Born Janis Eddy Fink on 7th April 1951 to a Jewish family in New York City, she was primarily raised in New Jersey, initially on a farm, and attended East Orange High School and the New York City High School of Music & Art. Read Full BioJanis Ian (b. 1951) is a U.S. songwriter, singer, musician, columnist, and science fiction author. Her singing career was at its height in the 1960s and 1970s, and she has continued recording into the twenty-first century. In 1975 Ian won a Grammy Award for her song, "At Seventeen".
Born Janis Eddy Fink on 7th April 1951 to a Jewish family in New York City, she was primarily raised in New Jersey, initially on a farm, and attended East Orange High School and the New York City High School of Music & Art. Her parents, Victor (a music teacher) and Pearl, ran a summer camp in upstate New York, and, in that Cold War era, were frequently under government surveillance because of their left-wing politics. (Ian alluded to these years later in her song "God and the FBI"). Young Janis admired the work of folk pioneers such as Joan Baez and Odetta. At the age of twelve, Ian wrote her first song, "Hair of Spun Gold", which was subsequently published in the folk publication Broadside and was later recorded for her debut album.
At the age of thirteen she legally changed her name to Janis Ian, using as her new last name her brother Eric's middle name. Also in that year, Ian wrote and sang her first hit single, "Society's Child (Baby I've Been Thinking)", about an interracial romance forbidden by a girl's mother and frowned upon by her peers and teachers; the girl ultimately decides to end the relationship, claiming the social norms of the day have left her no other choice. Produced by George "Shadow" Morton and released three times between 1965 and 1967, "Society's Child" finally became a national hit on its third release, after Leonard Bernstein featured it in a television special: Inside Pop: The Rock Revolution. The song's content was taboo for some radio stations, and they withdrew or banned it from their playlists; in her 2008 autobiography Society's Child, Ian recalls receiving hate mail and death threats as a response to the song, and mentions that a radio station in Atlanta that played it was burned down. In the summer of 1967, "Society's Child" reached number fourteen on the Billboard Hot 100.
Her most successful single in the United States was "At Seventeen", released in 1975, a bittersweet commentary on adolescent cruelty, the illusion of popularity, and teenage angst, as reflected upon from the perspective of a twenty-four-year-old. It reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Adult Contemporary chart. It won the 1975 Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance - Female. The song's album, Between the Lines, reached number one on Billboard's Album chart. It was quickly certified gold, and later earned a platinum certification for sales of over a million copies sold in the U.S.
Ian finally became one of the first "indie artists", resurfacing in 1993, with the worldwide release of Breaking Silence and its title song about incest. She also came out as a lesbian with that release. Her most recent album, Folk Is the New Black, was released in 2006; it is the first in over twenty years for which she did all the songwriting herself.
At Seventeen
Janis Ian Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning | Line by Line Meaning
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 to say, "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
Said, "Pity, please, the ones who serve
They only get what they deserve"
And 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
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 accounts received
At seventeen
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
We all play the game, and when we dare
To cheat ourselves at solitaire
Inventing lovers on the phone
Repenting other lives unknown
They call and say, "Come dance with me"
And murmur vague obscenities
At ugly girls like me
At seventeen
Janis Ian's "At Seventeen" is a poignant reflection on the pain and loneliness that often accompanies adolescence. The song opens with the narrator recalling her own naivety about love at the age of seventeen. She believed that it was only meant for the "beauty queens" and "high school girls with clear-skinned smiles". The sad reality dawns on her as she realizes that she does not fit into these categories, and her lack of beauty kept her from receiving affection from her peers. She mourns her lost youth, reminiscing about Friday night charades of her youth, where coming second or third did not matter.
The second verse dives deeper into her feelings of loneliness and desolation. She speaks of "inventing lovers on the phone", and how it's "not all it seems at seventeen". She also mentions other "ravaged faces, lacking in the social graces" who were like her and were left behind when the beautiful youth of her high school days moved on to find love elsewhere.
The closing verse shows that even those that seem to have won the game also play another game where they cheat themselves at solitaire, and they ultimately realize that they too feel lonely and empty. The song is a poignant reflection on the pain of wanting love and not receiving it, and the alienation that can come with adolescence.
