Fancy

I remember it all very well looking back
It was the summer I turned eighteen
We lived in a one-room worn-out shack
On the outskirts of New Orleans
We didn’t have money for food or rent
To say the least, we was hard-pressed
And Mama spent every last penny we had
To buy me a dancin’ dress
Mama washed and combed and curled my hair
And she painted my eyes and lips
Stepped into a satin dancin’ dress
That had a slit in the side, clean up to my hips
It was red velvet trim and it fit me good
Starin’ back from the lookin’ glass
There stood a woman where a half-grown boy had stood

“Here’s your one chance, Fancy, don’t let me down
Here’s your one chance, Fancy, don’t let me down”

Mama dabbed a little bit of perfume on my neck
And she kissed my cheek
I could see the tears wellin’ 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 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
Across the toe of my high heeled shoe
It sounded like somebody else that was talkin’
Askin, “Mama, what do I do?”
She said, “Just be nice to the gentlemen, Fancy
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
And don’t let me down now
Your mama’s gonna move you uptown”

That was the last time I saw my Ma
The night 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 had started to turn
And for me, there was no way out
It wasn’t very long ‘til I knew exactly
What my Mama’d been talkin’ about
I knew what I had to do
But I made myself this solemn vow
Said I was going to be a lady someday
Though it didn’t matter when or how
I couldn’t see spending the rest of my life
With my head held down in shame
You know I might’ve 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, a benevolent man
Took me in off the streets
One week later, I was pouring his tea
In a five-room hotel suite
I charmed a king, a congressman
And the occasional aristocrat
I got me a Georgia mansion
And an elegant New York townhouse flat
And I ain’t done bad

Now in this life, there’s a lot of self-righteous
Hypocrites that call me bad
And criticize Mama for turnin’ me out
No matter how little we had
And though I ain’t had to worry ‘bout nothin’
For now on fifteen years
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
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
Don’t let me down now
Your Mama’s gonna move you uptown”

Fancy