Dm              G 
Yesterday when I was young  
                      C                     F 
the taste of life was sweet as rain upon my tongue 
                    Dm                    E 
I teased at life as if it were a foolish game 
    E7             Am 
the way the evening breeze may tease a candle flame  


                      Dm                             G 
The thousand dreams I dreamed, the splendid things I planned  
               C                         F 
I always built alas on weak and shifting sand 
                     Dm                            E                
I lived by night and shunned the naked light of the day  
   E7          Am 
and only now I see how the years ran away  


     Dm              G                  
Yesterday when I was young  
                 C                        F 
so many drinking songs were waiting to be sung,  
                   Dm                      E 
so many wayward pleasures lay in store for me  
   E7               Am 
and so much pain my dazzled eyes refused to see  


                   Dm                         G 
I ran so fast that time and youth at last ran out  
                   C                       F 
I never stopped to think what life was all about  
                Dm               E 
and every conversation I can now recall  
  E7                 Am          
concerned itself with me and nothing else at all  


     Dm                G 
Yesterday the moon was blue  
                C                            F 
and every crazy day brought something new to do  
               Dm                   E 
I used my magic age as if it were a wand  
  E7              Am 
and never saw the waste and emptiness beyond  


                   Dm                        G 
The game of love I played with arrogance and pride  
                  C                       F 
and every flame I lit too quickly quickly died 
                       Dm                      E 
The friends I made all seemed somehow to drift away  
  E7              Am 
and only I am left on stage to end the play 


                 Dm                         G 
There are so many songs in me that won't be sung  
                  C                      F 
I feel the bitter taste of tears upon my tongue  
                     Dm                 E     E7         Am               
The time has come for me to pay for yesterday when I was young