[Verse 1]
Now, Miss Nancy ran a boarding house, with a faded sign that read
"Single rooms for single girls, no men allowed," it said
The rumor had it that if a gentleman was willing to pay a fee
He could always go down to Nancy Ann's for some feminine company

[Verse 2]
Now, one night in June, in the billiard room I was chalking up with a friend
He was set to break when through the door old Leo James ran in
"There's a fire that just broke out," he yelled, "And it's down at Nancy Ann's!"
So, we dropped our cue sticks on the floor and down the street we ran

[Chorus]
Though the flames were hot and the smoke was thick, not a single life was lost
And the reason for the blaze was never found
But it long will be remembered in our local history
As the fire that nearly scandalized the town
The night Miss Nancy Ann's hotel for single girls burned down

[Verse 3]
When we got to the place the front was ablaze and so was the second floor
So we crossed the track and went around to the back and stopped at the alley door
We was catching our breath when the door flew open and knocked poor Leo flat
And out through the smoke ran Mayor Will wearing nothing but a black silk hat

[Verse 4]
And right behind him with his shirt tail afire came our local chief of police
And the Banker Jones with a redheaded girl he'd always said was his niece
Then I spied Miss Nancy Ann herself, helping someone out of the fire
Her arm around the red bald head of old Judge McIntyre
[Verse 5]
A deacon, a dentist, a deputy sheriff, and one state congressman
A county physician, the city mortician, out through the flames they ran
A grand parade of girls in gowns and half-clad gentlemen
Out through the heat and smoke that reeked of French perfume and gin

[Chorus]
Though the flames were hot and the smoke was thick, not a single life was lost
And the reason for the blaze was never found
But it long will be remembered in our local history
As the fire that nearly scandalized the town
The night Miss Nancy Ann's hotel for single girls burned down
(The night Miss Nancy Ann's hotel for single girls burned down)

[Verse 6]
Everybody was out of that girls hotel by the time the roof caved in
And we were heading back to the billiard hall when Leo turned to my friend
He said, "I believe that the funniest show I've ever seen in town
The so-called elite caught out in the street with their pompous purity down!"

[Chorus]
Though the flames were hot and the smoke was thick, not a single life was lost
And the reason for the blaze was never found
But it long will be remembered in our local history
As the fire that nearly scandalized the town
The night Miss Nancy Ann's hotel for single girls burned down