I remember it all very well, looking back it was the summer 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 Mama spent every last penny we had to buy me a dancing dress Mama washed and combed and curled my hair, then she painted my eyes in lilac Then I stepped into a satin dancing dress, a hat I 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 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 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 our pitiful shack and then she looked at me and took a ragged breath She said your paw's run off and I'm real sick and the baby's gonna starve to death She handed me a hard sheep lock if you said to thine own self be true And I shivered as I watched a roach crawl across the toe of my high heel 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 won't 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 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 It wasn't very long till I knew exactly what my mama been talking about I knew what I had to do and I made myself this solemn vow 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 It wasn't long after a benevolent man took me in off the streets One week later I was born as teen in a five room hotel suite Sure I'm the king, a congressman and an occasional aristocrat And then I got me a Georgia mansion and an elegant New York townhouse when I ain't the man She ain't the man 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 from now on 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 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 honey mama's gonna move you uptown Oh and I guess she did And I guess she did And I guess she did