I learned the truth at 17 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 17 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 The murmured faith of sanity It isn't all it seems at 17 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 In 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 The small-town eyes will gape at you In dull surprise When payment due Exceeds accounts received at 17 The small-town eyes will gape at you In dull surprise When payment due Exceeds accounts received at 17 The small-town eyes will gape at you In dull surprise When payment due Exceeds accounts received at 17 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 And dreams were all they gave for free To ugly duckling girls like me We all play the game 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 17 Thank you for watching!