Try to Remember

"Try to Remember" is a song about nostalgia 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, Roger Williams and The Brothers Four made the Billboard Hot 100 with versions of the song. "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".

Notable appearances in media and culture

• Sandy Duncan, as guest star, performs the song with The Muppets on Episode 114 of The Muppet Show, which aired in October 1976.
• The song is played during a reflective scene of The Man Who Fell to Earth, starring David Bowie, in 1976.
• Jonathon Morris performs the song in the 1995 movie version of The Fantasticks.
• Hope Davis, as Maria Stark, performs part of the song during Tony Stark's hologram presentation in the early scenes of the 2016 movie Captain America: Civil War.
• Adrian Dunbar sings the song at the end of Episode 2-6 of the television drama series Ridley in 2024.