Try to Remember

For the Lifetime Network film, see Try to Remember (film).

"Try to Remember"
Single by Ed Ames
from the album Try to Remember
B-side	"Love Is Here To Stay"
Released	1965
Genre	Traditional pop
Length	2:35
Label	RCA Victor
Songwriters	Tom Jones (lyrics), Harvey Schmidt (music)
Ed Ames singles chronology
"Give Me Back My Life" (1964) "Try to Remember" (1965) "Dio Mio" (1965)

"Try to Remember" is a song about nostalgia ^[1] from the musical comedy play The Fantasticks (1960). It is the first song performed in the show, encouraging the audience to imagine what the sparse set suggests. The words were written by the American lyricist Tom Jones while Harvey Schmidt composed the music.

Popular charts and early recordings

"Try to Remember" was sung by Jerry Orbach in the original off-Broadway production of The Fantasticks . In 1965, Ed Ames recorded it as a single, and it became his first solo charting release, reaching No. 73 on the Billboard Hot 100. ^[2] Roger Williams and The Brothers Four made the bottom half of the chart with their versions the same year. "Try to Remember" was the first Australian success for the trio New World. Their version peaked at no. 11 in late 1968.

In 1975, Gladys Knight & the Pips had an international success with their version of "Try to Remember", combining it into a medley with a cover version of Barbra Streisand's "The Way We Were". It reached no. 11 on the US Hot 100 chart and no. 4 in the UK (their biggest success there). For Knight's version, she recited some of the lyrics from "Try To Remember" in spoken-word fashion before beginning to sing "The Way We Were".

References

1. Browne, Ray Broadus; Ambrosetti, Ronald J. (1993). Continuities in Popular Culture: The Present in the Past & the Past in the Present and Future. Popular Press. ISBN   9780879725938.
2. Whitburn, Joel (2002). Joel Whitburn's top pop singles 1955-2002. Menomonee Falls, Wisc.: Record Research. p. 16. ISBN   0898201551.