Can you remember what it felt like to be you in your teens? Can you remember the daily thoughts and torments which you endured.... believing it was only your cross to bear? Damn, I would love my youth again... but not those hormone imbalanced, peer pressured age .... I still don't know how I got through them.
What got me back at my workstation doing another Steemit post, something I have not been motivated to do for quite a while. Well, of course it was one of my first loves .... MUSIC !! The very same thing that got me through those challenging days when I was a gawky, insecure Teen... desperately in love with a myriad of goddesses (in my mind) who I could hardly bear to make eye contact with ...let alone talk to. Spend time with ??? Heaven forbid ...
Janis Ian - At Seventeen
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
Marries into what she needs
With a guarantee of company
And haven for the elderly
Remember those who win the game
Lose the love they sought to gain
In debentures 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
Lyrics
How many of you (two people) who read this can identify? This song was exactly when I was seventeen .... I loved it but never got the message. Sad indeed.
Great song and great musician .... my story is finished but I want to share one more Janis Ian... for those who may not know her.
Janis Ian - Fly too High
Until next time ....
