Fancy

I remember it all very well lookin' back It was the summer I turned eighteen We lived in a one-room, run down 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 Momma spent every last penny we had To buy me a dancin' dress Momma washed and combed and curled my hair And she painted my eyes and lips Then I stepped into the satin dancin' dress It was split in the side clean up to my hips It was red, velvet-trimmed And it fit me good And starin' back from the lookin' glass Was a woman where a half-grown kid had stood "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 (Please) But if you want out, well it's up to you Now, don't let me down Your Momma's gonna help you move uptown" (Don't let me down, don't let me down) 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 She looked at our pitiful shack and then She looked at me and took a ragged breath "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 that was talking Askin' "Momma what do I do?" "Just be nice to the gentlemen, Fancy And 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 (please) But if you want out, well it's up to you Now get on out, girl, you better start movin' uptown" Well, that was the last time I saw my Ma The night I left that rickety shack 'Cause welfare people came and took the baby Mom 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 Momma been talkin' about 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 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 "Here's your one chance, Fancy, don't let me down Here's your one chance, Fancy, don't let me down" 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) 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 (she ain't done bad) Now, in this world there's a lot of self-righteous hypocrites That would call me bad And criticize my Momma for turnin' me out No matter how little we had And though I ain't had to worry about nothin' But now on fifteen years I can still hear the desperation In my poor Momma's voice ringin' in my ear "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 (please) But if you want out, well it's up to you Now, don't let me down Your Momma's gonna help you move uptown" And I guess she did