Songfacts®:

• This is one of Harry Chapin's songs with lyrics written by his wife, Sandy. She told us about this song: "It was a real life story. Jamie, who is the eldest of my five children, was probably 12-13 years old. We never had any closed doors in the house, and then all of a sudden she'd be going in her room and closing the door. You know, just acting like a teenage girl. But she was writing in a diary, she was turning from a tomboy into a little pre-teen. I know when I was writing the story, I was writing about Jamie, but I was always thinking, Well, nobody's really interested in songs like this. People are interested in stories about, 'I love you and you love me.' And I thought, How can I write this song so it works both ways? But of course it really was about a girl turning into a woman." (Read more about Harry in our interview with Sandy Chapin.)