| 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 dancin' dress. Well, Mama washed and combed and curled my hair, And she painted my eyes and lips. And then I stepped into a satin' dancin' dress, That had a split on the side clean up to my hip. It was red velvet trim 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." She said: "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, As she started to speak. She looked at our 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, 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. It wasn't very long 'til I knew exactly, What my Mama'd been talkin' about. I knew what I had to do an' I made myself this solemn vow, "I's gonna be a lady someday," Though I didn't know when or how. I couldn't see spending the rest of my life, With my head hung down in shame, You know, I might have 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 that benevolent man, Took me off the streets. One week later I was pourin' his tea, In a five room hotel suite. I charmed a king, congressman, And an occasional aristocrat. An' then I got me a Georgia mansion, In an elegant New York townhouse flat. I ain't done bad. (She ain't done bad.) Now in this world, there's a lot of self-righteous hypocrites, That would call me bad. And criticize Mama for turning me out, No matter how little we had. But though I ain't had to worry about nothin', For nigh on fifteen years. Well, I can still hear the desperation in my poorMama's voice, Ringin' in my ears. "Here's your one chance, Fancy, don't let me down. "Oh, 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." Oh, an' I guess she did. |
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