I remember it all very well lookin' back
It was the summer I turned eighteen

We lived in a one room, rundown shack
On the outskirts of New Orleans

We didn't have money for food or rent
To say the least we were hard pressed

Then Mama spent every last penny she had
To buy me a dancin' dress

Mama washed and combed and curled my hair
And she painted my eyes and lips then I stepped into
a satin'
dancin' dress that had a split on the side clean up
to my hip

It was red velvet trim and it fit me good
Standin' back from the lookin' 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

Here's your one chance Fancy don't let me down

Mama dabbled a little bit of perfume on my neck
And she kissed my cheek
Then I saw the tears wellin' up in her troubled eys
When she started to speak

She looked at a pitiful shack And
then she looked at me and took a ragged
breath
She said your Pa's run 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 accross
The toe of my high heeled shoe
It sounded like somebody else that was talkin'
Askin' Mama what do I do

She said be nice to the gentlemen Fancy
And 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 out
Well it's up to you
Now don't let me down
movin' uptown

It wasn't long after that benevolent man
Took me off the street
And one week later I was pourin' his tea
In a five room hotel suite

I charmed a king, congressman
And an occasional aristocrat

Then I got me a Georgia mansion
In an elegant New York townhouse flat

Now in this world there's a lot of self-righteous

hippocrates That would call me bad
And criticize Mama for turning me out
No matter how little we had
But though I ain't had to worry 'bout nothin'
For nigh on fifteen years
I can still hear the desperation in my poor
Mama's voice ringin' in my ear

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
You Mama's gonna move you uptown

don't let me down
You Mama's gonna move you uptown