Fancy Letra

Now I remember it all very well lookin' back It was the summer I turned 18 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 And then I stepped into a satin dancin' dress It was split on the side clean up to my hips It was red, velvet trim 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 Mama'd add a little bit of perfume on my neck And she kissed my cheek And I saw the tears wellin' 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 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 heel shoe It sounded like somebody else that was talkin' Askin' "Mama 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, well, it's up to you Now git on out, girl, you'd better start movin' uptown Well, that was the last time I saw my ma Then 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 And it wasn't very long 'til I knew exactly What my Mama'd been talkin' about I did what I had to do but I made myself a solemn vow That I was gonna be a lady someday But I didn't know when or how I couldn't see spendin' the rest of my life With my head hung down in shame Well, 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 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 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, no no no no no oh yeah yeah) Now in this world there's a lot of self-righteous hippocrates That would call me bad And criticized my mama for turning me out No matter how little we had And though I ain't had to worry about nothin' For nigh on fifteen years I can still hear the desperation in my poor Mama'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 But if you want out, well it's up to you Now get on out, girl You better start livin' uptown And I guess she did