My Immortal Music: 2012

[Verse 1]
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

[Chorus 1]
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

[Verse 2]
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 a 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 going to 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 be nice to the gentlemen, Fancy
And they'll be nice to you

[Chorus 1]
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

[Chorus 2]
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

[Verse 3]
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 haven'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 but 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
You know I might have been born just plain white trash
But Fancy was my name

[Chorus 1]
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

[Verse 4]
It wasn't long after that 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

Now in this world there's a lot of self-righteous hypocrites
That would call me bad (bad)
And criticize Mama for turning me out
No matter how little we had
But though I haven't had to worry about nothing
For now or fifteen years
Well, I can still hear the desperation in my poor
Mama's voice ringing in my ear