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

And then I stepped into my 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

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)

And Momma dabbed a little 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

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 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 (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 Maw

Then I left that rickety shack

'Cause the welfare people came and took the baby

Maw 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 wadn't very long 'til I knew exactly

What my momma'd been talkin' 'bout

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 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 wadn'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)

No

Now in this world, there's a lot of self-righteous

Hypocrites that would call me bad (bad)

And criticize my Momma for turning me out

No matter how little we had

And though I ain't had to worry 'bout nothin'

For nigh 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.