At Seventeen

C                                              Dm   
I learned the truth at seventeen, that love was meant for beauty queens,   
     G7                                                                 C   
for high school girls with clear-skinn smiles, who married young and then retired.   
          C                                       Dm     
The valentines I never knew, the Friday night 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'rately remained at home, inventing lovers on the phone   
      Ab                   G7                 Cm7                              Fm7   
Who called to 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,  
 G7                                                              C   
Said, "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 integrity.   
        Ab                  G7            Cm7                 Cm7   
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 sides for 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.   
_   
ambChile