Sara has performed as a soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, and Ravinia Festival Orchestra, under the batons of Emil de Cou and Erich Kunzel. An additional highlight includes a solo performance on the Esplanade with Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops Orchestra. In the local Baltimore/Washington area, Sara was a featured vocalist with the Jazz Ambassadors and has graced the stages of the Hippodrome Theater, Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Sara began her musical career as a pianist. At age 14, she was playing professionally and by 18, won first prize in the W.A. Virts Piano Concerto Competition. She received her B.A. in Music at St. Mary's College of Maryland and earned her M.M. in Piano Accompanying at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. After graduation she chose to pursue a professional vocal career. Though she sings full time, Sara continues to perform as a pianist and accompanies both singers and instrumentalists on recitals.
Sara lives in the Baltimore/Washington, D.C area with fellow musician husband, jazz trumpet player Kevin Watt.
At Seventeen
Sara Jones 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"
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...
Sara Jones's song, "At Seventeen," is a powerful ballad that brilliantly depicts the pressure and pain of adolescence. The song's central message is that there is an idealized version of beauty that society fosters, and anyone who does not conform to that set standard is left behind.
In the first verse, Jones describes how the truth about love and beauty is learned at the age of seventeen. It is a time when high school girls with clear-skinned smiles marry young and retire. Meanwhile, the singer, who could not fit the idealized beauty standard, spends her time playing the Friday night charades of youth with her friends, always seeking one last beautiful person to be noticed by.
The second verse of the song talks about the pain of the people who never fit in. They remain at home, inventing lovers on the phone, who call to say "come dance with me," murmuring vague obscenities. It is an attempt to feel seen, even if only for a moment, as they struggle to find acceptance in society. Furthermore, the inhabitants of small towns who get what they crave at the cost of quality and integrity will look at you in jaded disbelief when the payment due exceeds the accounts received.
Line by Line Meaning
I learned the truth at seventeen
At age seventeen, I realized that love was only meant for conventionally beautiful girls
That love was meant for beauty queens
Only the girls who fit society’s narrow beauty standards are worthy of love
And high school girls with clear skinned smiles
The popular girls who had perfect skin and fake smiles were the ones who were sought after
Who married young and then retired
These girls often got married young and didn't really have to work
The valentines I never knew
I never received any Valentine's Day cards, which made me feel like I wasn't good enough
The Friday night charades of youth
All the parties and social events of my youth were meaningless and just acted as a distraction
Were spent on one more beautiful
I was always overshadowed by the more beautiful girls
At seventeen I learned the truth...
By age seventeen, all illusions of a fair and merit-based society were completely shattered for me
And those of us with ravaged faces
Those of us who didn't fit the beauty standards were shamed for our appearance
Lacking in the social graces
We often lacked the poise and grace that the popular girls seemed to possess
Desperately remained at home
We often had to stay home because nobody wanted to invite us out
Inventing lovers on the phone
We often lied and pretended to have romantic interests to make ourselves feel better
Who called to say "come dance with me"
We would often fantasize about being invited to dances and parties, but it never happened
And murmured vague obscenities
The imaginary lovers we came up with would often say inappropriate things to us
It isn't all it seems at seventeen...
Being a teenager and feeling unloved is much more complex and painful than it appears on the surface
A brown-eyed girl in hand-me-downs
I knew a girl who came from a poor family and didn't fit the ideal appearance standards
Whose name I never could pronounce
She was an outcast, and I didn't even bother learning her name
Said: "Pity please the ones who serve
She told me to have sympathy for people who are often looked down upon, such as service workers
They only get what they deserve"
She believed that people only receive what they deserve, no matter how hard they work
The rich relationed hometown queen
The popular and beautiful girl from the wealthy family
Marries into what she needs
She looks for a potential partner who will meet her financial needs
With a guarantee of company
Her main concern is finding someone who will keep her company and complement her social status
And haven for the elderly...
She's not really focused on finding genuine love, but rather a partner who can offer her financial security and take care of her in her old age
So remember those who win the game
It's important to remember that those who are deemed winners in society don't always end up being fulfilled and happy
Lose the love they sought to gain
Often, these winners sacrifice love and deeper human connections to fulfill societal expectations
In debitures of quality and dubious integrity
They end up in situations where they compromise their values to maintain their status and power
Their small-town eyes will gape at you
The people in their hometowns will be shocked and confused by their lives, even though it's what society has taught them to aspire to
In dull surprise when payment due
Despite their sacrifices, they often end up feeling empty and unfulfilled
Exceeds accounts received at seventeen...
They realize that the cost of being a "winner" in society is far greater than what they could have ever imagined when they were young
To those of us who knew the pain
To those of us who could not compete in the conventional beauty standards and experienced deep pain and isolation as a result
Of valentines that never came
We were always hopeful for love, but it never seemed to come our way
And those whose names were never called
We were always the ones left out of activities and events
When choosing sides for basketball
Even in simple activities like choosing teams for basketball, we were not preferred
It was long ago and far away
These experiences seem like they happened in another life, even though the scars remain
The world was younger than today
The world seemed simpler and more innocent when we were young
When dreams were all they gave for free
When we were young, we were hopeful and optimistic that our dreams and aspirations would come true
To ugly duckling girls like me...
But for girls like myself who didn't fit the conventional beauty standards, the reality was very different
We all play the game, and when we dare
We all try to fit into societal norms to some extent, even if it means sacrificing our true selves
We cheat ourselves at solitaire
When we try to play the game by ourselves, we're just cheating ourselves
Inventing lovers on the phone
We create an illusion of romance even though it's not real
Repenting other lives unknown
We regret not being different people or living the lives of the popular and beautiful
That call and say: "Come on, dance with me"
The imaginary lovers we create say all the things we want to hear, and invite us to do things we've never been invited to before
And murmur vague obscenities
These imaginary people often say inappropriate things to us because they're not real
At ugly girls like me, at seventeen...
These experiences of isolation and insecurity are particularly acute for girls who don't fit beauty standards and are in their teenage years
Contributed by William D. Suggest a correction in the comments below.