Fancy Lyrics - Singles - Shelbie Z

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 we 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 shackAnd 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 downLord forgive me for what I do, 

but if you want out 

Well it's up to you 

Now don't let me down you better start 

movin' uptown 

Well, 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 

And 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 vowThat I's gonna be a lady someday 

Though I didn't know when or how 

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 

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 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 

And I ain't done bad 

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 

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 

You Mama's gonna help you uptown 

I guess she did