Verse 1:
C
I learned the truth at seventeen
Dm
That love was meant for beauty queens
G7
And high school girls with clear skinned smiles
C
Who married young and then retired
C
The Valentines I never knew
Dm
The friday nights charades of youth
G7
Were spent on one more beautiful
C
At seventeen I learned the truth
Chorus 1:
D#
And those of us with ravaged faces
Dm7 G7
Lacking in the social graces
Cm7 Fm7
Desperatly re-mained at home
Cm7 Fm7
Inventing lovers on the phone
G# G7
Who called and say Come dance with me
Cm7 F7
And murmured vague ob-scenities
Dm7 G7
It isn't all it seems at seventeen
Verse 2:
C
A brown eyed girl in hand-me-downs
Dm
Who's name I never could pronounce
G7
Said pity please the ones who serve
C
They only get what they deserve
C
The rich relationed home-town queen
Dm
Marries into what she needs
G7
A guarantee of company
C
And haven for the elderly
Chorus 2:
D#
Re-member those who win the game
Dm7 G7
Lose the love they sought to gain
Cm7 Fm7
In debentures of quality
Cm7 Fm7
And dubious in-tegrity
G# G7
Their small town eyes will gape at you
Cm7 Fm7
In dull surprise when payment due
Dm7 G7
Exceeds accounts received at seventeen
Verse 3:
C
To those of us who know the pain
Dm
Of valentines that never came
G7
And those whose name were never called
C
When choosing side at basketball
C
It was long ago and far away
Dm
The world was younger than today
G7
And dreams were all they gave for free
C
To ugly duckling girls like me
Chorus 3:
D#
We all play the game and when we dare
Dm7 G7
To cheat ourselves at solitaire
Cm7 Fm7
In-venting lovers on the phone
Cm7 Fm7
Re-penting other lives unknown
G# G7
That call and say Come dance with me
Cm7 Fm7
And murmur vague ob-scenities
Dm7 G7 C, Cmaj7
At ugly girls like me at seventeen