Pacific 1860: This Is a Changing World - Noël Coward

This is a changing world, my dear

New songs are sung—new stars appear

Though we grow older year by year

Our hearts can still be gay

Young love at best is a passing phase

Charming and foolish and blind

There may be happier, wiser days

When youth is far behind

Where are the snows of yesteryear

When Winter’s done and Spring is near?

No regrets are worth a tear

We’re living in a changing world, my dear

The world was young

So many, many years ago

The passage of time must show

Some traces of change

Love songs once sung

Much laughter, many tears

Have echoed down the years

The past is old and strange

This is a changing world, my dear

New dreams are dreamed

New dawns appear

Passion’s a feckless cavalier

Who loves and rides away

Time will persuade you laugh at grief

Time is your tenderest friend

Life may be lonely and joy be brief

But everything must end

Love is a charming souvenir

When days is done and night draws near

No regrets are worth a tear

We’re living in a changing world, my dear

(As recorded by Noel Coward, 1946)

(Unsung verse)

[Each waning moon

All dawns that rise, all suns that set

Change like the tides that flow across the sands

Each little tune

That fills our hearts with vague regret

Each little love duet

Fades in our hands

Don’t stray among the moments that have fled

New days are just ahead

New words are still unsaid.]