C Dm7 Cdim Calt A sigh is just a sigh; D Am7 Cdim G7 The fundamental things ap - ply, Dm7 G7 C Edim Dm7 G7 As time goes by. Dm7 G7 Edim Fdim And when two lovers woo, they still say I love you, C Dm7 Cdim Calt On that you can rely; D Am7 Cdim G7 No matter what the fu - ture brings Dm7 G7 C Fdim C C7 As time goes by F A7 Bb7 A7 Moonlight and love songs never out of date, Dm Dm+7 Dm7 Cdim Hearts full of passion jealousy and hate, Am Am+7 Am7 Cdim D Woman needs man, and man must have his mate, Dm7 Edim G7 That no one can deny. Dm7 G7 Edim Fdim It's still the same old story, a fight for love and glory, C CM7 CM7/6 CM7 Dm7 Cdim Calt A case of do or die, D Am7 G Cdim G7 Cdim The world will always wel - come lovers Dm7 G7 C Fdim C As time goes by. Last Time G Cdim Dm7 G7 Fdim C Fdim C G CM7/6 As time goes by.
Lyric pal Ron Hontz recently sent me this information:
Upon its initial release in 1931, “As Time Goes By” was a flop but it caught the ear of playwright-to-be Murray Burnett while he was a sophomore at Cornell. In 1940, he and Joan Allison collaborated on a play titled “Everybody Comes To Rick’s” and they chose to use it as the song that Rick and Ilsa had listened to in Paris. Warner Brothers later turned the play into a film that bore the play’s name as its working title. They planned to use the song since they owned the publishing rights to it. Composer Max Steiner, hired to write the film’s score, didn’t like it and wanted to toss it out. He convinced producer Hal Wallis to let him write a replacement but the decision came too late. Director Michael Curtis had finished filming and star Ingrid Bergman had already had her hair cut for her upcoming role in “For Whom the Bell Tolls.” Wallis decided that the costs of a wig and re-shooting the piano scene weren’t worth it and the song stayed in.
Incidentally, Dooley Wilson could neither sing nor play the piano. The playing was dubbed and they let him sing it anyway in his scratchy tenor. The piano scene became one of the most memorable scenes in the all-time classic, “Casablanca.”
[Taken mostly from “America’s Songs: The Stories Behind the Songs Of Broadway, Hollywood, and Tin Pan Alley” by Philip Furia and Michael Lasser.}