THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.
353-Janis Ian-At Seventeen.
1975-Number 54 single.
Best Bit-At 0.47. In the wonderful world of Pop music it is amazing how often the Number 17 occurs, for instance the Beatles saw her standing there, while Joan Jett saw him standing there by the record machine. For Frank Sinatra it was a very good year, and Bobby Goldsbro became a man, (see also best songs 942) but the most famous 17 of them all of course is ‘The Dancing Queen’ (see also best songs 44.)
Janis Ian was born Janis Eddy Fink on April 7th, 1951, in Farmingdale, New Jersey, United States, in 1964 she legally changed her surname to Ian, taking her brother Eric’s middle name. As well as being a singer/songwriter in the genres of ‘Folk,’ and ‘Soft Rock,’ Janis Ian is also an author of Science Fiction, and has had books published. At the age of 13 she wrote the song ‘Society’s Child (Baby I’ve Been Thinking,’) which would eventually become her first hit when reaching Number 14 on Billboard in America in 1967. The song is considered to be ground breaking, as it’s subject matter concerned the relationship between an interracial couple, and the effect it had on their family and friends. Even so many radio stations refused to play the song it still managed to eventually become a hit. In 1973, in more enlightened times, a song with similar subject matter, ‘Brother Louie,’ by the ‘Stories,’ reached Number 1 on Billboard (see also best songs 864.) The discography of Janis Ian includes 23 studio Albums released between 1967-2022, and 31 singles released between 1967-2024, there are also 15 official compilation Albums, and five live Albums available. In America her 1975 Album ‘Between the Lines,’ is her most successful, reaching Number 1 on the Billboard 200 Album chart in 1975, and at the time of writing has sold just short of two million copies in the United States. On the Billboard Hot 100, two of her singles have reached the top 40, ‘Society’s Child (Baby I’ve Been Thinking’) (1967-Number 14) and ‘At Seventeen,’ (1975-Number 3) while in the UK she has never had a top 40 single, although two of her tracks have both stalled at Number 44.
‘At Seventeen’ was the second of three singles released from ‘Between the Lines,’ the seventh studio Album by Janis Ian, from March 1975, the song was written by Janis Ian, with the production being by Brooks Arthur (1936-2022.) Brooks Arthur was a highly respected producer who engineered hits including Neil Diamond’s ‘Sweet Caroline,’ (see also best songs 13) and Van Morrison’s ‘Brown Eyed Girl,’ on which he can also be heard providing backing vocals, he was also the engineer on Janis Ian’s breakthrough song ‘Society’s Child (Baby I’ve Been Thinking.’) Brooks Arthur was the producer of all of the American actor and comedian Adam Sandler’s five comedy studio Albums between 1993-2004, and won three ‘Grammy’ awards from 20 nominations during his career.
‘At Seventeen’ and ‘Society’s Child (Baby I’ve Been Thinking’) are both considered to be the ‘signature songs’ of Janis Ian. A signature song is the one song, or in some cases, one of a few songs that a popular and well established recording artist or group is most closely identified with, or best known for. Often a signature song will feature significant characteristics of an artist, and may encapsulate the artist’s particular sound and style. Artists and bands with a signature song are generally expected to perform it at every concert appearance, often as an encore on concert tours, and sometimes being the last song of the set-list. There are many ‘signature songs’ in the ‘1000 Best Songs’ list, including ABBA, ‘Dancing Queen,’ (see also best songs 44) Bill Haley & His Comets, ‘Rock Around the Clock,’ (see also best songs 628) Lynyrd Skynyrd, ‘Free Bird,’ (see also best songs 12) and Kylie Minogue, ‘Can’t Get You Out of My Head’ (see also best songs 928.)
Janis Ian first got the idea for ‘At Seventeen’ after reading an article in the ‘New York Times’ about an 18 year old woman who believed her life would improve after attending a debutante ball, but it didn’t. This led to Ian thinking back on her own similar personal experiences as a young teenager, she chose the age of 17 as it fit well into the song. Janis Ian has said, ‘I wrote the first verse and chorus and it was so brutally honest. It’s hard to imagine now but people weren’t writing that type of song then. I was coming out of listening to people like Billie Holiday and Nina Simone, who did write those kind of songs, but pop music and folk music really didn’t. I remember thinking I couldn’t blow this because it really was going to be a good song. I put it away for three weeks and it took about three months to write the whole thing. I couldn’t figure out the ending, I couldn’t figure out what to do with her, then I thought I would recap it, bring myself into it and bring it into the past.’
‘At Seventeen’ is a song about the illusion of popularity, society’s beauty standards, and adolescent cruelty as told from the point of view of a woman who was an ‘Ugly Duckling’ as a girl in high school, while the popular girls got all the attention. Janis Ian has also said, ‘To me it’s not a depressing song, it says ‘Ugly Duckling girls like me,’ and to me the Ugly Duckling always turns into a swan. It offers hope that there is a world out there of people who understand.’ It is said that for the first six months that Janis Ian performed the song, she closed her eyes as she sang it. She feared the audience would laugh at her because of the personal nature of the lyrics.
‘And those of us with ravaged faces, lacking in the social graces, desperately remained at home, inventing lovers on the phone.’