AT SEVENTEEN Janis Ian I [C] learned the truth at seventeen That [Dm] love was meant for beauty queens
And [G7] high school girls with clear skinned smiles Who [C] marry young and then retire The [C] valentines I
never knew, The [Dm] Friday night charades of youth Were [G7] spent on one more beautiful At [C] seventeen I
learned the truth And [Eb] those of us with ravaged faces, [Dm] lacking in the [G7] social graces [Cm7] Desperately
re-[Fm7]-mained at home [Cm7] inventing lovers [Fm7] on the phone Whod [Ab] call and say "come [G7] dance with
me" And [Cm7] murmur vague ob-[Fm7]-scenities [Dm7] It isn't all it seems, at [G7] seventeen A [C] brown-eyed
girl in hand-me-downs, Whose [Dm] name I never could pronounce, Said "[G7] Pity, please, the ones who serve,
They [C] only get what they deserve. The [C] rich-relationed home-town queen [Dm] marries into what she needs
A [G7] guarantee of company, And [C] haven for the elderly" Re-[Eb]-member those who win the game, [Dm7]
lose the love they [G7] sought to gain In [Cm7] debentures of [Fm7] quality And [Cm7] dubious in-[Fm7]-tegrity Their
[Ab] small town eyes will [G7] gape at you In [Cm7] dull surprise when [F7] payment due [Dm7] exceeds accounts received,
at [G7] seventeen To [C] those of us who know the pain Of [Dm] valentines that never came, And [G7] those whose
name were never called When [C] choosing side at basketball It [C] was long ago and far away The [Dm] world was
younger than today And [G7] dreams were all they gave for free To [C] ugly duckling girls like me We all [Eb]
play the game and when we dare To [Dm7] cheat ourselves at [G7] solitaire In-[Cm7]-venting lovers [Fm7] on the phone,
Re-[Cm7]-penting other [Fm7] lives unknown Who [Ab] call and say "Come [G7] dance with me", And [Cm7]
murmur vague ob-[Fm7]-scenities [Dm7] at ugly girls like me, at [G7]seventeen[C][Cmaj7]
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