Well, I remember it all very well
Looking back, it was the summer I turned 18
We lived in a one-room run
Down the 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 spent every last penny
We had to buy me a dancing dress
Well, Mama washed and combed and curled my hair
And then she painted my eyes and lived
Then I stepped into a satin dancing dress
I had a split from the side, cleaned up to my heel
It was red velvet trimming and it fit me good
Standing back from the looking glass
There stood a woman wore a half-grown kid
It 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 died a little bit of perfume on my neck
Then she kissed my cheek
And then I saw the tears welling up in her troubled eyes
As she started to speak
She looked at her pitiful shack
And then she looked at me and took a ragged breath
She said, your paws run off and I'm real sick
And the baby's gonna starve to death
She handed me a heart she'd block if they said to thine
Oh, don't you cry, don't you cry

No, don't you cry

And I shivered as I watched her roach
Crawl across the toe of my high-heeled shoe
It sounded like somebody else was talking
Asking, Mama, what do I do?
She said, just be nice to the gentleman, 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 me to stay
Well now when it's up to you
Now don't let me down
Now your mama's gonna look you up, Sam
Well that was the last time I saw my mama
And 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
Started to turn and for me
There was no way out
Wasn't very long till I knew exactly
What my mama been talking about
I knew what I had to do
When I made myself this all about
I was 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 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
But long after a benevolent man
Took me in and off the streets
One week later I was born
As tea in a five room hotel suite
Yes you were
I charmed a king, a congressman
And an occasion on the restocrat
And then I got me a Georgia mansion
In an elegant New York townhouse
When I ain't been back
She ain't been back
She ain't been back
She ain't been back
She ain't been back


Now in this world
There's a lot of self-righteous
Hypocrites that call me bad
And criticize mama for turning me out
No matter how little we've had
But though I ain't had to worry
About nothing for now
Oh, fifteen years
Well I can still hear the desperation
In my poor mama's voice
Ringing in my ears
Here's your one chance
Fancy don't let me down
Oh, fifteen years
Oh, here's your one chance
Fancy don't let me down
Oh, forgive me for what I do
But if you won't have what it's up to you
Now don't let me down, honey
Mama's gonna move you uptown
Oh, I guess she did
Oh, I guess she did
Oh, I guess she did
Oh, I guess she did
Oh, I guess she did
Oh, I guess she did
Oh, I guess she did
Oh, I guess she
Oh, I guess she did
Oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh

Ooh oh oh oh, oh oh oh
Ooh Youtube
Be sure to watch later



To everything we've discussed
Thank you.