Seventeen – Revisiting the Post

     We’ve written about 17 being the most significant age from a lyrical perspective. The first song on the Beatles’ first album began “Well, she was just 17” (“I Saw Her Standing There”). This is a quick update of the original 17-specific post (if you’re interested, CLICK HERE).
 
     Sam Fender is preparing for the October release of his album “Seventeen Going Under.” The title track of the album has the feel of a letter to himself. He explains:
  “Seventeen is when all the challenges begin; you’re not a baby, but you’re definitely not an adult (turns out that bit takes a lot longer than you think).”
 
     Seventeen Going Under” by Sam Fender

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/samfender
Website: https://www.samfender.com/
 
Lyrics of Seventeen Going Under” by Sam Fender
I remember the sickness was forever
I remember snuff videos
Cold Septembers, the distances we covered
The fist fights on the beach, the bizzies round us up
Do it all again next week
Embryonic love
The first time that it scarred
Embarrass yourself for someone
Crying like a child
And the boy who kicked Tom’s head in
Still bugs me now
That’s the thing it lingers
And claws you when you’re down
 
I was far too scared to hit him
But I would hit him in a heartbeat now
That’s the thing with anger
It begs to stick around
So it can fleece you of your beauty
And leave you spent with nowt to offer
It makes you hurt the ones who love you
You hurt them like they’re nothing
 
You hurt them like they’re nothing
You hurt them like they’re nothing
 
See I spent my teens enraged
Spiraling in silence
And arm myself with a grin
Cause I was always the fuckin’ joker
Buried in the humor
Amongst the white noise and boys’ boys
Locker room talkin’ lads’ lads
Drenched in cheap drink and snide fags
A mirrored picture of my old man
Oh God, the kid’s a dab hand
Canny chanter but he looks sad
God, the kid looks so sad
 
God, the kid looks so sad
 
She said the debt, the debt, the debt
So I thought about shifting gear
And how she wept and wept and wept
Luck came and died round here
 
I see my mother
The DWP see a number
She cries on the floor encumbered
I’m seventeen going under
I’m seventeen going under
 
I’m seventeen going under
I’m seventeen going under
Seventeen going under
 

      We respect song covers, but don’t normally post them. An exception is when the cover takes a song in a different direction. That is the case with Alex Harry in his cover of the Stevie Nicks single from 1981. The original had a darkness, since it was written by Nicks to express her grief of the death of her uncle and the assassination of John Lennon in the final month of 1980. But the 2021 cover amplifies the darkness, and does so in a tasteful manner. The pain is much more apparent in the version of Alex Harry

“Edge of Seventeen” by Alex Harry

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alexharrymusic