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
Marries into what she needs
With a guarantee of company
And haven for the elderly...

So remember those who win the game
Lose the love they sought to gain
In debitures 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
We cheat ourselves at solitaire
Inventing lovers on the phone
Repenting other lives unknown
That call and say: "Come on, dance with me"
And murmur vague obscenities
At ugly girls like me,
At seventeen...

And those of us with big boned faces,
Lacking in those feminine graces,
Desperately remain at home
To wear a dress while you are gone,
And pretend to dance with easy grace
'Til that look of horror on you face.
“This isn't what it seems.”
My broken dreams...

A trollish form in borrowed clothes,
A floral dress and laddered hose,
Said, “Forgive me please these clothes I wear.”
Collapsed in wretchedness and despair.
Relationship is ended now,
A marriage gone, a broken vow,
An empty apartment's all that's left
Of a life once shared and now bereft.

Can't you understand, when I play the game,
Pretending I am just the same
As the guy you wish I really were,
That deep inside I'm also her?
Your blinkered eyes can't quite see
The man outside isn't all of me.
The girl also wants to be free;
She's part of me...

All alone and missing you.
Sad for what I've put you through.
Sadder still you can't accept
The girl inside who's always wept
For the love for you she couldn't share,
The longing to lay her soul bare,
The dream of being cherished too.
Too much to ask? I guess I knew.

Life goes on but on my own,
There's an emptiness that's grown and grown.
It goes deeper than my love for you,
It's a need to be accepted too.
It cries out in pain: “Please love me,
I'm a person, not an obscenity.”
Mixed up guys like me,
We're in between...