"Well, I remember it all very well lookin' back
|
It was the summer that I turned eighteen.
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We lived in a one-room, run down shack
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on the outskirts of New Orleans.
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We didn't have money for food or rent
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to say the least we was hard-pressed
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when Momma spent every last penny we had
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to buy me a dancin' dress.
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Well, Momma washed and combed and curled my hair,
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then she painted my eyes and lips.
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Then I stepped into the satin dancin' dress.
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It had a split in the side clean up to my hips.
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It was red, velvet-trimmed, and it fit me good
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and standin' back from the lookin' glass
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was a woman
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where a half grown kid had stood.
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She said, "Here's your last chance, Fancy, don't let me down!
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Here's your last chance, Fancy, don't let me down.
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God forgive me for what I do,
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but if you want out girl it's up to you.
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Now get on out, you better start sleepin' uptown."
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Momma dabbed a little bit of perfume
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on my neck and she kissed my cheek
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Then I saw the tears welling up
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in her troubled eyes as she started to speak
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She looked at our pitiful shack and then
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she looked at me and took a ragged breath
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She said, Your Pa's runned off, and I'm real sick
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and the baby's gonna starve to death.
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She handed me a heart-shaped locket that said
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"To thine own self be true"
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and I shivered as I watched a roach crawl across
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the toe of my high-healed shoe
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It sounded like somebody else was talkin'
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askin', "Momma what do I do?"
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She said, "Just be nice to the gentlemen, Fancy.
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They'll be nice to you."
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She said, "Here's your last chance, Fancy, don't let me down!
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Here's your last chance, Fancy, don't let me down.
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God forgive me for what I do,
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But if you want out girl it's up to you
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Now don't let me down,
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now get on out, you better start sleepin' uptown."
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That was the last time I saw my momma
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when I left that rickety shack
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The welfare people came and took the baby.
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Momma died and I ain't been back.
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But the wheels of fate had started to turn
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and for me there was no other way out.
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It wasn't very long after that I knew exactly
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what my momma was talkin' 'bout.
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I knew what I had to do.
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Then I made myself this solemn vow:
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I's gonna to be a lady someday
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though I didn't know when or how.
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But I couldn't see spendin' the rest of my life
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with my head hung down in shame.
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You know I mighta been born just plain white trash.
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but Fancy was my name.
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She said, "Here's your last chance, Fancy, don't let me down!
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Here's your last chance, Fancy, don't let me down.
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God forgive me for what I do,
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but if you want out girl it's up to you.
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Now get on out, you better start sleepin' uptown."
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Wasn't long after that a benevolent man
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took me in off the streets
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One week later I was pourin' his tea
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in a five roomed penthouse suite.
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Since then I've charmed a king, a congressman
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and an occasional aristocrat
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and I got me an elegant Georgia mansion
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and a New York townhouse flat.
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Now I ain't done bad
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Now in this world there's a lot of self-righteous
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hypocrites who call me bad.
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They criticize Momma for turning me out
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No matter how little we had.
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But I haven't had to worry 'bout nothin'
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now for nigh on fifteen years
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But I can still hear the desperation
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in my poor mommas voice ringin' in my ears.
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"Here's your last chance, Fancy, don't let me down!
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Oh, here's your last chance, Fancy, don't let me down.
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God forgive me for what I do,
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but if you want out girl it's up to you.
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Now get on out, you better start sleepin' uptown."
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-----------------
|
Fancy
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| Bobbie Gentry |
