As Time Goes By
Words & Music by Herman Hupfield, 1931
Recorded by Dooley Wilson (as Sam) in "Casablanca," 1942



     Dm7            G7   Gm6             G7
You must remember this,a kiss is still a kiss.

C                 Dm7    Cdim  Em 
A sigh is just a sigh; 

      D7               G7
The fundamental things apply,

   Dm7   G7   C      Edim   Dm7   G7
As time goes by.


	Dm7            G7   	  Gm6            G7
And when two lovers woo, they still say I love you,

   C              Dm7   Cdim   Em                     
On that you can rely; 

     D7                  G7
No matter what the future brings

   Dm7  G7    C     Fdim  C   C7
As time goes by


Bridge:

      F                  A7
Moonlight and love songs never out of date,

Dm                      Cdim
Hearts full of passion jealousy and hate,

Am          Am+7     Am7                D7
Woman needs man, and man must have his mate,

    G7     Gdim  G7
That no one can deny.

 
     Dm7                G7       Gm6                G7
It's still the same old story, a fight for love and glory,

C               Dm7    Cdim   Em 
A case of do or die, 

     D7                       G7
The world will always welcome lovers

   Dm7   G7  C      Fdim    C
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.}