Lyrics: Charles Aznavour
Music: Charles Aznavour
Arranger: Roy Clark
Seems the love I've ever known has always been
The most destructive kind
I guess that's why now
I feel so old before my time
Yesterday, when I was young,
The taste of life was sweet as rain upon my tongue,
I teased at life as if it were a foolish game,
The way the evening breeze may tease a candle flame
The thousand dreams I dreamed,
The splendid things I planned,
I always built, alas,
On weak and shifting sand,
I lived by night and shunned the naked light of day,
And only now I see how the years ran away
Yesterday, when I was young,
So many happy songs were waiting to be sung,
So many wild pleasures lay in store for me,
And so much pain my dazzled eyes refused to see
I ran so fast that time and youth at last ran out,
I never stopped to think what life was all about,
And every conversation I can now recall,
Concerned itself with me, and nothing else at all
Yesterday, the moon was blue,
And every crazy day brought something new to do,
I used my magic age as if it were a wand,
And never saw the waste and emptiness beyond
The game of love I played with arrogance and pride,
And every flame I lit too quickly, quickly died,
The friends I made all seemed somehow to drift away,
And only I am left on stage to end the play
There are so many songs in me that won't be sung,
I feel the bitter taste of tears upon my tongue,
The time has come for me to pay,
For yesterday, when I was young