[Verse 1]
I remember it all very well lookin' back
It was the summer that I turned 18
We lived in a one-room, run down shack
On the outskirts of New Orleans

[Verse 2]
We didn't have money for food or rent
To say the least we were hard-pressed
Then Momma spent every last penny we had
To buy me a dancin' dress

[Verse 3]
Momma washed and combed and curled my hair
And she painted my eyes and lips (Yeah)
And then I stepped into my satin dancin' dress
It was split on the side clean up to my hips

[Verse 4]
Well, it was red, velvet-trimmed
And fit me good
And starin' back from lookin' glass was a woman
Where a half-grow'd kid had stood

[Chorus]
"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 (Please)
But if you want out, well, it's up to you
Now, don't let me down
Your momma's gonna help you move uptown"
(Don't let me down, don't let me down)
[Verse 5]
Momma dabbed a little bit of perfume
On my neck and she kissed my cheek
Then I saw the tears well up
In her troubled eyes when she started to speak

[Verse 6]
She looked at our pitiful shack and then
She looked at me and took a ragged breath
"Your Pa's run off, and I'm real sick
And the baby's gonna starve to death"

[Verse 7]
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

[Verse 8]
It sounded like somebody else that was talkin'
Askin', "Momma, what do I do?"
"Just be nice to the gentlemen, Fancy
And they'll be nice to you"

[Chorus]
"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 (Please)
But if you want out, well, it's up to you
Now get on out, girl
You better start movin' uptown"
[Verse 9]
Well, that was the last time I saw my Ma
The night I left that rickety shack
'Cause the welfare people came and took the baby
Momma died, and I ain't been back

[Verse 10]
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 momma been talkin' about

[Verse 11]
I did what I had to do
But I made myself this solemn vow
That I was gonna to be a lady someday
Though I didn't know when or how

[Verse 12]
I couldn't see spendin' the rest of my life
With my head hung down in shame
I mighta been born just plain "white trash"
But Fancy was my name

[Chorus]
"Here's your one chance, Fancy, don't let me down
Here's your one chance, Fancy, don't let me down"
[Verse 13]
It wasn't long after a benevolent man
Took me in off the street
And one week later I was pourin' his tea
In a five-room hotel suite (Yes, she was)

[Verse 14]
Well, I've charmed a king, a congressman
And an occasional aristocrat
And I got me a Georgia mansion
And an elegant New York townhouse flat
And I ain't done bad (She ain't done bad)

[Verse 15]
Now, in this world there's a lot of self-righteous
Hypocrites that would call me "bad"
And criticize my momma for turning me out
No matter how little we had

[Verse 16]
And though I ain't had to worry 'bout nothin'
For nigh on 15 years
I can still hear the desperation
In my poor momma's voice ringin' in my ear

[Chorus]
"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 (Please)
But if you want out, well, it's up to you
Now don't let me down
Your momma's gonna help you move uptown"

[Outro]
And I guess she did