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
And Mama'd 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
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
When 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
And 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
I's gonna be a lady someday
Although 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 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 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, congressman
And an occasional aristocrat
Then I got me a Georgia mansion
And an elegant New York townhouse flat
And I ain't done bad

Now in this world there's a lot of self-righteous
Hypocrites
Who call me bad
They 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
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 don't let me down
You Mama's gonna move you uptown"

And well, I guess she did