Yesterday When I Was Young Chords

KeyDm CapoNone TuningStandard Difficulty Plays649

Yesterday When I Was Young by Eddy Arnold is a moderately challenging guitar song played in the key of Dm. It uses the chords Dm, G, C, F, E, E7 and Am. Use the transpose and diagram tools on this page to change the key, see each shape, or simplify the chords.

Transpose
Dm
Text
16
Speed
  			 
    Dm              G 
Yesterday when I was young  
                      C                     F 
the taste of life was sweet as rain upon my tongue 
                    Dm                    E 
I teased at life as if it were a foolish game 
    E7             Am 
the way the evening breeze may tease a candle flame  


                      Dm                             G 
The thousand dreams I dreamed, the splendid things I planned  
               C                         F 
I always built alas on weak and shifting sand 
                     Dm                            E                
I lived by night and shunned the naked light of the day  
   E7          Am 
and only now I see how the years ran away  


     Dm              G                  
Yesterday when I was young  
                 C                        F 
so many drinking songs were waiting to be sung,  
                   Dm                      E 
so many wayward pleasures lay in store for me  
   E7               Am 
and so much pain my dazzled eyes refused to see  


                   Dm                         G 
I ran so fast that time and youth at last ran out  
                   C                       F 
I never stopped to think what life was all about  
                Dm               E 
and every conversation I can now recall  
  E7                 Am          
concerned itself with me and nothing else at all  


     Dm                G 
Yesterday the moon was blue  
                C                            F 
and every crazy day brought something new to do  
               Dm                   E 
I used my magic age as if it were a wand  
  E7              Am 
and never saw the waste and emptiness beyond  


                   Dm                        G 
The game of love I played with arrogance and pride  
                  C                       F 
and every flame I lit too quickly quickly died 
                       Dm                      E 
The friends I made all seemed somehow to drift away  
  E7              Am 
and only I am left on stage to end the play 


                 Dm                         G 
There are so many songs in me that won't be sung  
                  C                      F 
I feel the bitter taste of tears upon my tongue  
                     Dm                 E     E7         Am               
The time has come for me to pay for yesterday when I was young 
    	

Chord diagrams

Guitar tuner

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Start the tuner and play a string

Reference tones

Standard tuning, lowest to highest. Click a string to play it; the string the mic hears is highlighted.

Click Start tuner and allow microphone access. The needle centers and turns green when a string is in tune (within 5 cents).
No microphone? You can still tap any string above to hear its exact reference pitch.

Metronome

100 BPM Andante