Janis Ian – ‘At Seventeen’, from Between The Lines

I think most girls have felt this way. When you look at someone and go, “Why are you singing along to this song, you’re blonde and gorgeous, what happened?” But it’s funny how people see themselves, especially at that time of life when you’re going from adolescence to young woman to womanhood. That transitional time when we’re so vulnerable.

I had been playing piano bars since I was thirteen, so that was ’76, I’m not sure exactly when this song came out but this was a huge request at the piano bars over the years, so it was definitely in my repertoire. I knew every single word by heart. like most gals at the time, and I just think it’s a masterpiece. It’s a masterful song.