Hupfeld: As Time Goes By (from „Casablanca“) for voice and piano

Original version (with verse and chorus)

Hupfeld’s song is still best known today as the iconic melody from the 1942 Hollywood melodrama „Casablanca“, but Hupfeld had written it much earlier. It was part of a bundle of„reserve songs" that were available for Broadway musicals; it was finally used in the show „Everybody’s Welcome“ in 1931. The producers of „Casablanca“ used the song in the film. However, Max Steiner, the composer of the film music for „Casablanca“, refused to leave it in the film. But the decisive images had already been shot. Because Ingrid Bergman already had other commitments, the scenes containing „As Time Goes By“ could not be reshot. The song remained in the film – and became a worldwide success.