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Credits
PERFORMING ARTISTS
Céline Dion
Vocals
Antonio Dixon
Percussion
Babyface
Programming
Michael Ripoll
Acoustic Guitar
COMPOSITION & LYRICS
Janis Ian
Songwriter
PRODUCTION & ENGINEERING
Babyface
Producer
John McL. Doelp
Executive Producer
Paul Boutin
Recording Engineer
François Lalonde
Vocal Recording Engineer
Raymond Holzknecht
Assistant Recording Engineer
Mick Guzauski
Mixing Engineer
Vlado Meller
Mastering Engineer
Lyrics
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
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
And 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 dance with me
And murmur vague obscenities
At ugly girls like me, at seventeen
Writer(s): Janis Ian
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