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

And Mama'd 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 grown kid

had stood



She said now here's your one chance Fancy don't let

me down

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



Mama dabbed a little bit of perfume on my neck

And she kissed my cheek

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

When 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 accross

The toe of my high heeled 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

And it wasn't very long 'til I knew exactly

What my Mama'd been talkin' about



I knew what I had to do and I made myself this

solemn vow

I's gonna be a lady someday although 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



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

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, congressman

And an occasional aristocrat

Then I got me a Georgia mansion

And an elegant New York townhouse flat

And I ain't done bad



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

hypocrites

Who call me bad

They 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

I can still hear the desperation in my poor

Mama's voice ringin' in my ear



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

You Mama's gonna move you uptown



And well I guess she did