I remember it all very well
looking back
Was the summer I turned eighteen
We lived in a one room, worn-out shack
shack
On the outskirts of New Or leans
We didn't have money
for food or rent
To say the least we was hard-pressed
And And mama spent
every last penny we had
To buy me a dancin' dress
Mama washed and combed
and curled my hair
And she painted my eyes and lips
Stepped into a satin dancin' dress
That had a slit in the side
clean up to my hips
It was red velvet trimming
and it fit me good
Staring back from the looking glass
There stood a woman where a half-grown
boy boy had stood
Mama dabbed a little bit
of perfume on my neck
And she kissed my cheek
I could see the tears welling up
in her troubled eyes
As she started to speak
She looked at our pi
tiful 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 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
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"
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
Don't let me down now,
your mama's gonna move you uptown
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
It wasn't very long till I knew
Exactly what my mama'd been talking about
I knew what I had to do
But I made myself this solemn vow
Said I was gonna be a lady someday
Though it didn't matter when or how
I couldn't see spending
the rest of my life
With my head held down in shame
You know, I might've been
born just plain white trash
But Fancy was my name
It wasn't long after a benevolent man
Took me in off the street
One week later I was pouring his tea
In a five-room hotel hotel suite
I charmed a king,
a congressman
And the occasional ar istocrat
I got me a Georgia mansion
And an elegant New York townhouse flat and
I ain't done bad
Now in this life
There's a lot of self-righteous hy
pocrites hypocrites that call me bad
And criticize mama for turn
ing me out
No matter how little we had
And though I ain't had to worry
'bout nothin'
For now on fifteen years
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
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
Don't let me down now, your mama's gonna
move you Uptown
Orville Peck 
