Writer(s): Bobbie Gentry
Well I remember it all very well looking back
it was the summer, I turned eighteen
We lived in a one room run down 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 dancing dress
Mama washed and combed and curled my hair
and she painted my eyes and lips
then I stepped into a satin dancing dress
that had a split on the side clean up to my hip
It was red velvet trim and it fit me good
Standing back from the looking 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
She said 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
And then I saw the tears welling up in her troubled eyes
when 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 shivered as I watched a roach crawl across the toe of my high heeled shoe
It sounded like somebody else that was talking asking
Mama what do I do
She said just 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
She said 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
You're gonna get on now girl your
Mama’s gonna move you 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 talking about
I knew what I had to do
but I made myself this solemn vow
I's gonna be a lady someday though
I didn't know when or how
But I couldn't see spending the rest
of my life with my head hung down in shame
You know I might've been born just plain white trash but
Fancy was my name
She said here's your one chance
Fancy don't let me down
She said here's your one chance
Fancy don't let me down
Wasn't long after that benevolent man took me in off the street
And one week later I was pouring his tea
in a five room hotel suite
I charmed a king a 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 hypocrites that'd 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 nothing for nigh on fifteen years
I can still hear the desperation in my poor
mama's voice ringing in my ear
She said here's your one chance
Fancy don't let me down
She said 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
You're gonna get on now girl your
Mama’s gonna move you uptown
Oh and I guess she did
