The Sound Of Music – Sixteen Going On Seventeen lyrics

The Sound Of Music – Sixteen Going On Seventeen lyrics

(Rolf)
You wait little girl
On an empty stage
For fate to turn the light on

Your life little girl
Is an empty page
That men will want to write on

(Liesl)
To write on

(Rolf)
You are 16 going on 17
Baby it's time to think
Better beware
Be canny and careful
Baby you're on the brink

You are 16 going on 17
Fellows will fall in line
Eager young lads
And grueways and cads
Will offer you food and wine

Totally unprepared are you
To face a world of men
Timid and shy and scared are you
Of things beyond your kin

You need someone
Older and wiser
Telling you what to do
I am 17 going on 18
I'll take care of you

(Liesl)
I am 16 going on 17
I know that I'm naive
Fellows I meet may tell me I'm sweet
And willingly I believe

I am 16 going on 17 innocent as a rose
Bachelor dandies
Drinkers of brandies
What do I know of those?

Totally unprepared am I
To face a world of men
Timid and shy and scared am I
Of things beyond my kin

I need someone
Older and wiser
Telling me what to do
You are 17 going on 18
I'll depend on you

Lyrics taken from /lyrics/t/the_sound_of_music/sixteen_going_on_seventeen.html

Corrected by Zeldalover1116

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Sixteen Going On Seventeen meanings

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+ 16
Unregistered 2013-11-04 03:07:40

This song is about how liesl is growing up and she wants (and thinks that she needs) someone to depend on. She believes that rolf is the person whom she should depend on, and he believes she should depend on him. Though the lyrics talk about dependency, I believe the song, at least in the context of the movie, is about expressing love in a very teenage-roundabout way. In regards to the unregistered comment in december about the word "kin": it does not mean knowledge, rather it means family. She is supposedly afraid of people she is not used to being around (aka people who are not her family. Hope this helps!

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+ 13
Unregistered 2016-06-17 20:31:56

The lyrics are incorrect. The word is "ken" which means knowledge or range of vision. The phrase "beyond your ken" is quite common. The previous commenter is correct about the definition of "kin" being family, but "kin" is not what Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote. The lyric is "ken." She is not "afraid of people she is not used to being around," but rather is unsure of things beyond her knowledge and experience so far in life.

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+ 2
Unregistered 2019-09-25 13:47:16

I have never heard of the word 'grueways". However, the lyric should read "roues" - pronounced roo-ays. A ROUE is a dirty, old man by definition. I keep seeing weird words for this lyric, so obviously, it's not in the vernacular anymore.
Also, KEN is correct.
Basing this off the sheet music we used in a production I was in many years ago. When you could only use the original sheet music (before the internet allowed mistakes to be broadcast everywhere).

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