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#68933 05/08/02 02:00 AM
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When I was seventeen,
It was a very good year.
It was a very good year
For small town girls
And soft summer nights.
We'd hide from the lights
On the village green.
When I was seventeen ...

When I was twenty-one,
It was a very good year.
It was a very good year
For city girls
Who lived up the stair.
With all that perfumed hair
And it came undone,
When I was twenty-one ...

Then I was thirty-five,
It was a very good year.
It was a very good year
For blue-blooded girls
Of independent means,
We'd ride in limousines,
Their chauffeurs would drive.
When I was thirty-five ...

But now the days grow short,
I'm in the autumn of the year.
And now I think of my life
As vintage wine
From fine old kegs,
From the brim to the dregs,
And it poured sweet and clear.

It was a very good year ...
It was a mess of good years ...

It Was A Very Good Year, popularized by Frank Sinatra

#68934 05/08/02 02:35 AM
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Janis Ian

At Seventeen

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
Married into what she needs
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 know 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
To 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.

© 1970 by Janis Ian





The Only WO'N!

#68935 05/08/02 04:45 AM
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I know 18 is missing but this is one of my favourites.

http://www2.ozland.net.au/users/marshall/only19/only19.htm


#68936 05/08/02 11:54 AM
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At seventeen he falls in love quite madly with eyes of tender blue;
At twenty-four he gets it rather badly with eyes of a different hue;
At thirty-five you'll see him flirting sadly with two or three, or more;
When he fancies he is past love,
It is then he meets his last love,
And he loves her as he's never lov'd before.

"A bachelor gay" from The maid of the mountains;
words by F Clifford Harris and Valentine,
music by Jas W Tate (1917)


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boronia Offline OP
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I am 16, going on 17 -- from The Sound of Music


I was 21 years when I wrote this song
I'm 22 now but I won't be for long
People ask me when will I grow up to be a man
Girls I knew in school are already pushing prams

"New England", Billy Bragg


He had a stroke at the age of 24
It could have been a brilliant career

"It Could Have Been a Brilliant Career"
Belle & Sebastian (and I'm going to see them tonight - yay!)


#68938 05/08/02 03:48 PM
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Is there really nothing for the ages between 4 and 17??? I keep coming up blank... and now y'all have posted the 17-related songs I was waiting to explode upon the scene with.

(going to the back of the class now)


#68939 05/08/02 04:15 PM
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boronia Offline OP
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I'm thinking this'll be easier if we are just approximately chronological - say, go by decades instead of years.


#68940 05/08/02 04:23 PM
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Thank to AnnaS, we have age 6 (between the two of us, one good brain!)

MEMPHIS TENNESSEE
Long distance information, give me Memphis Tennessee
Help me find the party trying to get in touch with me
She did not leave her number but I know the place to call
The phone boy took the message and he wrote it on the wall

I said help me information get in touch with my Marie
She's the only one who'd phone me here from Memphis Tennessee
Her home is on the south side, high up on a ridge
About a half a mile from the Mississipi bridge

Oh help me information, more than this I cannot add
Only that I love Marie and all the fun we had
But we were pulled apart now 'cause her momma did not agree
And tore apart our happy home in Memphis Tennessee

I said help me information, more than this I cannot add
Only that I miss Marie and all the fun we had
But she was pulled apart from me 'cause her momma did not agree
And tore apart our happy home in Memphis Tennessee

Last time I saw Marie, she was waving me goodbye
With hurry home drops on her cheek that trickl'd from her eye
Marie is only six years old, so information please
Try to put me through to her in Memphis Tennessee
I said try to put me through to her in Memphis Tennessee
Oh won't you put me through to her in Memphis Tennessee

(Berry)

PS-- maybe the age in the header? and some of us could go back and edit headers? then even if not in order.. we could find an age?


#68941 05/08/02 04:48 PM
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Is there really nothing for the ages between 4 and 17??? ~ Annastrophic

Yes!. Great Gooblely-wooblebly, just where were you people in 1955?

I'M A MAN - Do Diddley

Now when I was a little boy,
At the age of five,
I had somethin' in my pocket,
Keep a lot of folks alive.

Now I'm a man,
Made twenty-one,
You know baby,
We can have a lot of fun.

I'm a man,
I spell M-A-N...man.

All you pretty women,
Stand in line,
I can make love to you baby,
In an hour's time.

I'm a man,
I spell M-A-N...man.

I goin' back down,
To Kansas to
Bring back the second cousin,
Little John the conqueroo.

I'm a man,
I spell M-A-N...man.

The line I shoot,
Will never miss,
The way I make love to 'em,
They can't resist.

I'm a man,
I spell M-A-N...man.

Thank you Bo Diddley, that was nice and I'm sure you are. ~ mw.


Postedit: Forgive me, SHELLY THE PLAYBOY, I misspelled "Gooblely-wooblely".

#68942 05/08/02 07:01 PM
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the age is only in the title in this song but it is a good song

Won't you let me walk you home from school?
Won't you let me meet you at the pool?
Maybe Friday I can get tickets for the dance
And I'll take you...

Won't you tell your dad to get off my back
Tell him what we said 'bout "Paint It Black"
Rock and roll is here to stay
Come inside it's okay
And I'll shake you

Won't you tell me what you're dreaming of
Would you be an outlaw for my love
If it's over let me know
If it's "no" then I can go
I won't make you

"Thirteen" by Alex Chilton, performed by Big Star




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