Yesterday When I Was Young Lyrics & Chords By Lena Horne

Yesterday, when I was young,
The taste of life was sweet, as rain upon my tongue,
I teased with life, as if it were a silly game,
The way the evening breeze can 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 I shunned the naked light of day,
And only now, I see, how the years have 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, 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

Instrumental

Yesterday, the moon was blue,
And every crazy day, brought something new to do,
I used my magic youth, as if it were a wand,
And never saw the worst, and the 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

( Roy Clark sang this song at Mickey Mantle's funeral in 1995. Mickey had heard Roy sing it before and thought it depicted his life so well that he specifically asked Roy to someday sing it at his funeral )