Lyrics
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)