At Seventeen
Encyclopedia
"At Seventeen" is a song by Janis Ian
, released in 1975 on Between the Lines (her seventh studio album) and as a single
. Ian's most successful recording, the song is a commentary on adolescent cruelty
, the illusion of popularity
, and teenage angst
, as reflected upon from the maturity of adulthood. It is told from the point of view of a woman who was an "ugly duckling" as a girl and ignored in high school while the popular (albeit shallow
) girls got all of the attention.
-style melody she had been composing on guitar. She also says she initially did not want to record or perform the song because she felt it was far too personal to share, but eventually changed her mind after adding the song's final verse ("To those of us who knew the pain/Of Valentines that never came…").
Promoting the song was challenging, as it was longer than most radio hits and packed with lyrics. Along with the promotions team at her record company, Ian decided that their best chance to market the song was to promote it to women, which was no easy task when so many radio stations were controlled by men. Ian did a grueling series of daytime talk shows for six months before she was granted an appearance on The Tonight Show
where she performed the song and it took off.
"At Seventeen," released as the second single from Between the Lines, became Ian's first national hit single since her first hit "Society's Child (Baby I've Been Thinking)" in 1967. The single version omitted the longer instrumental verse and chorus because it was considered too long and it was feared that the radio stations would refuse to play it. It peaked at #1 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart and at #3 on the Pop Singles chart in September 1975. It also won a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
in 1976, beating out the likes of Linda Ronstadt
, Olivia Newton-John
, and Helen Reddy
and was nominated for "Record of the Year" and "Song of the Year".
Ian performed "At Seventeen" as a musical guest on the very first episode of Saturday Night Live
in October 1975.
The song's parent album, Between the Lines, also hit #1 and earned a platinum certification for sales of one million copies. Another measure of her success is anecdotal — on Valentine's Day 1977, Ian received 461 Valentine cards, having indicated in the lyrics to "At Seventeen" that she never received any as a teenager.
(2001) and can also be heard playing in the background in one scene in the 2004 movie Mean Girls
. The movie, which features a character named "Janis Ian", addresses the topic of teenage cruelty and alienation. "At Seventeen" is also mentioned in Jeffrey Eugenides
's 1993 novel The Virgin Suicides
, where the song is used by four girls imprisoned in their own home and essentially cut off from normal adolescent experiences to communicate with the narrator and his friends. The song is featured in The Simpsons
episodes "A Streetcar Named Marge
", "El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer (The Mysterious Voyage of Homer)
", and "Chief of Hearts
". In the 30 Rock
episode "The Break-Up," Tina Fey's character sings "At Seventeen" at a karaoke club.
Parody
Ian appeared on The Howard Stern Radio Show in 1993 and performed the song albeit with different lyrics
to poke fun at the May-December romance of Jerry Seinfeld
and Shoshana Lonstein.
, a Hong Kong
music group, is named after the song. The girl-duo also sang a cover of the song in Cantonese
.
Janis Ian
Janis Ian is an American songwriter, singer, musician, columnist, and science fiction author. Ian first entered the folk music scene while still a teenager in the mid-sixties; most active musically in that decade and the 1970s, she has continued recording into the 21st century...
, released in 1975 on Between the Lines (her seventh studio album) and as a single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
. Ian's most successful recording, the song is a commentary on adolescent cruelty
Cruelty
Cruelty can be described as indifference to suffering, and even positive pleasure in inflicting it. If this is supported by a legal or social framework, then receives the name of perversion. Sadism can also be related to this form of action or concept....
, the illusion of popularity
Popularity
Popularity is the quality of being well-liked or common, or having a high social status. Popularity figures are an important part of many people's personal value systems and form a vital component of success in people-oriented fields such as management, politics, and entertainment, among...
, and teenage angst
Angst
Angst is an English, German, Danish, Norwegian and Dutch word for fear or anxiety . It is used in English to describe an intense feeling of apprehension, anxiety or inner turmoil...
, as reflected upon from the maturity of adulthood. It is told from the point of view of a woman who was an "ugly duckling" as a girl and ignored in high school while the popular (albeit shallow
Superficial
Superficial may refer to:*Superficial , an album by Heidi Montag*"Superficial" *The Superficial, a website devoted to celebrity gossip...
) girls got all of the attention.
Background
Janis Ian, then 22, wrote "At Seventeen" in 1973 at her mother's house over the course of three months. In her autobiography Society's Child, Ian says that the song was inspired by a newspaper article about a former teenage debutante who learned the hard way that being popular did not solve all her problems. The article included the quote, "I learned the truth at eighteen"; Ian found that the word "seventeen" worked better than "eighteen" when she tried to put this lyric with the Bossa NovaBossa Nova
Bossa Nova may refer to:*Bossa nova, a style of music*Bossa Nova , a dance form associated with the music*Bossa Nova , a 2000 film*Bossa Nova - album by John Pizzarelli...
