Fancy

Fancy - Bobbie Gentry

I remember it all very well looking' back

It was the summer that 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 was hard-pressed

When momma spent every last penny we had

To buy me a dancing' dress

Momma washed and combed and curled my hair

Then she painted my eyes and lips

Then I stepped into the satin dancing' dress

It had a split in the side clean up to my hips

It was red velvet-trimmed and it fit me good

And standing' back from the looking' glass

Was a woman

Where a half grown kid had stood

Here's your last chance fancy don't let me down

Here's your last chance fancy don't let me down

God forgive me for what I do

But if you want out girl it's up to you

Now don't let me down new momma's gonna happy don't uptown

Know updown

Don't updown

Momma dabbed a little bit of perfume

On my neck and she kissed my cheek

Then I saw the tears welling 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

Your pa's runned 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 toe of my high-healed shoe

It sounded like somebody else was talking'

Askin' momma what do I do

She said just be nice to the gentlemen fancy

They'll be nice to you

Here's your last chance fancy don't let me down

Here's your last chance fancy don't let me down

God forgive me for what I do

But if you want out girl it's up to you

Now get on out girl you better start sleeping' uptown

That was the last time I saw my momma

When I left that rickety shack

Cause welfare people came and took the baby

Momma died and I ain't been back

But the wheels of fate had started to turn

And for me there was no other way out

It wasn't very long after that I knew exactly

What my momma was talking' 'bout

I knew what I had to do

But I made myself this solemn vow

But our gonna to be a lady someday

Though I didn't know when or how

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

Here's your last chance fancy don't let me down

Here's your last chance fancy don't let me down

You went long after that a benevolent man

Took me in off the streets

One week later I was pouring' his tea

In a five roomed penthouse suite

I've charmed a king a congressman

And an occasional aristocrat

And I got me an elegant georgia mansion

And a new york townhouse flat

Now I ain't done bad

Now in this world there's a lot of self-righteous

Hypocrites who call me bad

They criticize momma for turning me out

No matter how little we had

I haven't had to worry 'bout nothing'

For now on fifteen years

Can still hear the desperation

In my poor mommas voice ringin' in my ears

Here's your last chance fancy don't let me down

Here's your last chance fancy don't let me down

God forgive me for what I do

But if you want out girl it's up to you

Now don't let me down new mommas gonna happy know uptown