“As Time Goes By”: The Song That Defines Casablanca’s Timeless Love

Over time, I have learned not to associate music with the people in my life. Unpopular opinion, but music can be cruel. It interweaves itself with your memories, only to become a lifelong trigger, once that special person is gone from your life.

Don’t believe me? Ask Ilsa and Rick, and they’ll tell you how time freezes for them, any time they hear “As time goes by.” Yet, when Ilsa meets Sam, Rick’s old friend and now the pianist at Rick’s cafe, for the first time after a whole year, she requests the very same song. “Play it once, Sam, for old times' sake,” she says, “Play it, Sam. Play as time goes by…”

In this article, we’re analyzing how a simple song unites these two lovers who never got their happy ending.

The Story

Casablanca is a story of love and sacrifice set against the backdrop of the Second Great War. The narrative follows Richard ‘Rick’ Blaine (Humphrey Bogart), who faces the biggest dilemma of his life when his long-lost lover, Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman), and her husband, Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid), seek refuge and help from him to escape the Nazis in French Morocco.

The film pits the heart against the brain in the face of a global crisis, such as the Great War, to explore universal yet complex themes of love, sacrifice, loyalty, and the inescapable influence of the past. A film that was written on the go, Casablanca is one of the finest examples of the art of improvisation.

The Romance Between Ilsa and Rick

Ilsa and Rick met in Paris during the early days of the Nazi occupation. Ilsa was emotionally vulnerable, having lost her husband, Laszlo. Soon, the two fall in love, but it doesn’t last very long. Passionate, intense, yet fragile, their relationship comes to an end when Ilsa learns that her husband is still alive, prompting her to abandon Rick forever.

For Rick, Ilsa’s decision felt like betrayal. Time had passed, but that moment never did. Since Ilsa left, Rick was a changed man—cynical and cold, living a slow life as a cafe owner, seeking purpose in helping refugees to escape to America, as the Germans wreaked havoc in Europe. Little did he know, fate would bring him face-to-face with Ilsa once again, and once again, he would have to let her go.

Only this time, he would be healed, all ready for a fresh start.

To Give You Some Context…

Ilsa is in Casablanca with her husband, lying low from the authorities, while he is trying to find connections who would help them secure the transit visas to escape to America. Rick’s cafe is practically the capital of Casablanca. Naturally, they visits the cafe in an attempt to build some connections that could potentially help him and his wife make the escape. However, the visas are already hard to obtain, and Laszlo, being a Czech resistance leader, only harms their cause. With some of the transit visas burgled and the rumours of Laszlo’s arrival at Casablanca all over town, the German Major, Heinrich Strasser, is especially looking out that he or anybody related to him doesn’t get their hands on the transit visas.

The Scene

Ilsa is sitting in the cafe, next to the pianist Sam, waiting. She discovers that the cafe belongs to her ex-lover—someone she still hasn’t moved on from. While waiting for her husband, her eyes wander around for a glimpse of Rick. To keep herself distracted, she begins casually conversing with Sam.

Moments later, she gathers the courage to directly ask Sam about Rick. He tells her that he has gone home for the day, but Ilsa catches on to the lie and softly confronts him. Sam tells her to stay away from Rick, since she is “ bad luck to him.” Ilsa smiles at the painful remark and then proceeds to make a song request to Sam, “Play it once, Sam, for old times' sake.”

Sam tries to make excuses, saying he hasn’t played the song for a long time, trying to avoid her request, but she insists. “I’ll hum it for you,” she says. Sam gives in and begins to play the notes on his piano. “Sing it, Sam,” she almost commands him.

Hearing the forbidden song almost a year later stings Rick like a wasp. He rushes into the cafe to find Sam singing the song. “Sam, I thought I told you never to play…,” Rick stops mid-sentence; he has noticed Ilsa sitting next to Sam. His eyes are trying their best to hide the shock, the hurt, and the ecstasy of seeing Ilsa after such a long time. Sam literally runs away from the scene to give them some space.

Before they can talk, they are interrupted by Captain Louis Renault (Claude Rains), who has brought Ilsa’s husband, Laszlo, with him to introduce him to Rick.

The four sit down together as Laszlo invites Rick for a drink. Rick and Ilsa talk about their time in Paris, and we realize that they both regret their moment of separation to this day. Heck! Rick still remembers what she wore that last time he saw her!

Soon it's time to leave. Before leaving, Ilsa asks Rick to say goodnight to Sam for her. “ There’s nobody in the world who plays as time goes by like Sam,” she says.

Rick reminds her that Sam hasn’t played the song in a long time. The hurt in Rick’s voice and eyes freezes Ilsa momentarily, but she composes herself. Like the devoted wife, she bids him farewell for the night and leaves with her husband.

The Significance Of The Quote and How The Song Unites The Two Lovers

Ilsa and Rick parted ways without a proper closure. To escape the Nazis, they had no choice but to flee Paris before the city was invaded by them. Rick was especially unsafe, but he refused to leave without Ilsa. So, they decided to meet at a train station in Paris the next day, from where they would leave the city forever.

But Ilsa never came–only sent a note, bidding farewell to Rick. Heartbroken, he left the city with Sam, right before the Nazi invasion. It has been a year since then, and they have not heard from each other. Neither knew whether the other one was dead or alive, in these difficult times.

Here’s what the song means to either:

For Ilsa

Casablanca (1942)Source: Warner Bros., United Artists, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

The song remains as the only connection between her and Rick. A year ago, she abandoned the man she loved to choose the man she pledged her loyalty to. She could have given him the answers he deserved, but instead, she chose to run away, leaving him without any closure. While it seems unfair to Rick, Ilsa cannot be blamed for what she did. Learning that her husband, whom she thought was dead, is alive is in itself life-changing news. Beyond that, now she’s fallen in love and is torn between choosing her heart and doing the right thing. Honestly, who can even think under such circumstances? At least she had the nerve to pen down a note for Rick. I’d just run with my eyes closed, leaving everything behind for good!

The song is both the haunting ghost of her past and the reminder of the most precious moments of her life, when she spent most of her time in the arms of Rick, laughing or crying away her sorrows, as if there is no safer place than that. It takes her back to the time when she was the happiest, but then shuts her down in the cage of her memories, where she is then left to pick up the remaining pieces of Rick that she has kept buried deep within herself.

For Rick

Casablanca (1942)Source: Warner Bros., United Artists, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Rick has a love-hate relationship with “As time goes by.” Every note of the song feels like a stab in the back: a reminder of Ilsa’s betrayal. With Ilsa gone that day, he can no longer stand the song. Thus, he has strictly instructed Sam to never play that song, ever again, after he becomes the pianist at his cafe.

Without Ilsa around, the song was the most hated thing in his life. He never got the chance to confront her, ask her what right she had to abandon him, so he directed all his wrath towards the song, banning it from his life forever.

Until he hears it again, almost a year later, when Sam plays it at the cafe on Ilsa’s request. The melody throws him off, but the sight of Ilsa seemingly calms him down. He was so angry all this time, but when he sees her before him, he is stunned in shock.

The song is Ilsa to him—an intangible, inanimate thing that embodies his one true love. He is mad at it, fond of it, hates hearing it, and misses hearing it—all at the same time. The heart is truly one complicated organ—only if it only pumped blood, we wouldn’t have so many problems, now would we?

It is not every day that a love story like Casablanca is made or even conceived. Trust me when I say, there cannot be a better ending to a love triangle than Casablanca.

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