At Seventeen - Janis Ian

Verse 1:

  C
I learned the truth at seventeen,
     Dm
That love was meant for beauty queens.
    G7
And high school girls with clear skinned smiles,
    C
Who married young and then retired.

    C
The Valentines I never knew,
    Dm
The Friday nights charades of youth.
     G7
Were spent on one more beautiful;
   C
At seventeen, I learned the truth.

Chorus 1:

    Eb                             Dm              G7
And those of us with ravaged faces, lacking in the social graces,
Cm7             Fm7            Cm7               Fm7
 Desperately re-mained at home, inventing lovers on the phone.
    Ab                    G7
Who called and say; "come dance with me",
    Cm7               F7
And murmured vague ob-scenities.
Dm7                        G7
 It isn't all it seems, at seventeen.

Verse 2:

  C
A brown eyed girl in hand-me-downs,
      Dm
Who's name I never could pronounce,
       G7
Said; "pity please, the ones who serve,
     C
They only get what they deserve.

    C                               Dm
The rich relationed home-town queen, marries into what she needs.
  G7                        C
A guarantee of company, and haven for the elderly".

Chorus 2:

   Eb                            Dm                  G7
Re-member those who win the game, lose the love they sought to gain.
   Cm7           Fm7          Cm7        Fm7
In debentures of quality, and dubious in-tegrity.
      Ab                   G7
Their small town eyes will gape at you;
   Cm7                 Fm7
In dull surprise, when payment due;
Dm7                            G7
 Exceeds accounts received, at seventeen.

Verse 3:

   C                                 Dm
To those of us who know the pain, of valentines that never came.
    G7
And those whose name were never called,
     C
When choosing side at basketball.

   C                              Dm
It was long ago and far away, the world was younger than today.
    G7
And dreams were all they gave for free,
   C
To ugly duckling girls like me.

Chorus 3:

       Eb                                 Dm7                G7
We all play the game and when we dare, to cheat ourselves at solitaire.
   Cm7            Fm7              Cm7           Fm7
In-venting lovers on the phone, re-penting other lives unknown.

     Ab                  G7
That call and say; "Come dance with me",
    Cm7             Fm7
And murmur vague ob-scenities,
Dm7                        G7         C, Cmaj7
 At ugly girls like me; at seventeen.