-style melody she had been composing on guitar. She also says she initially did not want to record or perform the song because she felt it was far too personal to share, but eventually changed her mind after adding the song's final verse ("To those of us who knew the pain/Of Valentines that never came…").
Promoting the song was challenging, as it was longer than most radio hits and packed with lyrics. Along with the promotions team at her record company, Ian decided that their best chance to market the song was to promote it to women, which was no easy task when so many radio stations were controlled by men. Ian did a grueling series of daytime talk shows for six months before she was granted an appearance on The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. It is the longest currently running regularly scheduled entertainment program in the United States, and the third longest-running show on NBC, after Meet the Press and Today.The Tonight Show has been hosted by...
where she performed the song and it took off.
"At Seventeen," released as the second single from Between the Lines, became Ian's first national hit single since her first hit "Society's Child (Baby I've Been Thinking)" in 1967. The single version omitted the longer instrumental verse and chorus because it was considered too long and it was feared that the radio stations would refuse to play it. It peaked at #1 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart and at #3 on the Pop Singles chart in September 1975. It also won a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance is the latest in a series of awards recognizing superior vocal performance by a female in the pop category, the first of which was presented in 1959. The award goes to the artist...
in 1976, beating out the likes of Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt is an American popular music recording artist. She has earned eleven Grammy Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, an ALMA Award, numerous United States and internationally certified gold, platinum and multiplatinum albums, in addition to Tony Award and Golden...
, Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John AO, OBE is a singer and actress. She is a four-time Grammy award winner who has amassed five No. 1 and ten other Top Ten Billboard Hot 100 singles and two No. 1 Billboard 200 solo albums. Eleven of her singles and 14 of her albums have been certified gold by the RIAA...
, and Helen Reddy
Helen Reddy
Helen Reddy , often referred to as "The Queen of 70s Pop", is an Australian-American singer and actress. In the 1970s, she enjoyed international success, especially in the United States, where she placed fifteen singles in the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100. Six of those 15 songs made the Top 10...
and was nominated for "Record of the Year" and "Song of the Year".
Ian performed "At Seventeen" as a musical guest on the very first episode of Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
in October 1975.
The song's parent album, Between the Lines, also hit #1 and earned a platinum certification for sales of one million copies. Another measure of her success is anecdotal — on Valentine's Day 1977, Ian received 461 Valentine cards, having indicated in the lyrics to "At Seventeen" that she never received any as a teenager.
In Films and Television Programs
"At Seventeen" is featured in the movie Scotland, Pa.Scotland, Pa.
Scotland, PA is a 2001 film directed and written by Billy Morrissette based on William Shakespeare's Macbeth. The film stars James LeGros, Maura Tierney and Christopher Walken...
(2001) and can also be heard playing in the background in one scene in the 2004 movie Mean Girls
Mean Girls
Mean Girls is a 2004 American teen comedy-drama film directed by Mark Waters. The screenplay was written by Tina Fey and is based in part on the non-fiction book Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman, which describes how female high school social cliques operate and the effect they can have...
. The movie, which features a character named "Janis Ian", addresses the topic of teenage cruelty and alienation. "At Seventeen" is also mentioned in Jeffrey Eugenides
Jeffrey Eugenides
Jeffrey Kent Eugenides is an American Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and short story writer. Eugenides is most known for his first two novels, The Virgin Suicides and Middlesex . His novel The Marriage Plot was published in October, 2011.-Life and career:Eugenides was born in Detroit, Michigan,...
's 1993 novel The Virgin Suicides
The Virgin Suicides
The Virgin Suicides is the 1993 debut novel by American writer Jeffrey Eugenides. The story, which is set in Grosse Pointe, Michigan during the 1970s, centers on the suicides of five sisters. The Lisbon girls' suicides fascinate their community as their neighbors struggle to find an explanation for...
, where the song is used by four girls imprisoned in their own home and essentially cut off from normal adolescent experiences to communicate with the narrator and his friends. The song is featured in The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
episodes "A Streetcar Named Marge
A Streetcar Named Marge
"A Streetcar Named Marge" is the second episode of The Simpsons fourth season. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 1, 1992. In the episode, Marge wins the role of Blanche DuBois in a musical version of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire...
", "El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer (The Mysterious Voyage of Homer)
El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer (The Mysterious Voyage of Homer)
"El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer '", also known as The Mysterious Voyage of Our Homer, is the ninth episode of the eighth season of The Simpsons, which originally aired January 5, 1997...
", and "Chief of Hearts
Chief of Hearts
"Chief of Hearts" is the eighteenth episode of The Simpsons twenty-first season. It aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 18, 2010....
". In the 30 Rock
30 Rock
30 Rock is an American television comedy series created by Tina Fey that airs on NBC. The series is loosely based on Fey's experiences as head writer for Saturday Night Live...
episode "The Break-Up," Tina Fey's character sings "At Seventeen" at a karaoke club.
Studio albums
- Hong Kong singer Rowena Cortes covered the song in her 1976 debut album Rowena Cortes (PHLP7616, House Records).
