Lisa, My Lover
Written by
Jude Bautista
On my way home, I heard it on the car radio. It was one of those songs I was only half listening to, until the line.
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
I thought to myself. What the hell is she saying? Why is she saying that? More than the words, it was the unmistakable sadness in her voice. Then I recognized it. I remembered the more recent and arguably more popular versions.
There was the Celine Dion version of AT SEVENTEEN and then in the Philippines, Bossa Nova Queen Sitti Navarro gave it a more Latin twist. Again, an enormous hit.
As soon as I got home I googled the lyrics. That’s when I saw it, WHY her voice was so sad. The one I heard on the radio was from the original singer / songwriter Janis Ian. The youtube video I saw was a live version dated 1976. A year after its release and successful debut on the charts 1975. It’s the second single for the album Between The Lines (1975).
Janis Ian, New York, 1967. Photo By Dan Wynn
It “earned Ian the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, and Grammy nominations for Record and Song of the Year. The single reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and has sold over a million copies as of August 2004. Internationally, “At Seventeen” charted in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.” From wikiwand.
Ian started the live 1976 performance by saying “This song um, was written at a time in my life when I was really weird looking. There were all these girls I was going to school with who were really terrific looking. And they were like cheerleaders, very tall with long blonde hair. I was very short with curly dark hair. So for cheerleaders…” Her lone acoustic guitar began.
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
Listening to the original and hearing the words from HER voice, what she wanted to say, it was like hearing the song for the very first time. You know, you could feel the loneliness of the lyrics. The reason I could feel it was, she was singing about not just my youth but my own life. There’s that sense of loss, missing out, of being excluded.
Janis Ian – At Seventeen (Live, 1976)
Every other song is singing about beauty and perfection. What about those of us who don’t happen to look SO perfect? That’s why it resonated with me.
I found out the song has resonated with a lot of fans. A lot of film and TV shows used the song including Tina Fey singing it as Liz Lemon on 30 Rock and MEAN GIRLS.
LGBTQ Anthem
Melissa Etheridge, herself a rock icon, identified At Seventeen as a gay anthem along with Billboard’s Patrick Crowley. “Crowley equated the awkwardness described in the lyrics to the confusion over one’s sexual orientation. Etheridge interpreted the line (“I learned the truth at seventeen”) as discovering one’s homosexuality. Ian said she was surprised at the LGBT support given to the song. NPR included “At Seventeen” in its 2018 series on American anthems.” Also from wikiwand.
The fact that, different people relate to it is a testament to the sincere, powerful writing by Janis Ian. The song was not necessarily, written as an LGBTQ anthem as Ian said in interviews.
In 2003 she was wed in Toronto to partner Patricia Snyder. Same sex unions (at the time) were illegal in their native U.S. but was legal in Canada. Their Best Man just happened to be Game of Thrones author George RR Martin. They were also the first lesbian couple profiled in the Vows column of The New York Times. In a video Ian confessed, they both burst into tears, after the ceremony.
2003, the couple wed in Toronto’s City Hall with George RR Martin (far right) as Best Man. Photo by Steve Payne for New York Times
Janis Ian Talks About Getting Married
Janis’ latest album is The Light at The end of the Line (2022)
Janis’ latest album is The Light at The end of the Line (2022)
At Seventeen
Written and performed by
Janis Ian
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
Janis Ian, New York, 1967. Photo By Dan Wynn
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”
And the rich relationed hometown queen
Marries into what she needs
With a guarantee of company
And haven for the elderly
Janis Ian, New York, 1967. Photo By Dan Wynn
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
When 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
They call and say, “Come dance with me”
And murmur vague obscenities
At ugly girls like me
At seventeen
From Left: Janis Ian and life partner Patricia Snyder. Nathan Morgan for the New York Times.