[00:10.40]I remember it all very well lookin' back
[00:12.76]It was the summer I turned eighteen
[00:14.65]
[00:15.48]We lived in a one room rundown shack
[00:17.81]On the outskirts of New Orleans
[00:19.78]
[00:20.50]We didn't have money for food or rent
[00:22.88]To say the least we were hard pressed
[00:24.79]
[00:25.51]Then mama spent every last penny we had
[00:27.81]To buy me a dancin' dress
[00:29.70]
[00:30.49]Mama washed and combed and curled my hair
[00:32.91]And she painted my eyes and lips
[00:34.96]
[00:35.54]Then I stepped into a satin
[00:37.04]Dancin' dress that had a split on
[00:38.66]The side clean up to my hip
[00:40.52]
[00:41.46]It was red velvet trim and it fit me good
[00:45.69]Standin' back from the lookin' glass
[00:47.27]There stood a woman where a half gown kid had stood
[00:50.40]She said here's your one chance fancy don't let me down
[00:54.35]
[00:55.49]She said here's your one chance fancy don't let me down
[00:59.02]
[01:03.55]Mama dabbed a little bit of perfume on my neck
[01:06.27]And then she kissed my cheek
[01:07.65]
[01:08.45]Then I saw the tears wellin' up in her troubled eyes
[01:11.41]As she started to speak
[01:12.82]
[01:13.73]She looked at our pitiful shack
[01:15.19]And then she looked at me and took a ragged
[01:17.29]Breath
[01:17.71]
[01:18.58]She said your pa's run'd off and I'm real sick
[01:21.01]And the baby's gonna starve to death
[01:22.88]
[01:23.60]She handed me a heart shaped locket that said
[01:26.01]To thine own self be true
[01:28.03]
[01:28.60]And I shivered as I watched a roach crawl across
[01:31.17]The toe of my high heel shoe
[01:33.20]
[01:33.85]It sounded like somebody else that was talkin'
[01:36.17]Askin' mama what do I do
[01:38.49]She said just be nice to the gentlemen fancy
[01:41.40]They'll be nice to you
[01:43.02]
[01:43.63]She said here's your one chance fancy don't let me down
[01:47.17]
[01:49.13]Here's your one chance fancy don't let me down
[01:51.89]
[01:53.40]Lord forgive me for what I do but if you
[01:56.89]Want out well it's up to you
[01:58.78]Now don't let me down now your mama's gonna move
[02:01.09]You uptown
[02:02.21]
[02:06.51]Well that was the last time I saw my ma
[02:09.00]The night I left that rickety shack
[02:10.87]
[02:11.63]The welfare people came and took the baby
[02:13.97]Mama died and I ain't been back
[02:16.00]
[02:16.61]But the wheels of fate had started to turn
[02:19.16]And for me there was no way out
[02:21.06]
[02:21.97]When they long 'till I knew exactly
[02:24.16]What my mama'd been talkin' about
[02:26.06]
[02:26.93]I knew what I had to do
[02:28.74]And I made myself this solemn vow
[02:31.08]
[02:31.77]That I's gonna be a lady someday
[02:34.32]Though I didn't know when or how
[02:36.27]
[02:36.81]But I couldn't see spending the rest of my life
[02:39.39]With my head hung down in shame
[02:41.93]You know I might have been born just plain white trash
[02:44.43]But fancy was my name
[02:46.29]
[02:46.94]She said here's your one chance fancy don't let me
[02:49.54]Down
[02:50.48]
[02:52.02]She said here's your one chance fancy don't let me
[02:55.21]Down
[02:55.81]
[02:59.89]It wasn't long after a benevolent man
[03:02.14]Took me in off the street
[03:03.99]
[03:04.68]And one week later I was pourin' his tea
[03:07.12]In a five room hotel suite
[03:09.04]
[03:09.84]I charmed a king a congressman and an occasional aristocrat
[03:13.94]
[03:14.82]Then I got me a Georgia mansion
[03:16.63]In an legant New York townhouse flat
[03:19.21]And I ain't done bad
[03:20.70]
[03:30.00]Now in this world there's a lot of self righteous
[03:32.67]Hiypocrits that would call me bad
[03:34.45]
[03:35.04]And criticize mama for turning me out
[03:37.39]No matter how little we had
[03:39.40]
[03:40.04]But though I ain't had to worry 'bout nothin'
[03:42.60]For now on fifteen years
[03:44.49]
[03:45.11]Well I can still hear the desperation in my poor
[03:47.66]Mama's voice ringin' in my ears
[03:49.87]
[03:50.44]Here's your one chance fancy don't let me down
[03:53.79]
[03:55.56]Here's your one chance fancy don't let me down
[03:58.30]
[03:59.84]Lord forgive me for what I do but if you
[04:03.32]Want out well it's up to you
[04:05.24]Now don't let me down hon your mama's gonna move
[04:07.69]You uptown
[04:08.63]
[04:12.07]Oh and I guess she did