I remember it all very well, lookin' back
It was the summer I turned eighteen
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 satin dancin' dress
Mama washed and combed and curled my hair
And she painted my eyes and lips
Then I stepped into my satin dancin' dress
That had a 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
There stood 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 dabbed a little bit of perfume on my neck
And she kissed my cheek
Then I saw the tears wellin' up in her troubled eyes
When she started to speak
She looked at a 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 ownself 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?
Just be nice to the gentlemen Fancy
And they'll be nice to you
Here's your one chance
Lord, forgive me for what I do
But if you want out, well, it's up to you
Now don't let me down
You better start movin' uptown
Well, 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
And it wasn't very long till I knew exactly
What my mama'd been talkin' about
I knew what I had to do
But I made myself this solemn vow
That I was gonna 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 might have been born, just plain white trash
But Fancy was my name
Here's your one chance
It wasn't long after a benevolent man
Took me off the street
And one week later I was pourin' his tea
In a five room motel suite
I charmed a king, a congressman
And an occasional aristocrat
Then I got me a Georgia mansion
In an elegant New York townhouse flat
And I ain't done bad

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