- Canadian singer Tara MacLeanTara MacLeanTara MacLean is a Canadian singer and songwriter...
covered the song on the soundtrack of the 1999 movie Teaching Mrs. TingleTeaching Mrs. TingleTeaching Mrs. Tingle is a 1999 black comedy film and the directing debut of screenwriter Kevin Williamson. The film stars Helen Mirren, Katie Holmes, Marisa Coughlan, Barry Watson and Jeffrey Tambor and was released on August 20, 1999. It was originally titled Killing Mrs...
. - Dutch singer Astrid Nijgh recorded a Dutch version of the song, titled "Zeventien" ("Seventeen") in 1976, translated by Herman Pieter de Boer.
- David SanbornDavid SanbornDavid Sanborn is an American alto saxophonist. Though Sanborn has worked in many genres, his solo recordings typically blend jazz with instrumental pop and R&B. He released his first solo album Taking Off in 1975, but has been playing the saxophone since before he was in high school...
recorded an instrumental version of the song in 1977. - French singer Claude FrancoisClaude FrançoisClaude François was a French pop singer, songwriter and dancer. He wrote "Comme d'habitude," the original version of "My Way."-Early life:...
recorded a French version of the song, titled "17 ans" in 1977. - Taiwanese singer ChyiChyi YuChyi Yu , is a Taiwanese singer. She is also the older sister of Taiwanese singer songwriter Chyi Chin, and is best known for her 1979 hit, "The Olive Tree" .-Discography:*1979 橄欖樹 *1982 祝福*1983 你是我所有的回憶*1984 有一個人...
covered the song in her 1999 English album C'est La Vie. - New Zealand singer Amber Claire released a cover of the song for her debut album "Love and Such" by Sony BMG New Zealand. This single went to position 6 on the New Zealand charts in 2004.
- Irish singer Aoife Ní Fhearraigh covers the song on her album The Turning of the TideThe Turning Of The TideThe Turning Of The Tide is an album by Irish singer Aoife.-Track listing:# Caledonia# Both Sides Now# After the Goldrush# Danny Boy# Maggie# Turn Turn Turn# Bonny Portmore# Ready For the Storm# Neidín# If You Love Me# Never Be the Sun...
, released in 2003. - Canadian folk singer Jann ArdenJann ArdenJann Arden is a Canadian singer-songwriter.-Life and career:Arden was born and raised near Calgary in Springbank, Alberta and attended Springbank Community High School. Her breakthrough came with her critically acclaimed 1993 debut album Time for Mercy and her first single "I Would Die For You"...
covered the song as the second singleSingle (music)In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
from her 2007 album Uncover MeUncover MeUncover Me is the seventh album from Canadian singer-songwriter Jann Arden, released in 2007. "Counterfeit Heart" is the only track written by Jann Arden . Three additional tracks from these sessions, "Moon River", "What the World Needs Now", and "End of the World", are available from her Myspace...
. - Finnish singer Virve "Vicky" Rosti recorded a version titled "Kun nuori on" in 1975 with Finnish lyrics by Juha "Junnu" VainioJuha VainioJuha Harri "Junnu" Vainio, also known as Juha "Watt" Vainio was a Finnish lyricist, singer, composer and teacher. With the lyrics or music to over 2,400 songs to his name, Vainio is as one of Finland's most prolific lyricists along with Reino Helismaa and Vexi Salmi...
. - Danish singer songwriter Pia Raug recorded a Danish language version of the song, titled "Seksten år" (16 years), on her 1978 album Hej lille drøm. She wrote the Danish language lyrics herself.
Live performances
- French-Canadian singer Céline DionCeline DionCéline Marie Claudette Dion, , , is a Canadian singer. Born to a large family from Charlemagne, Quebec, Dion emerged as a teen star in the French-speaking world after her manager and future husband René Angélil mortgaged his home to finance her first record...
covered the song for the first time live in tribute to Janis Ian on the 2008 Grammy Nominations TV special. In 2011, Dion included the song as part of her Las Vegas residency show, Céline.
ParodyParodyA parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
Ian appeared on The Howard Stern Radio Show in 1993 and performed the song albeit with different lyricsLyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
to poke fun at the May-December romance of Jerry Seinfeld
Jerry Seinfeld
Jerome Allen "Jerry" Seinfeld is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and television and film producer, known for playing a semi-fictional version of himself in the situation comedy Seinfeld , which he co-created and co-wrote with Larry David, and, in the show's final two seasons,...
and Shoshana Lonstein.
Influences
At17At17
at17 , consist of Eman Lam and Ellen Joyce Loo, is a Hong Kong based Cantopop and folktronica girl band managed under production company People Mountain People Sea.-Biography:...
, a Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
music group, is named after the song. The girl-duo also sang a cover of the song in Cantonese
Cantonese
Cantonese is a dialect spoken primarily in south China.Cantonese may also refer to:* Yue Chinese, the Chinese language that includes Cantonese* Cantonese cuisine, the cuisine of Guangdong province...
.
External links
- At Seventeen lyrics, janisian.com