Well, 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 Mama spent every last penny we had

To buy me a dancin' dress

Well, Mama washed and combed and curled my hair

And then she painted my eyes and lips

Then I stepped into a satin' dancin' dress

That had a split on the side clean up to my hip

It was red velvet trimmin' and it fit me good

Standin' back from the lookin' glass

There stood a woman

Where a half grown kid had stood

She said, "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

Then she kissed my cheek

And 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

She said, "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-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"

She said, "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 don't let me down, now; your mama's gonna move you uptown"

Well, that was the last time I saw my ma

When 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

And I made myself this solemn vow:

That I's gonna be a lady someday

Though I didn't know when or how

But I couldn't see spending the rest of my life

With my head hung down in shame

You know, I might've been born just plain white trash

But Fancy was my name

She said, "Here's your one chance, Fancy; don't let me down"

She said, "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

And one week later I was pourin' his tea

In a five-room hotel suite (yes, she was!)

I charmed a king, a congressman

And an occasional aristocrat

And then I got me a Georgia mansion

And an elegant New York townhouse flat

And I ain't done bad (she ain't done bad)

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

That call me bad

That criticize Mama for turning me out

No matter how little we had

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

For nigh on fifteen years

Well, I can still hear the desperation

In my poor Mama's voice ringin' in my ears

"Here's your one chance, Fancy; don't let me down

Oh, ere'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 don't let me down

Hon, your Mama's gonna move you uptown"

And I guess she did.