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
                G7M                 C7M
I feel the bitter taste of tears upon my tongue
               Am7          B7
The time has come for me to pay for yesterday 
    Em   Am   Em
When I was young.