Janis Ian - At seventeen

Con esta canción ganó el Grammy en 1975.

I learned the truth at seventeen
That love was meant for beauty queens
And high school girls with clear skinned smiles
Who married young and then retired.
The valentines I never knew
The Friday night charades of youth
Were spent on one more beautiful
At seventeen I learned the truth.
And those of us with ravaged faces
Lacking in the social graces
Desperately remained at home
Inventing lovers on the phone
Who called to say come dance with me
and murmured vague obscenities
It isn't all it seems
At seventeen.
A brown eyed girl in hand me downs
Whose name I never could pronounce
said, Pity please the ones who serve
They only get what they deserve.
The rich relationed hometown queen
Married into what she needs
A guarantee of company
And haven for the elderly.
Remember those who win the game
Lose the love they sought to gain
Indebentures of quality
And dubious integrity.
Their small town eyes will gape at you
in dull surprise when payment due
Exceeds accounts received
At seventeen.
To those of us who know the pain
Of valentines that never came,
And those whose names were never called
When choosing sides for basketball.
It was long ago and far away
The world was younger than today
And dreams were all they gave for free
To ugly duckling girls like me.
We all play the game and when we dare
To cheat ourselves at solitaire
Inventing lovers on the phone
Repenting other lives unknown
That call and say, come dance with me
and murmur vague obscenities
At ugly girls like me
At seventeen

• Category

  Music

[snakemansnakes Eaton]

Thanks for posting- good song, nice montage too..

[Boomarzo]

Muchas gracias. Un saludo desde Madrid.

[vjbibia]

The simpsons brought me here too xD

[rujohnso]

Wish we had recognized more of her work, such talent!

[Rob Hidalgo]

You're welcome!!! Keep your chin up, and go out and SOAR......

[Samantha Lopez]

Thank you :)

[Rob Hidalgo]

No, you are not. There are more people that you don't give credit to, that love you, need you, and want to listen to you. YOU are never alone. Give yourself more credit than you do....

[FoxRunMan]

I wish I had this wisdom at 17. I was still trying to compete out of my league, with all the success of a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest. I later found out that brains, ambition and achievement can get average guys noticed - just wish I had known earlier.

[Michaela Carolan]

My dad always says this is my song <3

[Donna Clouse]

Forever a class act.

[Michael Ward]

It took me until I was over 30 years old to learn the truth that life is one long beauty parade where rewards flow towards the beautiful whether they deserve them or not. Had I done so at 17, I would have had time to redress this imbalance in other ways, working harder, more focused etc..The sooner average looking guys and girls wise up and learn that their own physical appearance isn't good enough bring rewards by itself, the sooner they can push themselves harder to achieve on merit.

[Samantha Lopez]

I. Am. Dying. Alone.

[Areflection4]

This was The first song that spoke to me in my teens and gave me hope the I was not alone in feeling alone. Thank you Janis

[emmapinksugar]

Let me tell you something about Janis Ian. We were best friends in middle school. I know right, it's soooo embarrassing. I don’t even…whatever. So then in eighth grade I started going out with my first boyfriend Kyle, who was totally gorgeous but then he moved to Indiana--and Janis was like, weirdly jealous of him. Like if I would blow her off to hang out with Kyle, she'd be like "Why didn't you call me back?!" and I'd be like, "Uh, why are you so obsessed with me?"