Fancy Lyrics

(Bobbie Gentry)

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 from the side clean up to my hips
It was red velvet trimmin` 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
She said here`s your one chance Fancy don`t let me down

Mama dabbed a little bit of perfume on my neck
Then she kissed my cheek
And then I saw 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`d off, 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 heel 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

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
it`s up to you
don`t let me down now your Mama`s gonna move you uptown.

That was the last time I saw my Mama
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 been talkin` about

I knew what I had to do and I made myself this solemn vow
I was gonna be a lady someday
Though I didn`t know when or how
But I couldn`t see spendin` 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

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

It wasn`t very long after a benevolent man
Took me in off the streets
One week later I was pourin` his tea
In a five room hotel suite [yes she was]

I charmed a king, a congressman
And an occasional aristocrat
And then I got me a Georgia mansion
And an elegant New York townhouse flat
And I ain`t gone back [she ain`t gone back]

Now in this world there`s a lot of self-righteous hypocrites
That`d call me bad [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

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 it`s up to you
don`t let me down, hon
Mama`s gonna move you uptown

Oh, and I guess she did.