Only Once in a Lifetime / Только Раз Бывают в Жизни Встречи

“Only Once in a Lifetime“ («Только раз бывают в жизни встречи») is a so-called “Russian urban love-song“. It was composed by Boris Fomin, who was unfortunate enough to be born too late. His creative years fell after the onset of the Russian Revolution, when his music was considered decadent and even counter-revolutionary. As a result, he spent a year in a jail, and died a few years after his release, at the relatively young age of 48. Outside of Russia, Fomin’s name is virtually unknown, but one of his songs is world-famous. Everyone knows «Those Were the Days», which became a huge hit in 1968 in Mary Hopkin’s rendition, though few would suspect that its music came from Boris Fomin’s song «Дорогой Длинною». “Only Once in a Lifetime“ is another one of Fomin’s masterpieces. Here, I play my own piano arrangement of this wonderful song. ~ Alexander Zlatkovski * * * Here is the text of the song’s refrain: (English translatio