一首感嘆時光飛逝的名曲

曾經由Roy Clark 唱紅的抒情曲Yesterday When I Was Young的作者Herbert Kretzmer開年獲得英國伊莉沙白女王頒授帝國軍官勳章，Herbert Kretzmer也寫過舞台劇「悲慘世界」當中的歌詞，同時獲這個榮譽的還有The Eurythmics合唱團的主唱Annie Lenox。
Yesterday When I Was Young是1969年得到過第19名的一首感嘆時光飛逝的非常動聽的老歌，演唱者Roy Clark是一位擁有52首鄉村排行暢銷曲的名歌星，也曾經演過電視影集The Hillbillies，並和另一位鄉村巨星 Buck Owens一同主持過電視節目Hee Haw。

Yesterday When I Was Young
Herbert Kretzmer

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 to us on weak and shifting sand.
I lived by night and shunned the naked light of the 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 friedns 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.