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bobbie gentry - fancy (mono radio edit) lyrics

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[verse 1]
i remember it all very well lookin’ back
it was the summer i turned 18
we lived in a one+room, run down shack
on the outskirts of new orleans

[verse 2]
we didn’t have money for food or rent
to say the least we were hard+pressed
then momma spent every last penny we had
to buy me a dancin’ dress
[verse 3]
momma washed and combed and curled my hair
and she painted my eyes and lips (yeah)
and then i stepped into my satin dancin’ dress
it was split on the side clean up to my hips

[verse 4]
it was red, velvet+trimmed
and fit me good
and starin’ back from lookin’ glass was a woman
where a half+grow’d kid had stood

[chorus]
“here’s your one chance, fancy, don’t let me down
here’s your one chance, fancy, don’t let me down”

[verse 5]
momma dabbed a little bit of perfume
on my neck and she kissed my cheek
then i saw the tears well up
in her troubled eyes when she started to speak

[verse 6]
she looked at our pitiful shack and then
she looked at me and took a ragged breath
“your pa’s run off, and i’m real sick
and the baby’s gonna starve to death”
[verse 7]
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

[verse 8]
it sounded like somebody else that was talkin’
askin’, “momma, what do i do?”
“just be nice to the gentlemen, fancy
and they’ll be nice to you”

[chorus]
“here’s your one chance, fancy, don’t let me down
here’s your one chance, fancy, don’t let me down”

[bridge]
“lord, forgive me for what i do (please)
but if you want out, well, it’s up to you
now, get on out, girl
you better start movin’ uptown”

[verse 9]
well, that was the last time i saw my ma
the night i left that rickety shack
’cause the welfare people came and took the baby
momma died and i ain’t been back
[verse 10]
but the wheels of fate had started to turn
and for me there was no way out
and it wasn’t very long ’til i knew exactly
what my momma been talkin’ about

[verse 11]
i did what i had to do
but i made myself this solemn vow
that i was gonna to be a lady someday
though i didn’t know when or how

[verse 12]
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

[chorus]
“here’s your one chance, fancy, don’t let me down
here’s your one chance, fancy, don’t let me down”

[verse 13]
it wasn’t long after a benevolent man
took me in off the street
and one week later i was pourin’ his tea
in a five+room hotel suite (yes, she was)

[verse 14]
well, i’ve charmed a king, a congressman
and an occasional aristocrat
and i got me a georgia mansion
and an elegant new york townhouse flat
and i ain’t done bad

- bobbie gentry lyrics

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