musical discoveries and nostalgia

[firecat]

On the way back from dropping wild_irises off at Bart, I was listening to KEZR and I heard a song I liked (see "listening to"), so when I got home I began digging around on iTunes for it. I figured while I was buying something I might as well buy a couple of other things on my iTunes wish list, so I also bought this. It wasn't really like this for me at 17, but it was at 12 and 13 and 14 and 15.


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
Indebentures 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


Also, I guess I am the last person to find out that Ann and Nancy Wilson, under the name "The Lovemongers," recorded an acoustic version of Led Zeppelin's "Evermore". The EP with that song also has a really nifty version of The Temptations' "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone". (Which annoyingly you have to buy the whole EP from iTunes to get...but the cheapest I could find the actual physical EP was $29 or so.)

Comments

[debxena.livejournal.com]

Janis Ian is one of my favourite artists. Are you aware that you can (legally) download music (http://www.janisian.com/mp3_downloads.html) from her official site?

[cassidyrose.livejournal.com]

That version of "Evermore" is also on the "Singles" soundtrack.

[elissaann.livejournal.com]

I never felt ugly, but I felt certain that I would never have a boyfriend, until I started to date my best friend when I was 17.

[treacle-well.livejournal.com]

I didn't know that about Ann and Nancy Wilson.

[epi-lj.livejournal.com]

You're not the last person -- I didn't know about that cover until you mentioned it just now.

[gloriajn.livejournal.com]

I still don't get the "lesbian subtext" that various people brought up several years after that song was a hit. Sure, it turns out that Janis Ian is a lesbian, but still...

I mean, if you get it, would you explain it to me?

[firecat]

I don't get it either, except maybe that being a lesbian increased her sense of being an outsider and the lyrics are quite eloquently about feeling like an outsider.

[wordweaverlynn.livejournal.com]

The rest of that Janis Ian album (Between the Lines) is also wonderful.

[roadnotes.livejournal.com]

I am about to burn a sample CD of Janis Ian songs for Greg, before he heads off to India; would you be interested in a copy? I adore her.

(You know she's a science fiction geek, right? She's been to a couple of Worldcons.)

[firecat]

I would like that a lot! I don't know her other music at all.

I had heard she goes to cons sometimes.