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
When Momma spent every last penny we had to buy me a dancin' dress
Momma washed and combed and curled my hair
Then she painted my eyes and lips
And I stepped into the satin dancin' dress
It had a split in the side clean up to my hips
It was red, velvet-trimmed, to fit me good
And standin' 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
But if you want out, then it's up to you
Don't let me down, your Momma's gonna help you move uptown"
Momma dabbed a bit of perfume on my neck and she kissed my cheek
And I saw the tears well up in her troubled eyes when she started to speak
She looked at our pitiful shack and then
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
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-heal shoe
It sounded like somebody else who was talkin', 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
But if you want out, then it's up to you
Don't let me down, your Momma's gonna help you move uptown"
Well, that was the last time I saw my Momma
The night I left that rickety shack
'Cause the welfare people came and took the baby
Momma 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 ma had been talkin' 'bout
I did what I had to do
But I made myself a solemn vow:
That I was gonna to be a lady some day, though I don't know when or how
I couldn't see spendin' the rest of my life
With my head hung down in shame
I might have 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 very long, a benevolent man took me in off the street
And one week later I was pourin' his tea in a five room hotel suite
Well I've charmed a king, a congressman
And an occasional aristocrat
And I've got me a Georgia mansion
And an elegant New York townhouse flat
Now I ain't done bad
Now in this world there's a lot of self-righteous hypocrites
Who call me bad
And criticize Momma for turning me out
No matter how little we had
And though I hadn't had to worry about nothin'
For nigh on fifteen years
I can still hear the desperation in my poor Momma'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, then it's up to you
Don't let me down, your Momma's gonna help you move uptown"
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
When Momma spent every last penny we had to buy me a dancin' dress
Momma washed and combed and curled my hair
Then she painted my eyes and lips
And I stepped into the satin dancin' dress
It had a split in the side clean up to my hips
It was red, velvet-trimmed, to fit me good
And standin' 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
But if you want out, then it's up to you
Don't let me down, your Momma's gonna help you move uptown"
Momma dabbed a bit of perfume on my neck and she kissed my cheek
And I saw the tears well up in her troubled eyes when she started to speak
She looked at our pitiful shack and then
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
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-heal shoe
It sounded like somebody else who was talkin', 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
But if you want out, then it's up to you
Don't let me down, your Momma's gonna help you move uptown"
Well, that was the last time I saw my Momma
The night I left that rickety shack
'Cause the welfare people came and took the baby
Momma 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 ma had been talkin' 'bout
I did what I had to do
But I made myself a solemn vow:
That I was gonna to be a lady some day, though I don't know when or how
I couldn't see spendin' the rest of my life
With my head hung down in shame
I might have 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 very long, a benevolent man took me in off the street
And one week later I was pourin' his tea in a five room hotel suite
Well I've charmed a king, a congressman
And an occasional aristocrat
And I've got me a Georgia mansion
And an elegant New York townhouse flat
Now I ain't done bad
Now in this world there's a lot of self-righteous hypocrites
Who call me bad
And criticize Momma for turning me out
No matter how little we had
And though I hadn't had to worry about nothin'
For nigh on fifteen years
I can still hear the desperation in my poor Momma'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, then it's up to you
Don't let me down, your Momma's gonna help you move uptown"
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