Am                     D7
Yesterday, when I was young
                      G                    C
The taste of life was sweet as rain upon my tongue
                     Am                   B7
I teased at life as if it were a foolish game
                   Em
The way an evening breeze may tease a candle flame
                       Am                             D
The thousand dreams I dreamed, the splendid things I planned
D7                 G                        C
I always built to last on weak and shifting sand
                      Am                        B7
I lived by night and shunned the naked light of day
                Em
And only now I see how the years have run away

[Verse 2]
Am                     D
Yesterday, when I was young
D7             G                      C
So many happy songs were waiting to be sung
             Am                         B7
So many wild pleasures lay in store for me
               Em
And so much pain my dazzled eyes refused to see
                    Am                        D
I ran so fast that time and youth at last ran out
D7                  G                    Ebmaj7
I never stopped to think what life was all about
             Am                    B7
Every conversation that I can now recall
                      Em
Concerned itself with me, and nothing else at all

[Instrumental]
Am D D7 G C Emaj7 B7 E

[Verse 3]
Am                      D
Yesterday, the moon was blue
D7              G                             C
And every crazy day brought something new to do
                 Am                  B7
I used my magic age as if it were a wand
                   Em
And never saw the waste and emptiness beyond
                    Am                      D
The game of love I played with arrogance and pride
D7                         G                 C
And every flame I lit too quickly, quickly died
                        Am                       B7
The friends I made all seemed, somehow, to drift away
               Em
And only I am left on stage to end the play
                  Am                        D
There are so many songs in me that won't be sung
D7                 G                     C
I feel the bitter taste of tears upon my tongue
                       Am              B7
The time has come for me to pay for yesterday
              Em
When I was young