Fancy

She said,"Just be nice to the gentlemen, Fancy"

She said, "Here's your chance Fancy, don't let me down
"They'll be nice to you"
They criticize Mama for turning me out
One week later I was pourin' his tea
Well, I can still hear the desperation
Then I stepped into a satin dancin' dress
We lived in a one room rundown shack

And I made myself this solemn vow
And I shivered as I watched a roach crawl across

A half grown kid had stood

Standin' back from the lookin' glass
In an elegant New York townhouse flat
But though I ain't had no worry 'bout nothin'
And I ain't done bad
"Here's your one chance Fancy, don't let me down
And she painted my eyes and lips
Then she kissed my cheek
It was red, velvet trimmin' and it fit me good
Weren't long after a benevolent man
Mama dabbed a little bit of perfume on my neck
That had a split from the side clean up to my hip
We didn't have money for food or rent
And the baby's gonna starve to death"
The night I left that rickety shack

You know I might have been born just plain white trash
Mama died and I ain't been back

I knew what I had to do
On the outskirts of New Orleans

Lord, forgive me for what I do
Here's your one chance Fancy, don't let me down"
She said, "Your pa's run'd off and I'm real sick
With my head hung down in shame
They call me bad
It sounded like somebody else that was talkin'
Now don't let me down, honey
Lord, forgive me for what I do, but if you want out
She handed me a heart shaped locket that said

And then she looked at me and took a ragged breath
No matter how little we had
In a five room hotel suite
As she started to speak
In my poor Mama's voice ringin' in my ears

Took me in off the streets
Though I didn't know when or how
To buy me a dancin' dress
But if you want out, well, it's up to you
"To thine own self be true"
Well, I couldn't see spendin' the rest of my life
But Fancy was my name

And for me there was no way out

And then I got me a Georgia mansion
What my mama'd been talkin' about

There stood a woman where
That was the last time I saw my ma
She said, "Here's your one chance, Fancy, don't let me down"

From now on fifteen years
And then I saw the tears wellin' up in her troubled eyes
Here's your one chance Fancy, don't let me down"
That I's gonna be a lady someday

Mama washed and combed and curled my hair
Your mama's gonna move you uptown

She said, "Here's your one chance, Fancy, don't let me down"
Weren't very long 'til I knew exactly
She said," Here's your one chance, Fancy, don't let me down"
Now in this world there's a lot of self-righteous hypocrites
The welfare people came and took the baby
Then Mama spent every last penny we had
Askin', "Mama, what do I do?"
Now your mama's gonna move you uptown
Well, it's up to you, and don't let me down
And an occasional aristocrat

To say the least we were hard pressed

I charmed a king, a congressman
But the wheels of fate had started to turn
She said, "Here's your one chance, Fancy, don't let me down"
The toe of my high heeled shoe
She looked at our pitiful shack