Seventeen[1] is a song by The Midnight. It is the fourth track from their album Monsters.
Track info
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The song was written by band members Tim McEwan and Tyler Lyle and produced by McEwan. The lead guitar solo on Seventeen was performed by Daniel Heløy Davidsen. It has a running time of four minutes and two seconds and is in the key of D major.
In an interview with Magnetic Magazine, the band described the themes of the song, its lyrical inspiration, and its evolution:[2] <blockquote>
Tim: This is perhaps the most nostalgic song on the album for me. It was the track that took the longest to get right because it was early on in the process and it set the tone for a lot of the other tracks on the album. I wanted to drench the listener in nostalgia and wistfulness. Memories of being young and falling in love for the first time. The kind of all-consuming love that makes you want to run away together. Like it’s you against the world. I wanted to create a ton of space around Tyler’s voice so the focus was solely on the story.
Tyler: The first sketches of this song started in Laurel Canyon in my first months in LA. I was in the midst of heartbreak and in the perfect place to write a wounded, backward look at love. That song survived in many different forms (the way a lot of songs do) over the years, and found its way pretty quickly and effortlessly onto this album. It serves as a voice of what’s to come.</blockquote>
Seventeen is referenced later on Monsters in city_dreams_interlude, where the pitched vocals from the chorus can be heard towards the end.
Demo version
An early demo of Seventeen was released as a prize during the Fall 2020 alternate reality game (ARG). Titled 17 (Atlanta demo), the overall sound is similar to the final version of the song, but the instrumentation is different and more guitar-driven. Some of the instrumentation heard is used on City Dreams, which itself is a callback to Seventeen. There is no guitar solo, and the pitched/chopped vocals in the chorus sound slightly different from the final. Aside from some small differences, Tyler Lyle's vocal track appears to be unchanged. The rendition of Seventeen performed during the Fall 2019 bears a closer resemblance to this demo compared to the final version.[3]
Lyrics
I was a runaway and you were a Queen
Our tongues tied in the mezzanine We were free
No strings on you no strings on me
>
I was a cannonball and you were the sea
When I crashed into your blue dream We were free
Time takes no prisoners, you’ll see
>
When you’re seventeen
The thought of a spark could start a fire Tube top and faded jeans How we forget how we desire
Seventeen
>
We were seventeen We had city dreams
>
I was a runaway and you were a jewel
It was Paradise in the land of fools We were free No strings on you no strings on me Free
Time takes no prisoners, you’ll see
>
When you’re seventeen
The thought of a spark could start a fire Tube top and faded jeans How we forget how we desire
Seventeen
>
We were seventeen We had city dreams
Lyrics source[4]