[00:11.290]I remember it all very well lookin' back
[00:13.720]It was the summer I turned eighteen
[00:15.600]
[00:16.530]We lived in a one room, rundown shack
[00:18.840]On the outskirts of New Orleans
[00:20.650]
[00:21.400]We didn't have money for food or rent
[00:23.830]To say the least we were hard pressed
[00:25.960]
[00:26.500]Then Mama spent every last penny she had
[00:28.740]To buy me a dancin' dress
[00:30.680]
[00:31.430]Mama washed and combed and curled my hair
[00:33.860]And she painted my eyes and lips then I stepped into
[00:37.740]a satin'
[00:38.370]dancin' dress that had a split on the side clean up
[00:40.930]to my hip
[00:41.520]
[00:42.520]It was red velvet trim and it fit me good
[00:46.510]Standin' back from the lookin' glass
[00:48.140]There stood a woman where a half grown kid
[00:50.510]had stood
[00:51.570]She said here's your one chance Fancy don't let
[00:54.120]me down
[00:55.250]
[00:57.000]Here's your one chance Fancy don't let me down
[00:59.770]
[01:04.450]Mama dabbled a little bit of perfume on my neck
[01:07.510]And she kissed my cheek
[01:09.260]Then I saw the tears wellin' up in her troubled eys
[01:12.510]When she started to speak
[01:13.750]
[01:14.560]She looked at a pitiful shack And
[01:16.300]then she looked at me and took a ragged
[01:18.360]breath
[01:19.360]She said your Pa's run off and I'm real sick
[01:21.920]And the baby's gonna starve to death
[01:23.850]
[01:24.480]She handed me a heart shaped locket that said
[01:27.100]"To thine own self be true"
[01:29.470]And I shivered as I watched a roach crawl accross
[01:31.970]The toe of my high heeled shoe
[01:34.590]It sounded like somebody else that was talkin'
[01:37.150]Askin' Mama what do I do
[01:38.810]
[01:39.680]She said be nice to the gentlemen Fancy
[01:42.050]And they'll be nice to you
[01:44.550]She said here's your one chance Fancy don't let me down
[01:48.290]
[01:49.670]Here's your one chance Fancy
[01:51.780]don't let me down
[01:53.150]
[01:54.330]Lord forgive me for what I do,
[01:57.270]but if you want out
[01:58.450]Well it's up to you
[01:59.700]Now don't let me down
[02:01.440]movin' uptown
[02:02.710]
[02:07.450]It wasn't long after that benevolent man
[02:09.890]Took me off the street
[02:12.450]And one week later I was pourin' his tea
[02:14.940]In a five room hotel suite
[02:16.810]
[02:17.620]I charmed a king, congressman
[02:20.060]And an occasional aristocrat
[02:21.740]
[02:22.370]Then I got me a Georgia mansion
[02:24.550]In an elegant New York townhouse flat
[02:26.960]
[02:37.820]Now in this world there's a lot of self-righteous
[02:39.690]
[02:40.850]hippocrates That would call me bad
[02:42.910]And criticize Mama for turning me out
[02:45.280]No matter how little we had
[02:47.710]But though I ain't had to worry 'bout nothin'
[02:49.890]For nigh on fifteen years
[02:52.770]I can still hear the desperation in my poor
[02:55.450]Mama's voice ringin' in my ear
[02:57.210]
[02:58.210]here's your one chance Fancy don't let me down
[03:01.260]
[03:03.200]Here's your one chance Fancy don't let me down
[03:06.190]
[03:07.570]Lord, forgive me for what I do
[03:09.940]
[03:10.560]But if you want out well it's up to you
[03:13.060]Now don't let me down
[03:14.820]You Mama's gonna move you uptown
[03:16.440]
[03:18.570]don't let me down
[03:19.570]You Mama's gonna move you uptown