Elsa Lyrics
"At Seventeen [Live]"

Merci.
La prochaine chanson, je l'ai empruntée
À une artiste américaine, qui s'appelle Janis Ian.
Et elle se souvient qu'parfois, à dix-sept ans
On s'invente beaucoup plus d'histoires d'amour
Qu'on en vit. At Seventeen.

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.

And those of us with ravaged faces
Lacking in the social graces
Desperately remained at home
Inventing lovers on the phone
Who called and said "come dance with me"
And murmured vague obscenities
It isn't all it seems, at seventeen.

A brown-eyed girl in hand me downs
Whose name I never could pronounce
Say "pity, please the ones who serve
They only get what they deserve"
The rich-relationed hometown queen
Marries into what she needs
With a guarantee of company and haven for the elderly.

Remember, those who win the game
They lose the love they sought to gain
In debentures of quality and dubious integrity.
Their small-town eyes will gape at you
In dull surprise when payment due
Exceeds account receipts at seventeen.

To those of us who knew the pain
Of Valentines that never came
And those whose names where never called
When choosing sides for basketball.

We all play the game and when we dare
To cheat ourselves at solitaire
Inventing lovers on the phone
Repenting other lives unknown
That call and say "come dance with me"
And murmur vague obscenities
At ugly girls like me, at seventeen.