She said fancy words to my name 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 watched and combed and curled my hair Then she painted my eyes and lips Then I stepped into a satin dancing dress The hat I split from the side, cleaned up to my hips It was red velvet trimming and it fit me good Standing back from the looking-glass There stood a woman wore a half-grown kid, it 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 welling up in her troubled eyes As she started to speak She looked out of pitiful shock And then she looked at me and took a ragged breath She said, your paw's run off and I'm real sick And the baby's gonna starve to death She handed me her heart, she blocked it She said, let thine own self be true And I shivered as I watched a roach Crawl across the toe of my high-heeled shoe It sounded like somebody else was talking Asking, 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 Here's your one chance, fancy, don't let me down Lord, forgive me for what I do But if you want it, well, it's up to you Now, don't let me down Now, your mama's gonna move you uptown Well, that was the last time I saw my mama And I'd have 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 started to turn And for me, there was no way out It wasn't very long till I knew exactly What my mama been talking 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 stay 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 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 long after a benevolent man Took a meeting off the streets One week later, I was pouring his tea In a five-room hotel suite I turned 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 done bad She said, fancy was my name She said, fancy was my name I ain't done bad She said, fancy was my name She said, fancy was my name Now in this world, there's a lot of self-righteous hypocrites They call me bad And criticize mama for turning me out No matter how little we had But though I ain't had to worry about nothing from now on Fifteen years Well, I can still hear the desperation In my poor mama's voice ringing in my ears Here's your one-chance, fancy, don't let me down Oh, here's your one-chance, fancy, don't let me down Lord, forgive me for what I do Whatever you want, I will accept you Now don't let me down, honey Mama's gonna move you uptown Oh, and I guess she did She said, fancy was my name She said, fancy was my name Oh, and I guess she did She said, fancy was my name She said, fancy was my name Oh, and I guess she did She said, fancy was my name She said, fancy was my name Oh, and I guess she did She said, fancy was my name She said, fancy was my name