'Cause they only get what they deserve"
At seventeen I learned the truth
Lacking in the social graces
Who called to say, "Come dance with me"
The world was younger than today
The Friday night charades of youth
In dull surprise when payment due
And high school girls with clear-skinned smiles
When choosing sides for basketball
In debentures of quality and dubious integrity
Marries into what she needs
It was long ago and far away
Lose the love they sought to gain
Inventing lovers on the phone
A brown-eyed girl in hand-me-downs
With a guarantee of company
Desperately remained at home
And murmured vague obscenities
And those whose names were never called
Who married young and then retired
The valentines I never knew
When dreams were all they gave for free
Were spent on one more beautiful
And those of us with ravaged faces
They call and say, "Come on, dance with me"
Said, "Pity, please, the ones who serve
Repenting other lives unknown
Exceeds accounts received at seventeen
Of valentines that never came
Inventing lovers on the phone
To cheat ourselves at solitaire
And the rich relationed hometown queen
Whose name I never could pronounce
We all play the game and when we dare
To those of us who knew the pain
Their small town eyes will gape at you
It isn't all it seems at seventeen
So remember those who win the game
And haven for the elderly
To ugly duckling girls like me
And murmur vague obscenities
