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It Was a Very Good Year Lyrics
When I was seventeen
It was a very good year
It was a very good year for small town girls
And soft summer nights
Wed hide from the lights
On the village green
When I was seventeen
When I was twenty-one
It was a very good year
It was a very good year for city girls
Who lived up the stair
With all that perfumed hair
And it came undone
When I was twenty-one
When I was thirty-five
It was a very good year
It was a very good year for blue-blooded girls
Of independent means
Wed ride in limousines
Their chauffeurs would drive
When I was thirty-five
But now the days grow short
I'm in the autumn of the year
And now I think of my life as vintage wine
from fine old kegs
from the brim to the dregs
And it poured sweet and clear
It was a very good year
It was a mess of good years
It was a very good year
It was a very good year for small town girls
And soft summer nights
Wed hide from the lights
On the village green
When I was seventeen
It was a very good year
It was a very good year for city girls
Who lived up the stair
With all that perfumed hair
And it came undone
When I was twenty-one
It was a very good year
It was a very good year for blue-blooded girls
Of independent means
Wed ride in limousines
Their chauffeurs would drive
When I was thirty-five
I'm in the autumn of the year
And now I think of my life as vintage wine
from fine old kegs
from the brim to the dregs
And it poured sweet and clear
It was a very good year
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TW: Mention of rape and murder\nI’ve read that this song is supposed to be a happy lighthearted song about an aging man reminiscing about his many romantic experiences but when when I heard The Turtles’ rendition of it, I didn’t get that impression at all. I immediately thought it was about a serial killer or rapist. The “small town girls” and “city girls” are actually women he murdered. The line “we’d hide from the lights” suggested to me that he would lure these women away from anyone who might witness and then kill them. And the lines “With perfumed hair/That came undone” could mean that their hair would become loose as he attacked and eventually murdered them. The last part about aging like fine wine could mean that as an old man he doesn’t regret his actions and seems proud of them. I think the maniacal sounding repetition of the line “It was a very good year” really gives the song a creepy vibe. I wonder if it was intentionally made that way by The Turtles.