Am7            D7 
Yesterday when I was young 
                      G7M                C7M 
The taste of love was sweet as rain upon my tongue; 
                   F#m7                  B7 
I teased at life as if it were a foolish game 
                      Em         B+             E7 
The way the evening breeze may tease a candle flame. 
 
 
                       Am7                             D7 
The thousand dreams I dreamed, the splendid things I planned-- 
                  G7M                      C7M 
I always built to last on weak and shifting sand; 
                     F#m7                      B7 
I lived by night and shunned the naked light of day, 
               Em           B+        E7 
And only now I see how the years ran away. 
 
 
       Am7            D7 
Yesterday when I was young, 
               G7M                   C7M 
So many happy songs were waiting to be sung, 
                Am7                        B7 
So many wayward pleasures lay in store for me, 
                    Em             B+        E7 
And so much pain my dazzled eyes refused to see. 
 
 
                   Am7                           D7 
I ran so fast that time and youth, at last, ran out, 
                    G7M                   C7M 
I never stopped to think what life was all about; 
                Am7                 B7 
And ev'ry conversation I can now recall 
                      Em      B+               E7 
Concerned itself with me, and nothing else at all. 
 
 
      Am7               D7 
Yesterday the moon was blue, 
                G7M                       C7M 
And ev'ry crazy day brought something new to do, 
                F#m7                 B7 
I used my magic age as if it were a wand, 
                  Em         B+          E7 
And never saw the waste and emptiness beyond. 
 
 
                    Am7                       D7 
The game of love I played with arrogance and pride, 
         G7M   C7M 
And ev'ry flame I lit too quickly, quickly died; 
                        F#m7                    B7 
The friends I made all seemed somehow to drift away 
               Em       B+               E7 
And only I am left on stage to end the play. 
 
 
                    Am7                      D7 
There are so many songs in me that won't be sung, 
                   G                      C7M 
I feel the bitter taste of tears upon my tongue; 
                          Am7              B7 
The time has come for me to pay for yesterday  
(N/C/)       Em   Am   Em 
When I was young.