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 forgiveme 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