Line by Line Meaning
I learned the truth at seventeen
At the age of seventeen, I realized the harsh truth about love
That love was meant for beauty queens
Love is only meant for those who are physically attractive
And high school girls with clear-skinned smiles
Only high school girls who look perfect with spotless skin deserve love
Who married young and then retired
Only those girls who settled down at a young age get to enjoy love
The Valentines I never knew
I never got any Valentine's Day greetings or gifts
The Friday night charades of youth
The games we used to play on Friday nights during our young age
Were spent on one more beautiful
All the games and events were only to make the prettiest girl feel more special
At seventeen I learned the truth
I realized the hard reality of the love game at the age of seventeen
And those of us with ravaged faces
People like me who have unattractive faces
Lacking in the social graces
Those who don't have manners or social skills
Desperately remained at home
Stayed at home alone with no one to love
Inventing lovers on the phone
Pretending to have lovers who call on the phone to talk romantic things
Who called to say, "Come dance with me"
The imaginary lover would ask me to go for a dance with them
And murmured vague obscenities
Told some vague, indecent things in a low voice
It isn't all it seems
It's not at all how it looks like from the outside
At seventeen
All these thoughts and incidents happened with me at the age of seventeen
A brown-eyed girl in hand-me-downs
A brown-eyed girl who is wearing clothes handed down from someone else
Whose name I never could pronounce
I could never pronounce her name correctly
Said, "Pity, please, the ones who serve
The girl pleaded to show mercy to those who serve and do housework
They only get what they deserve"
They only get what they are worthy of
And the rich-relationed hometown queen
The hometown queen with influential family background
Marries into what she needs
She marries someone who can fulfill her needs
With a guarantee of company
She gets married for the sake of companionship
And haven for the elderly
A place for her to stay when she grows old
Remember those who win the game
We need to remember that those who win the popularity contest lose real love
Lose the love they sought to gain
They lose the true love they wanted to find and experience
In debentures of quality
They lose love in financial securities that they thought to be quality
And dubious integrity
They lose love in deceitful and dishonest behavior
Their small-town eyes will gape at you
People from small towns will be surprised to see the sad reality of love
In dull surprise when payment due
They will be shocked to learn about the bitter consequences after the love game ends
Exceeds accounts received
When the effort they made in the love game doesn't match the rewards they receive
At seventeen
All this while I was just seventeen, too young to understand even the basic facts about love
To those of us who knew the pain
People like me who experienced the pain of not getting love
Of valentines that never came
People who never got a Valentine's Day gift or card from anyone
And those whose names were never called
People who were never chosen or their names never got called in any activities
When choosing sides for basketball
When groups were forming or picking sides for basketball or any other games
It was long ago and far away
Now, those things happened a long time back and far away from where I am currently
The world was younger than today
During that time, the world was completely different than what it is today
When dreams were all they gave for free
During those times, dreams and desires were the only things that you could get for free
To ugly duckling girls like me
To all the not-so-attractive girls like me who didn't fit the beauty standards at that time
We all play the game, and when we dare
We all become a part of the love game, and when we hope for more
To cheat ourselves at solitaire
We trick ourselves while playing alone
Inventing lovers on the phone
We create imaginary lovers whom we talk to on phones
Repenting other lives unknown
We regret having a different life, a life that we have never lived
They call and say, "Come dance with me"
Our imaginary lover calls and invites us to dance
And murmur vague obscenities
Our imaginary lover whispers unclear and indecent words in our ears
At ugly girls like me
All these incidents have happened with me since I wasn't conventionally pretty and failed to be a part of the beauty pageant culture
At seventeen
All these thoughts and incidents happened with me at the age of seventeen
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Janis Ian
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
S N Smith
At Seventeen
Janis Ian
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 to say "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
Said: "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
So remember those who win the game
Lose the love they sought to gain
In debitures of quality and dubious integrity
Their small-town eyes will gape at you
In dull surprise when payment due
Exceeds accounts received at seventeen
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...
We all play the game, and when we dare
We cheat ourselves at solitaire
Inventing lovers on the phone
Repenting other lives unknown
That call and say: "come on, dance with me"
And murmur vague obscenities
At ugly girls like me, at seventeen
dskyyksd
I was in your shoes when I was 28. I am now 57 and kicking myself every day for not appreciating what I did have back then: FREEDOM.
Men compete for women with skills and resources. Use all that free time and money you're not spending on a woman now to improve yourself. Take the time to appreciate the things in life that are democratic, like nature and travel. You may think traveling alone is a bore, but you'll never be able to go where you want to go and see what you want to see like you can when you don't have to compromise with someone.
In short, make the most of it. Think of it as an opportunity you wouldn't get if you were rich and good looking because you wouldn't be able to stay out of trouble with women. We're men. We can't help ourselves. Once we have the attention of the ladies, we're gonna do what we're gonna do.
And seriously, if you don't have a pet, get one, and preferably one that you can travel with. Most all of the motel chains allow pets now.
I'd give anything to be 28 again with no prospects of romance and all the baggage that comes with it.
Mark Romney
I’m a guy and was 17 when this was a hit in 1975 and really related to it. Played some sports in high school but was still an outcast with many personal family problems at home. Great song! Be kind to everyone and reach out to those who need it most. We ALL know who those people are.
chejlr
Me too I graduated in 76, I was poor, unattractive and unwanted. To this day it still pains me.
rachel Garcia
It's such a crime against a tender school kid: We all know who's languishing socially.
PJ Hey
Me too! I was 15 in 1975 and it was all so horrible. I wish with all my heart that those of us here posting and others had found each other to take the pain away. Sending love to all the outcasts 💕💕💕💕
slc2466
Yep, any outcast can relate strongly to this classic, so just about everyone at some point in their lives can.
Ston
1975 ! We'll never have another year like it, musically.
Robert Cline
I was 17 when this came out. Oddly my mother REALLY identified with the song. She was not a popular girl in high school, and (I think) wanted very desperately to be. She had tremendous numbers of friends as an adult though. Her sparkling personality and love for people shined through once adult life took over. Isn’t it tragic how many of us let social setbacks in high school curtail our growth? While others, who were popular in high school often have an inflated ego for ever for outdated and often unimportant reasons.
David Martin
Well said...
Carolyn King
I'm glad life got better for your mother when she got away from high school.
Maureen
LOL the "populars" in HS so often go nowhere in life, while the "fringies" bloom successfully. Karma.