Intro: Em7 E D 

#1. 
        E 
Well, I remember it all very well lookin' back.. 
           D 
it was the summer that I turned eighteen. 
   A 
We lived in a one-room, run down shack on the  
C 
outskirts of New Orleans. 
   E 
We didn't have money for food or rent..to say  
    D                  
the least we was hard-pressed.. 
     A                                      C 
when momma spent every last penny we had to buy  

me a dancin' dress. 

#2. 
      E 
Momma washed and combed and curled my hair.. 
         A                   G 
then she painted my eyes and lips. 
       E 
Then I stepped into the satin dancin' dress..it had  
  A                        E 
a split in the side, clean up to my hip. 
E                  A                     G 
It was red, velvet-trimmed and it fit me good. 
    E 
And standin' back from the lookin' glass was a woman 
        A                   E 
where a half-growed kid had stood. 

Chorus: 
Am                      D                   Em 
Here's your one chance, Fancy, don't let me down. 
G                       A                   Em 
Here's your one chance, Fancy, don't let me down. 
         G                  A          Am7 
Lord, forgive me for what I do, but if you want out,  
           D 
well, it's up to you. 
     C                       B                        E 
Now, don't let me down, your momma's gonna you move uptown.  

#3. 
E 
Momma dabbed a little bit of perfume on my neck and she  
D 
kissed my cheek. 
       A 
Then I saw the tears welling up in her troubled eyes as  
C 
she started to speak. 
    E 
She looked at our pitiful shack and then she looked at me  
           D                             A 
and took a ragged breath..she said, your Pa's runned off  
                          C 
and I'm real sick and the baby's gonna starve to death. 

#4. 
    E                                             D 
She handed me a heart-shaped locket that said, to thine own  

self be true. 
      A                                              C 
And I shivered as I watched a roach crawl across the toe of  

my high-heeled shoe. 
   E                                              Ab 
It sounded like somebody else was talkin' askin', Momma what  
     Dbm 
do I do? 
          A                                     B 
She said, just be nice to the gentlemen, Fancy, they'll be nice  
   E 
to you. 


Chorus: 
Am                      D                   Em 
Here's your one chance, Fancy, don't let me down. 
G                       A                   Em 
Here's your one chance, Fancy, don't let me down. 
         G                  A          Am7 
Lord, forgive me for what I do, but if you want out,  
           D 
well, it's up to you. 
C                      B                E 
Get up, now, girl, you best be movin' uptown. 

#5. 
E                                                   D 
Well, that was the last time I saw my momma, when I left that rickety  

shack. 
    A                                            C 
The welfare people came and took the baby, momma died and I ain't  

been back. 
        E                                          D 
But the wheels of fate had started to turn and for me there was  

no other way out. 
   A                                                   C 
It wasn't very long after, that I knew exactly what my momma was  

talkin' 'bout. 

#6. 
  E                                   D 
I knew what I had to do, but I made myself this solemn vow.. 
     A                                          C 
that I was gonna to be a lady someday, though I didn't know when or how. 
      E                                                 Ab 
But I couldn't see spendin' the rest of my life with my head hung  
        Dbm 
down in shame. 
  A                                           B            E 
I mighta been born just plain white trash but Fancy was my name. 

Chorus: 
Am                      D                   Em 
Here's your one chance, Fancy, don't let me down. 
G                       A                   Em 
Here's your one chance, Fancy, don't let me down. 

#7. 
   E                                        
It wasn't long after that a benevolent man took me in off the streets. 
D                                         B                     C 
One week later I was pourin' his tea in a five roomed penthouse suite. 
     Dbm               Em 
I've charmed a king, a congressman and an occasional aristocrat. 
      D                              E 
And I got me a Georgia mansion and a New York townhouse flat.. 
                      G A E 
now, I ain't done bad. 

#8. 
E                                                  A 
Now, in this world there's a lot of self-righteous hypocrites who call  
   E 
me bad. 
E                                           A                    E 
They criticize momma for turning me out, no matter how little we had. 
E                                                 Ab              Dbm 
But I haven't had to worry 'bout nothin', now for nigh on fifteen years. 
          A                                             B 
But I can still hear the desperation in my poor momma's voice ringin' in  
   E 
my ears. 

Chorus: 
Am                      D                   Em 
Here's your one chance, Fancy, don't let me down. 
G                       A                   Em 
Here's your one chance, Fancy, don't let me down. 
         G                  A          Am7 
Lord, forgive me for what I do, but if you want out,  
           D 
well, it's up to you. 
     C                       B                             E 
Now, don't let me down, your momma's gonna help you move uptown.  

(And I guess she did.) 


OUTRO: E G A E..E G A E..(Fade.) 



A seventies smash from Kraziekhat.