Gm              C
Yesterday, when I was young
                      F
The taste of life was sweet
                  Bb
Like rain upon my tongue
                 Gm    
I teased at life as if
                  A
It were a foolish game
                   Dm
The way an evening breeze

would tease a candle flame
                       Gm                    
The thousand dreams I dreamed
                      C
The splendid things I planned
                   F
I always built to last
                     Bb
On weak and shifting sand
                    Gm
I lived by night and shunned
                   A
The naked light of day
               Dm
And only now I see

How the years have run away

Chorus 1

       Bb              C
Yesterday, when I was young
                   F
There were so many songs
                  Bb
That waited to be sung
             Gm
so many wild pleasures
                      A
that Lay in store for me

And so much pain
   Dm
My dazzled eyes refused to see
                   Bb
I ran so fast that time
                      C
And youth at last ran out
                       F
And I never stopped to think
                   Bb
What life was all about
              Gm
And every conversation
           A
That I can recall
                      Dm
Concerned itself with me

And nothing else at all

Riff Gm C  F  Bb Gm  A  Dm


Verse 2

      Gm                C
Yesterday, the moon was blue
                 F
And every crazy day
                         Bb
Brought something new to do
                    Gm
And I used my magic age
                A
As if it were a wand
                   Dm
And never saw the waste
     Dm
And emptiness beyond
    Dm              Gm
The game of love I played
                   C
With arrogance and pride
                   F
And every flame I lit
                    Bb
so quickly, quickly died
                       Gm
The friends I made all seemed
                  A
Somehow to drift away
               Dm
And only I am left

On stage to end the play

Chorus 2

      Bb              C
Yesterday when I was young
                   F
There were so many songs
                  Bb
That waited to be sung
             Gm
so many wild pleasures
                 A
Lay in store for me

And so much pain
   Dm
My dazzled eyes refused to see
                  Bb
There are so many songs in me
              C
That won't be sung
                        F
cause I feel the bitter taste
                 Bb
Of tears upon my tongue
                          Gm
and The time has come for me
                 A
To pay for yesterday
            Dm
When I was young