I Didn't See The Time Go By

Charles Aznavour

Now as the wheel of life turns faster

Now as the seasons seem to fly

I see so many things at last, but didn't see the time go by

I've known delight, I've known disaster

The caviar, the humble pie

From the absurd to the sublime

I didn't see the time go by

I didn't see the years roll on

I didn't know the road would bend

Refused to see when youth was gone

Pretending it might never end

Now, there is price to pay for every day I threw away

It seems I've wasted half a lifetime

Within the blinking of an eye

I didn't hear the midnight chime

I didn't see the time go by

In still of nights and brief romances

I kissed the girls and made them cry

While there were balconies to climb

I didn't see the time go by

I was the guy with all the answers,

The halfway-truths, the little lies

So sure, so certain in my prime

I didn't see the time go by

I hit the heights, I bit the dirt

I left some wreckage in my way

I didn't see that lies can hurt

I didn't know how hearts can break

And now, they come to haunt my mind,

The lives I touched and left behind

I've sung a hundred songs of longing,

Of sweet regret and hope run dry

I've searched for melody and rhyme,

But never saw how time can fly,

Newer saw the darkening sky

I was a minstrel of my time

Who did not see the time go by