Fancy (Mono Radio Edit)

Lyrics

[Verse 1] I remember it all very well lookin' back It was the summer I turned 18 We lived in a one-room, run down shack On the outskirts of New Orleans [Verse 2] We didn't have money for food or rent To say the least we were hard-pressed Then Momma spent every last penny we had To buy me a dancin' dress [Verse 3] Momma washed and combed and curled my hair And she painted my eyes and lips (Yeah) And then I stepped into my satin dancin' dress It was split on the side clean up to my hips [Verse 4] It was red, velvet-trimmed And fit me good And starin' back from lookin' glass was a woman Where a half-grow'd kid had stood [Chorus] "Here's your one chance, Fancy, don't let me down Here's your one chance, Fancy, don't let me down" [Verse 5] Momma dabbed a little bit of perfume On my neck and she kissed my cheek Then I saw the tears well up In her troubled eyes when she started to speak [Verse 6] She looked at our pitiful shack and then She looked at me and took a ragged breath "Your Pa's run off, and I'm real sick And the baby's gonna starve to death" [Verse 7] 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 [Verse 8] It sounded like somebody else that was talkin' Askin', "Momma, what do I do?" "Just be nice to the gentlemen, Fancy And they'll be nice to you" [Chorus] "Here's your one chance, Fancy, don't let me down Here's your one chance, Fancy, don't let me down" [Bridge] "Lord, forgive me for what I do (Please) But if you want out, well, it's up to you Now, get on out, girl You better start movin' uptown" [Verse 9] Well, that was the last time I saw my Ma The night I left that rickety shack 'Cause the welfare people came and took the baby Momma died and I ain't been back [Verse 10] 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 momma been talkin' about [Verse 11] I did what I had to do But I made myself this solemn vow That I was gonna to be a lady someday Though I didn't know when or how [Verse 12] I couldn't see spendin' the rest of my life With my head hung down in shame I mighta been born just plain "white trash" But Fancy was my name [Chorus] "Here's your one chance, Fancy, don't let me down Here's your one chance, Fancy, don't let me down" [Verse 13] 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 (Yes, she was) [Verse 14] Well, I've charmed a king, a congressman And an occasional aristocrat And I got me a Georgia mansion And an elegant New York townhouse flat And I ain't done bad