At Seventeen

C                              Dm
I learned the truth at seventeen That love was meant for beauty queens
  G7                                            C
and high school girls with clear skinned smiles who married young and then retired
     C                          Dm
The valentines I never knew, the friday nights, charades of youth
    G7                                      C
were spent on one more beautiful At  seventeen I learned the truth


   Eb                    Dm          G7
And those of us with ravaged faces, lacking in the social graces
  Cm7       Fm7              Cm7               Fm7
Desp'ratly remained at home inventing lovers on the phone
  Ab             G7          Cm7                  Fm7
Who called and say "come dance with me" and murmured vague obscenities
Dm7                      G7
It isn't all it seems at seventeen

 C                                 Dm
A brown eyed girl in hand-me-downs, whose name I never could pronounce said
 G7                                     C
Pity, please, the ones who serve, 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"

 Eb               Dm7            G7
Remember 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         Cm7              Fm7
Their small town eyes will gape at you in dull surprise when payment due
 Dm7                 G7
exceeds accounts received at seventeen

  C                    Dm
To those of us who know the pain of valentines that never came,
   G7                      C
and those whose name were never called when choosing side at basketball
   C                   Dm
It was long ago and far away The world was younger than today
   G7                      C
and dreams were all they gave for free to ugly duckling girls like me

    Eb                    Dm7            G7
We all play the game and when we dare to cheat ourselves at solitaire
  Cm7         Fm7          Cm7         Fm7
Inventing lovers on the phone, repenting other lives unknown
    Ab            G7          Cm7         Fm7
that call and say "Come dance with me", and murmur vague obscenities
Dm7                    G7     C   Cmaj7
at ugly girls like me, at seventeen