When you're a skinny child of fifteen
Wide with braces from ear to ear
You doubt that you will ever be appealing
Then Hallelujah, you are sixteen
And the braces disappear
And your skin is smooth and clear
And you have that happy grown-up female feeling

How lovely to be a woman
The wait was well worth while
How lovely to wear mascara
And smile a woman's smile
How lovely to have a figure
That's round instead of flat
Whenever you hear boys whistle
You're what they're whistling at

It's wonderful to feel
The way a woman feels
It gives you such a glow just to know
You're wearing lipstick and heels
How lovely to be a woman
And have one job to do
To pick out a boy and train him
And then when you are through
You've made him the man you want him to be
How lovely to be a woman like me

How wonderful to know
The things a woman knows
How marvelous to wait for a date
In simply beautiful clothes
How lovely to be a woman
And change from boys to men
To go to a fancy nightclub
And stay out after ten
How lovely to be so grown-up and free
Life's lovely when you're a woman like me

Copyright: Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Writer(s): Charles Strouse, Lee Adams