At Seventeen diatonic

by Janis Ian

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I learned the truth at sev-en-teen
A Brown  eyed girl  in hand me downs
to Those  of   us   who knew the pain
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That love was meant for beau-ty queens
Whose name I nev-   er could pro-nounce
of   val- en-tines that nev-er came
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and high school girls with clear skinned smiles
said pity       please the one    who    serve
and those whose names were  never        called
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Who mar-ried young and then re-tired.
They only     get what they deserve
When choosing sides for basketball
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The val-en-tines I nev-  er knew
and the rich relationed hometown (queen)
It  was long a-  go and  far   a- (way)
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The Fri-day night cha-rades of youth
Maries   into     what she needs
The world was younger than today
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Were spent on one more beau-ti-ful
With a guarantee of company
And dreams where all they gave for free
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At sev-en-teen I  learned the truth.
And haven for the elderly
To ugly duckling girls like me
chorus
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And those of us with rav-aged fa-ces
Remember those who win the game
We will play the game & when we dare
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Lack-ing in the soc-ial gra-ces
Lose the love they sought to gain
To cheat ourselves at solitare
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Des-prate-ly re-mained at home
In debentures of quality
Inventing lovers on the phone
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In-vent-ing lov-ers on the phone
And dubious integrity
Repenting other lives unknown
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Who called to say come dance with me
Their smalltown eyes will gape at you
That call to say come dance with me
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And mur-mured vague ob-scen-i-ties
In dull surprise when payment due
And murmur vague obscenities
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It is n't all it seems, At sev-en-teen
Exceeds accounts received, At 17
At ugly girls like me, At sev-en-teen