Fancy

I remember it all very well looking back
Was the summer I turned eighteen
We lived in a one room, worn-out shack
On the outskirts of New Orleans
We didn't have money for food or rent
To say the least we was hard-pressed
And 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
Stepped into a satin dancin' dress
That had a slit in the side clean up to my hips
It was red velvet trimming and it fit me good
Staring back from the looking glass
There stood a woman where a half-grown boy had stood

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
I could see the tears welling 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 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-heeled shoe
It sounded like somebody else that was talking
Asking, "Mama what do I do?"
She said, "Just be nice to the gentlemen, Fancy, they'll be nice to you"

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
Don't let me down now, your mama's gonna move you uptown

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 till I knew
Exactly what my mama'd been talking about
I knew what I had to do
But I made myself this solemn vow
Said I was gonna be a lady someday
Though it didn't matter when or how
I couldn't see spending the rest of my life
With my head held down in shame
You know, I might've 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
One week later I was pouring his tea
In a five-room hotel suite
I charmed a king, a congressman
And the occasional aristocrat
I got me a Georgia mansion
And an elegant New York townhouse flat and I ain't done bad

Now in this life
There's a lot of self-righteous hypocrites that call me bad
And criticize mama for turning me out
No matter how little we had
And though I ain't had to worry 'bout nothin'
For now on fifteen years
I can still hear the desperation in my poor mama's voice
Ringing 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
Don't let me down now, your mama's gonna move you Uptown