ray charles - it was a very good year lyrics

when i was seventeen
it was a very good year
it was a very good year for small town girls
and soft summer nights
we'd hide from the lights
on the village green
when i was seventeen

when i was twenty-one
it was a very good year
it was a very good year for city girls
who lived up the stair
with all that perfumed hair
and it came undone
when i was twenty-one

when i was thirty-five
it was a very good year
it was a very good year for blue-blooded girls
of independent means
we'd ride in limousines
their chauffeurs would drive
when i was thirty-five

but now the days grow short
i'm in the autumn of the year
and now i think of my life as vintage wine
from fine old kegs
from the brim to the dregs
and it poured sweet and clear
it was a very good year

it was a mess of good years