Ian Janis - At Seventeen Chords & Tabs

At Seventeen
Janis Ian

Verse 1
I [D] learned the truth at seventeen
That [Em] love was meant for beauty queens
[A7] And high school girls with clear-skinned smiles
[D] Who married young and then retired.
The [D] valentines I never knew
The [Em] Friday night charades of youth
[A7] Were spent on one more beautiful
[D] At seventeen I learned the truth.

Chorus 1
And [F] those of us with ravaged faces
[Em] Lacking in the [A7] social graces
[Dm] Desperately [G7] remained at home
[Dm] Inventing lovers [G7] on the phone
Who [F] called to say ‘come [A7] dance with me’
[Dm] And murmured vague [G7] obscenities
[Em] It isn’t all it seems, at [A7] seventeen.
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Verse 2
A [D] brown-eyes girl in hand-me-downs
[Em] Whose name I never could pronounce
[A7] Said ‘pity please the ones who serve
[D] They only get what they deserve’.
The [D] rich-relationed home-town queen
[Em]Marries into what she needs
With a [A7] guarantee of company and [D] haven for the elderly.
 
Chorus 2
[F] Remember those who win the game
[Em] Lose the love they [A7] sought to gain
In [Dm] debentures of [G7] quality and [Dm] dubious [G7] integrity
Whose [F] small-town eyes will [A7] gape at you in [Dm] dull surprise
When [G7] payment due [Em] exceeds accounts received
At [A7] seventeen.

Verse 3
To [D] those of us who knew the pain
Of [Em] valentines that never came
And [A7] those whose names were never called
[D] When choosing sides for basketball.
It was [D] long ago and far away
The [Em] world was younger than today
[A7] And dreams were all they gave for free
[D] To ugly duckling girls like me.

Chorus 3
We all [F] play the game and when we dare
[Em] Cheat ourselves at [A7] solitaire
[Dm] Inventing lovers [G7] on the phone
[Dm] Repenting other [G7] lives unknown
Who [F] call and say ‘come [A7] dance with me’
And [Dm] murmur vague [G7] obscenities
[Em] At ugly girls like me, at [A7] seventeen. [D, Em, A7, D]