Fancy

I remember it all very well lookin' back

It was the summer I turned eighteen

We lived in a one room rundown shack

On the outskirts of New Orleans

We didn't have money for food or rent

To say the least we were hard pressed

Then mama spent every last penny we had

To buy me a dancin' dress

Mama washed and combed and curled my hair

And she painted my eyes and lips

Then I stepped into a satin

Dancin' dress that had a split on

The side clean up to my hip

It was red velvet trim and it fit me good

Standin' back from the lookin' glass

There stood a woman where a half gown kid had stood

She said here's your one chance fancy don't let me down

She said here's your one chance fancy don't let me down

Mama dabbed a little bit of perfume on my neck

And then she kissed my cheek

Then I saw the tears wellin' up in her troubled eyes

As she started to speak

She looked at our pitiful shack

And then she looked at me and took a ragged

Breath

She said your pa's run'd off and I'm real sick

And the baby's gonna starve to death

She handed me a heart shaped locket that said

To thine own self be true

And I shivered as I watched a roach crawl across

The toe of my high heel shoe

It sounded like somebody else that was talkin'

Askin' mama what do I do

She said just be nice to the gentlemen fancy

They'll be nice to you

She said here's your one chance fancy don't let me down

Here's your one chance fancy don't let me down

Lord forgive me for what I do but if you

Want out well it's up to you

Now don't let me down now your mama's gonna move

You uptown

Well that was the last time I saw my ma

The night I left that rickety shack

The welfare people came and took the baby

Mama died and I ain't been back

But the wheels of fate had started to turn

And for me there was no way out

When they long 'till I knew exactly

What my mama'd been talkin' about

I knew what I had to do

And I made myself this solemn vow

That I's gonna be a lady someday

Though I didn't know when or how

But I couldn't see spending the rest of my life

With my head hung down in shame

You know I might have been born just plain white trash

But fancy was my name

She said here's your one chance fancy don't let me

Down

She said here's your one chance fancy don't let me

Down

It wasn't long after a benevolent man

Took me in off the street

And one week later I was pourin' his tea

In a five room hotel suite

I charmed a king a congressman and an occasional aristocrat

Then I got me a Georgia mansion

In an legant New York townhouse flat

And I ain't done bad

Now in this world there's a lot of self righteous

Hiypocrits that would call me bad

And criticize mama for turning me out

No matter how little we had

But though I ain't had to worry 'bout nothin'

For now on fifteen years

Well I can still hear the desperation in my poor

Mama's voice ringin' in my ears

Here's your one chance fancy don't let me down

Here's your one chance fancy don't let me down

Lord forgive me for what I do but if you

Want out well it's up to you

Now don't let me down hon your mama's gonna move

You uptown

Oh and I guess she did