Life Musings

It must be one of the saddest songs I’ve ever heard. Listen closely and you’ll find that the words are heart-wrenching.

I’m talking about “At Seventeen” by Janis Ian. You may remember is familiar opening verse:

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…

One of the later verses really grips my heart. It goes,

To those of us who knew 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
when dreams were all they gave for free
to ugly duckling girls like me…

Dang.