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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.
Written by Ray Davies/Bobbie Gentry