[Gm6] x00031

I [D]learned the truth at seventeen_ That [Em]love was meant for beauty queens

and [A7]high school girls with clear skinned smiles who [D]married young and then retired

The [D]valentines I never knew, the [Em]friday nights, charades of youth

were [A7]spent on one more beautiful_ At [D]seventeen I learned the truth

And [F]those of us with ravaged faces, [Em]lacking in the [A7]social graces

[Dm7]Desp'ratly re[Gm7]mained at home [Dm7]inventing lovers [Gm7]on the phone

Who [Bb]called and say "come [A7]dance with me" and [Dm7]murmured vague ob[Gm7]scenities

[Em7]It isn't all it seems at [A7]seventeen

A [D]brown eyed girl in hand-me-downs, whose [Em]name I never could pronounce said

"[A7]Pity, please, the ones who serve, they [D]only get what they deserve.

The [D]rich relationed home-town queen [Em]marries into what she needs

A [A7]guarantee of company and [D]haven for the elderly"

Re[F]member those who win the game, [Em7]lose the love they [A7]sought to gain

In [Dm7]debentures of [Gm7]quality and [Dm7]dubious in[Gm7]tegrity_

Their [Bb]small town eyes will [A7]gape at you in [Dm7]dull surprise when [G7]payment due

[Em7]exceeds accounts received at [A7]seventeen

To [D]those of us who know the pain of [Em]valentines that never came,

and [A7]those whose name were never called when [D]choosing side at basketball

It [D]was long ago and far away_ The [Em]world was younger than today

and [A7]dreams were all they gave for free to [D]ugly duckling girls like me

We all [F]play the game and when we dare to [Em7]cheat ourselves at [A7]solitaire

In[Dm7]venting lovers [Gm7]on the phone, re[Dm7]penting other [Gm7]lives unknown

that [Bb]call and say "Come [A7]dance with me", and [Dm7]murmur vague ob[Gm7]scenities

[Em7]at ugly girls like me, at [A7]seventeen[D] [Dmaj7]

END