Born in Pontarda… Read Full Bio ↴Mary Hopkin (born May 3, 1950) is a British singer.
Born in Pontardawe, Wales, she grew up Welsh-speaking and began her musical career as a folk singer. She was discovered after appearing and winning ''Opportunity Knocks' hosted by the much imitated and more recently chronicled Hughie Green. She was one of the first artists to record on The Beatles' Apple record label.
Her single "Those Were the Days", produced by Paul McCartney, was released in the UK on August 30, 1968 (catalogue number APPLE 2). Despite competition from a well-established star, Sandie Shaw, who released her version of the same song as a single, Hopkin's version became a #1 hit in the UK singles chart, and reached #2 in the US.
On February 21, 1969 her debut album Postcard, also produced by McCartney, was released. It includes covers of three songs from Donovan, who also played on the album, and one song each from George Martin and Harry Nillson.
The next single was "Goodbye", written by Paul McCartney (but credited to Lennon-McCartney), released on March 28, 1969 (APPLE 10); it reached #2 in the UK singles chart. It was kept off the top of the charts by the Beatles' single "Get Back". "Goodbye" has never been officially released by the Beatles, although a demo version can be found on some of the Beatles' bootlegs.
Her song, "Rachel's Song", was featured on the Blade Runner soundtrack by Vangelis.
She represented the UK in the 1970 Eurovision Song Contest singing "Knock Knock Who's There", which came second in the contest, narrowly beaten by "All Kinds of Everything" performed by Irish singer Dana. "Knock Knock Who's There" was released as a single (APPLE 26) on March 23, 1970, reaching #2 again in the UK singles chart.
After marrying record producer Tony Visconti in 1971, she mainly withdrew from the pop music scene to have a family, although she sang backing vocals for "Sound and Vision" on the 1977 David Bowie album Low as well as appearing on the 1977 Thin Lizzy album Bad Reputation (produced by Visconti). Hopkin and Visconti divorced in 1981.
In 2005, Hopkin appeared on Dolly Parton's [abum artist=Dolly Parton]Those Were the Days album, singing on Parton's remake of the title cut. Also in 2005 the first CD on Mary Hopkin Music Live at the Royal Festival Hall was released. In 2007 Valentine was released.
The Early Recordings is a compendium of Hopkin's pre-Beatles Welsh-language recordings made on the Welsh Cambrian label which were re-released on the Decca in the late 1970s as The Welsh World Of Mary Hopkin and re-released in the late 1990s as The Early Recordings.
Mary is now making her back catalogue of music available visit Mary Hopkin Music at www.maryhopkin.com
The Game
Mary Hopkin Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
All the good things happen to pass me by.
Life was the game we played.
You came along
And you touched my heart with your lonely song.
This was the game we played.
Frightened that one day your love would slip away from me.
But then you′d gone
And the good things happened to turn out wrong.
Life was the game you played your way.
Losing my heart,
I know I let you go.
The lyrics to Mary Hopkin's song The Game are a musing on the ups and downs of love and life. The persona of the song reflects on how all the good things in life seem to pass them by until they meet someone who touches their heart with their "lonely song". The game that the persona is referring to seems to be the game of love, where the game board is life itself. The persona is restrained by their fear that their newfound love will leave them, but they let down their guard and the love slips away, turning the good things to bad.
The lyrics reflect the complexity of love: its beautiful highs and its heartbreaking lows. The persona is afraid to love because they do not want to be hurt, so they cling tightly to their partner. When the partner leaves, the persona realizes that they let their fear destroy the relationship. The lyrics are poetic in their simplicity, reflecting the singer's ability to craft a message with a few, well-chosen words.
Line by Line Meaning
I wondered why
I often questioned why good things never seem to happen to me.
All the good things happen to pass me by.
I feel like I constantly miss out on all the positive experiences in life.
Life was the game we played.
The ups and downs of life can feel like a game that we're all playing.
You came along
Then you appeared in my life.
And you touched my heart with your lonely song.
Your music and your story resonated with me deeply and affected me on an emotional level.
This was the game we played.
Our relationship was also a game of sorts, with its own set of rules and challenges.
So afraid
I was consumed by a sense of fear.
Frightened that one day your love would slip away from me.
I was scared that you would one day leave me and I would lose the love and connection we shared.
But then you′d gone
Unfortunately, that fear did come true and you left me.
And the good things happened to turn out wrong.
All the positivity and happiness from our relationship eventually turned sour and disappointing.
Life was the game you played your way.
You had your own goals and intentions in our relationship and ultimately things didn't work out the way I had hoped.
Losing my heart,
I felt like I had lost a part of myself.
I know I let you go.
I came to accept that our time together had come to an end and that I needed to move on, even though it was difficult.
Writer(s): George Marin
Contributed by Lauren F. Suggest a correction in the comments below.