(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 hip
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
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
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 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 across
the tow 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
and they´ll be nice to you

she said here´s your 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 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 long ´til i knew exactly
what my mama´d been talkin´ about

i knew what i had to do and i made myself this solemn vow
that 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 a benevolent man
took me in off the street
and one week later i was pourin´ 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 hippocrits
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 ears

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
your mama´s gonna move you uptown

oh, and i guess she did.