Fancy

I remember it all very well looking back

It 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 trim and it fit me good

Starin' back from the lookin' 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 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 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 talkin'

Askin, "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

And 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 'til I knew exactly

What my Mama'd been talkin' about

I knew what I had to do

But I made myself this solemn vow

Said I was going to 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 streets

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 turnin' 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"

Fancy