Sixteen Going on Seventeen (Reprise)
Lyrics By Oscar Hammerstein II Music By Richard Rodgers
In the reprise of “Sixteen Going on Seventeen,” Maria, just home from her honeymoon with the Captain, encourages Liesl to “wait a year or two” in her relationship with Rolf. The reprise contains a special verse: “A bell is no bell till you ring it, a song is no song till you sing it, and love in your heart wasn’t put there to stay. Love isn’t love till you give it away.”
Listen
"Sixteen Going on Seventeen (Reprise)" Lyrics
Maria:
A bell is no bell till you ring it,
A song is no song till you sing it,
And love in your heart
Wasn’t put there to stay—
Love isn’t love
Till you give it away.
When you’re sixteen going on seventeen,
Waiting for life to start,
Somebody kind
Who touches your mind
Will suddenly touch your heart!
Liesl:
When that happens, after it happens,
Nothing is quite the same.
Somehow you know
You’ll jump up and go
If ever he calls your name!
Maria:
Gone are your old ideas of life,
The old ideas grow dim—
Lo and behold, you’re someone’s wife,
And you belong to him!
You may think this kind of adventure
Never may come to you...
Darling sixteen-going-on-seventeen,
Wait a year or two.
Liesl:
I’ll wait a year
Both:
Just wait a year or two.
“Sixteen Going On Seventeen (Reprise)” (Rodgers/Hammerstein II)
© 1959, Copyright Renewed, Williamson Music Company (ASCAP) c/o Concord Music Publishing.
All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission.