Fancy

CAPO at II 

Intro: 

E G A E 
/ ///// / ///// / ///// / //// / 

  E 
I remember it all very well lookin' back 
    A 
It was the summer I turned eighteen 
   A 
We lived in a one room, rundown shack 
 C   E 
On the outskirts of New Orleans 
   E 
We didn't have money for food or rent 
     A 
To say the least we were hard pressed 
     A 
Then Mama spent every last penny we had 
   C     E 
To buy me a dancin' dress 

 E 
Mama washed and combed and curled my hair 
 A D 
and she painted my eyes and lips then I stepped into a satin 
 A E 
dancin' dress that had a split on the side clean up to my hip 
E   A 
It was red velvet trim and it fit me good 
  D 
Standin' back from the lookin' glass 
     A E 
There stood a woman where a half grown kid had stood 

    C A    E run#1 
She said here's your one chance Fancy don't let me down 
  G A   E run#2  E 
Here's your one chance Fancy don't let me down 

     E 
Mama dabbed a little bit of perfume on my neck 
 A 
And she kissed my cheek 
 A C 
Then I saw the tears wellin' up in her troubled eyes 
     E 
When she started to speak 
    E 
She looked at a pitiful shack 
        A 
And then she looked at me and took a ragged breath 
       A 
She said your Pa's run off and I'm real sick 
 C E 
And the baby's gonna starve to death 
    E 
She handed me a heart shaped locket that said 
    A 
"To thine own self be true" 
 D 
And I shivered as I watched a roach crawl across 
    A   E 
the toe of my high heeled shoe 
   E 
It sounded like somebody else that was talkin' 
 G#       C# 
Askin' Mama what do I do 
 A 
She said just be nice to the gentlemen Fancy 
    B E 
And they'll be nice to you 

 C A    E run#1 
She said, here's your one chance Fancy don't let me down 
 G A   E run#2 
Here's your one chance Fancy don't let me down 
 G A       C 
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 you better start movin' uptown 

     E 
Well that was the last time I saw my Ma 
 A 
The night I left that rickety shack 
 A 
The welfare people came and took the baby 
     C    E 
Mama died and I ain't been back 

    E 
But the wheel of fate had started to turn 
 A 
And for me there was no way out 
 A 
And it wasn't very long 'til I knew exactly 
 C     E 
What my Mama'd been talkin' about 

  E    A 
I knew what I had to do but I made myself this solemn vow 
      D 
That I's gonna be a lady someday 
 A      E 
Though I didn't know when or how 
  E 
I couldn't see spending the rest of my life 
 G#   C# 
With my head hung down in shame you know 
 A 
I might have been born just plain white trash 
     B   E 
But Fancy was my name 

 C A   E run#1 
Here's your one chance Fancy don't let me down 
 G A   E run#2 E 
Here's your one chance Fancy don't let me down 

 * Guitar in next verse is played almost as percussion 
 * Fret-hand dampens strings, pick-hand keeps tempo 
It wasn't long after a benevolent man 

Took me off the street 

And one week later I was pourin' his tea 

In a five room hotel suite 


I charmed a king, a congressman 

And an occasional aristocrat 

Then I got me a Georgia mansion 

In an elegant New York townhouse flat 
 * Guitar comes back in... 
 E   repeat intro E G A E 
And I ain't done bad 

 E   A 
Now in this world there's a lot of self-righteous hippocrits 

That would call me bad 
    D 
And criticize Mama for turning me out 
   A E 
No matter how little we had 

 E 
But though I ain't had to worry 'bout nothin' 
    G#     C# 
For nigh on fifteen years 
      A 
I can still hear the desparation in my poor 
 B    E 
Mama's voice ringin' in my ear 

 C A     E run#1 
She said, here's your one chance Fancy don't let me down 
 G A   E run#2 
Here's your one chance Fancy don't let me down 
 G A 
Lord forgive me for what I do 
 C     D 
But if you want out well it's up to you 
     C 
Now don't let me down 
     B    E 
Your Mama's goina help you uptown 

  E repeat intro/outro to end... 
I guess she did