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Well I remember it all very well lookin' back |
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It was the summer I turned eighteen |
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We lived in a one room, rundown 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 were hard pressed |
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Then mama spent every last penny we had |
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To buy me a dancin' dress |
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Mama washed and combed and curled my hair |
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And then she painted my eyes and lips |
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Then I stepped into a satin dancin' dress |
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That had a split from the side clean up to my hip |
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It was red velvet trimmin' and it fit me good |
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And standin' back from the lookin' glass |
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There stood a woman |
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Where a half grown kid had stood |
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She said, "Here's your one chance Fancy don't let me down" |
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She said, "Here's your one chance Fancy don't let me down" |
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Mama dabbed a little bit of perfume on my neck |
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Then she kissed my cheek |
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And then I saw the tears wellin' up in her troubled eyes |
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As she started to speak |
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She looked at our pitiful shack |
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And then she looked at me and took a ragged breath |
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She said your pa's run'd 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 heel shoe |
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It sounded like somebody else that was talkin' |
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Askin' mama 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 chance Fancy don't let me down" |
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Here's your one chance Fancy don't let me down |
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Lord forgive me for what I do, but if you want out well, it's up to you |
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Now don't let me down now your mama's gonna move you uptown |
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Well, that was the last time I saw my ma |
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The night I left that rickety shack |
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The welfare people came and took the baby |
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Mama 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 way out |
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When they long 'til I knew exactly |
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What my mama'd been talkin' about |
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I knew what I had to do |
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And I made myself this solemn vow |
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That I's gonna 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 spending the rest of my life |
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With my head hung down in shame you know |
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I might have been born just plain white trash |
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But Fancy was my name |
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She said, "Here's your one chance Fancy don't let me down" |
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She said, "Here's your one chance Fancy don't let me down" |
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It wasn't long after a benevolent man |
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Took me in off the street |
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And one week later I was pourin' his tea |
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In a five room hotel suite |
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I charmed a king, a congressman and an occasional Aristocrat |
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Then I got me a Georgia Mansion |
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In an elegant New York townhouse flat |
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And I ain't done bad |
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Now in this world there's a lot of self-righteous |
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Hippocrits that would call me bad |
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And criticize mama for turning me out |
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No matter how little we had |
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But though I ain't had to worry 'bout nothin' |
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For high on fifteen years |
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Well I can still hear the desperation in my poor |
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Mama's voice ringin' in my ears |
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She said, here's your one chance Fancy don't let me down |
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Here's your one chance fancy don't let me down |
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Lord, forgive me for what I do but if you want out well it's up to you |
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Now don't let me down, hon, your mama's gonna move you uptown |
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Oh, and I guess she did |