Lyrics Fancy - Reba McEntire

Fancy

I remember it all very well looking 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 dancing dress
Mama washed and combed and curled my hair
And she painted my eyes and lips
Then I stepped into a satin dancing dress
That had a split on the side clean up to my hip
It was red velvet trim and it fit me good
Standing back from the looking 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
And then she kissed my cheek
And 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
She said, «Your Pa’s run 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 heeled shoe
It sounded like somebody else that 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 out
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 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 very long until I knew exactly
What my Mama had been talking about
I knew what I had to do and I made myself this solemn vow
That I was going to be a lady someday
Though I didn’t know when or how
But I couldn’t see spending the rest of my life
With my head hung down in shame
You know I might’ve 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 me in off the streets
And one week later I was pouring his tea in a five room hotel suite (Yes,
she was)
I charmed a king, congressman and an occasional aristocrat
Then I got me a Georgia mansion
And an elegant New York townhouse flat
And I ain’t done bad (She ain’t done bad)
Now in this world there’s a lot of self-righteous hypocrites
That 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
For nigh 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
But if you want out
Well, it’s up to you
Now don’t let me down, honey
Mama’s gonna move you uptown
And I guess she did