Fancy Bobbie Gentry
INTRO: Em7 E D
Well, I [E]remember it all very well lookin' back..
it was the [D]summer that I turned eighteen.
We [A]lived in a one-room, run down shack on the
[C]outskirts of New Orleans.
We [E]didn't have money for food or rent..to say
the [D]least we was hard-pressed..
when [A]momma spent every last penny we had to [C]buy
me a dancin' dress.
Momma [E]washed and combed and curled my hair..
then she [A]painted my eyes and [G]lips.
Then I [E]stepped into the satin dancin' dress..it had
a [A]split in the side, clean [E]up to my hip.
[E]It was red, velvet-[A]trimmed and it fit me [G]good.
And [E]standin' back from the lookin' glass was a woman
where a [A]half-growed kid had [E]stood.
CHORUS:
[Am]Here's your one chance, [D]Fancy, don't let me [Em]down.
[G]Here's your one chance, [A]Fancy, don't let me [Em]down.
Lord, for[G]give me for what I [A]do, but if [Am7]you want out,
well, it's [D]up to you.
Now, [C]don't let me down, your [B]momma's gonna you move up[E]town.
[E]Momma dabbed a little bit of perfume on my neck and she
[D]kissed my cheek.
Then I [A]saw the tears welling up in her troubled eyes as
[C]she started to speak.
She [E]looked at our pitiful shack and then she looked at me
and took a [D]ragged breath..she said, your [A]Pa's runned off
and I'm real sick and the [C]baby's gonna starve to death.
She [E]handed me a heart-shaped locket that said, to [D]thine own
self be true.
And I [A]shivered as I watched a roach crawl across the [C]toe of
my high-heeled shoe.
It [E]sounded like somebody else was talkin' askin', [Ab]Momma what
do I [Dbm]do?
She said, [A]just be nice to the gentlemen, Fancy, [B]they'll be nice
to [E]you.
CHORUS:
[Am]Here's your one chance, [D]Fancy, don't let me [Em]down.
[G]Here's your one chance, [A]Fancy, don't let me [Em]down.
Lord, for[G]give me for what I [A]do, but if [Am7]you want out,
well, it's [D]up to you.
[C]Get up, now, girl, you [B]best be movin' up[E]town.
[E]Well, that was the last time I saw my momma, when I [D]left that rickety
shack.
The [A]welfare people came and took the baby, momma [C]died and I ain't
been back.
But the [E]wheels of fate had started to turn and for [D]me there was
no other way out.
It [A]wasn't very long after, that I knew exactly what my [C]momma was
talkin' 'bout.
I [E]knew what I had to do, but I made my[D]self this solemn vow..
that [A]I was gonna to be a lady someday, though I [C]didn't know when or how.
But I [E]couldn't see spendin' the rest of my life with my [Ab]head hung
down in [Dbm]shame.
I [A]mighta been born just plain white trash but [B]Fancy was my [E]name.
CHORUS:
[Am]Here's your one chance, [D]Fancy, don't let me [Em]down.
[G]Here's your one chance, [A]Fancy, don't let me [Em]down.
It [E]wasn't long after that a benevolent man took me in off the streets.
[D]One week later I was pourin' his tea in a [B]five roomed penthouse [C]suite.
I've [Dbm]charmed a king, a [Em]congressman and an occasional aristocrat.
And I [D]got me a Georgia mansion and a [E]New York townhouse flat..
now, I ain't done bad.[G] [A] [E]
[E]Now, in this world there's a lot of self-righteous [A]hypocrites who call
me [E]bad.
[E]They criticize momma for turning me out, no [A]matter how little we [E]had.
[E]But I haven't had to worry 'bout nothin', now for [Ab]nigh on fifteen [Dbm]years.
But I can [A]still hear the desperation in my poor momma's [B]voice ringin' in
my [E]ears.
CHORUS:
[Am]Here's your one chance, [D]Fancy, don't let me [Em]down.
[G]Here's your one chance, [A]Fancy, don't let me [Em]down.
Lord, for[G]give me for what I [A]do, but if [Am7]you want out,
well, it's [D]up to you.
Now, [C]don't let me down, your [B]momma's gonna help you move up[E]town.
(And I guess she did.)
OUTRO: E G A E..E G A E..(Fade.)
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