I remember it all very well lookin' back

It was the summer that 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

When momma spent every last penny we had

To buy me a dancin' dress Momma washed and combed and curled my hair

Then she painted my eyes and lips

And then I stepped into the satin dancin' dress

It was split in the side, clean up to my hips It was red, velvet-trimmed and it fit me good

And standin' back from the lookin' glass

Was a woman

Where a half grown kid had stood "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, your momma's gonna help you move uptown" Momma dabbed a little bit of perfume

On my neck and she kissed my cheek

Then I saw the tears welling 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

" 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-healed shoe It sounded like somebody else it was talkin'

Askin', "Momma what do I do?"

"Just be nice to the gentlemen, Fancy, and

they'll be nice to you" "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 get on now, girl, you better start movin' uptown" Well that was the last time I saw my momma

Then I left that rickety shack

Cause the welfare people came and took the baby

Momma 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 after that I knew exactly

What my momma been talkin' about I knew what I had to do

But I made myself a solemn vow

But I was gonna to be a lady someday

Though I didn't know when or how I couldn't see spendin' the rest of my life

With my head hung down in shame

I mighta been born just plain white trash

But Fancy was my name "Here's your one chance, Fancy, don't let me down

Here's your one chance, Fancy, don't let me down" It wasn't long after that a benevolent man

Took me in off the streets

One week later I was pourin' his tea

In a five roomed hotel suite I've charmed a king, a congressman

And an occasional aristocrat

And it 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 that would call me bad

They criticize ma momma for turning me out

No matter how little we had And though I haven't had to worry 'bout nothin'

Now for nigh on fifteen years

But I can still hear the desperation

In my poor mommas voice ringin' in my ears "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, your momma's gonna help you move uptown"

And I guess she did