“Seventeen” by Sharon Van Etten (Music Video)

“Seventeen” by Sharon Van Etten
from REMIND ME TOMORROW

“Seventeen” is an insanely powerful song about how much growing old blows. It feels like you can your past self so clearly sometimes, it’s a struggle to remember why we can’t just reach back into the past and make better choice. Nobody has a clue how fleeting it all is at that age. We might think we understand what it means to grow old and die, but it’s only a matter of time before life finds a way to put our egos in check. Only a lucky few of us make it to adulthood without regret. It’s hard not to get mad when you think about how young and stupid we used to be. This song is such a perfect expression of this feeling.

Van Etten alternates between singing “You’re just seventeen” as an admonishment to a younger self who isn’t listening to singing “I used to be seventeen” as a reminder to an older self who seems to have forgotten. The futility of it all only apparent as she watches her younger self make the same mistakes.

BONUS POINTS:
Check out her killer live performance of “Seventeen” at Glastonbury earlier this year.