Fancy

Well, 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

My mama washed and combed and curled my hair

And then she painted my eyes and lips (lips), then I stepped into a satin

Dancin' dress that had a split from 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

Then she kissed my cheek

And 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 runned 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, it 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

It wasn't very long 'til I knew exactly

What my mama been talkin' about

I knew what I had to do when I made myself this solemn vow

That I's gonna be a lady someday

Though I don'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 streets

One week later, I was pourin' his tea

In a five room hotel suite (yes she was)

I charmed a king, a congressman

And an occasional aristocrat

And then I got me a Georgia mansion

And an elegant New York townhouse flat

And I ain't done bad (she ain't done bad)

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

That'd 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 nigh 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

Oh, 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 hun

Your mama's gonna move you uptown"

Oh and I guess she did