Everybody knows my name
Still it's just a crazy game
Oh, it's lonely at the top

Listen to the band, they're playing just for me
Listen to the people paying just for me
All the applause, all the parades
And all the money I have made
Oh it's lonely at the top

Listen, all you fools out there
Go on and love me, I don't care
Oh, it's lonely at the top
Oh, it's lonely at the top

Now I remember it all very well lookin' back
It was the summer I turned 18
We lived in a one room, rundown shack
On the outskirts of New Orleans
We didn't have money for food or rent
To say the least, we were hard pressed
Then 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
And then I stepped into a satin dancin' dress
It was split on the side clean up to my hips
It was red, velvet trim and it fit me good
And starin' back from the lookin' glass was a woman
Where a half grown kid had stood

Here's your one chance, Fancy, don't let me down
Here's your one chance, Fancy, don't let me down

Mama'd add a little bit of perfume on my neck
And she kissed my cheek
And I saw the tears wellin' up in her troubled eyes
When she started to speak
She looked at our pitiful shack
And then she looked at me and took a ragged breath
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 that said
"To thine own self be true"
And I shivered as I watched a roach crawl across
The toe of my high heel shoe
It sounded like somebody else that was talkin'
Askin' "Mama what do I do?"
Just be nice to the gentlemen, Fancy
And 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
Now git on out, girl, you'd better start movin' uptown

Well, that was the last time I saw my ma
Then 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
And it wasn't very long 'til I knew exactly
What my Mama'd been talkin' about
I did what I had to do but I made myself a solemn vow
That I was gonna be a lady someday
But I didn't know when or how
I couldn't see spendin' the rest of my life
With my head hung down in shame
Well, I mighta been born just plain white trash
But Fancy was my name!

Here's your one chance, Fancy, don't let me down
Here's your one chance, Fancy, don't let me down

It wasn't long after, a benevolent man
Took me in 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
And I got me a Georgia mansion
And an elegant New York townhouse flat
And I ain't done bad
(She ain't done bad, no no no no no oh yeah yeah)

Now in this world there's a lot of self-righteous hippocrates
That would call me bad
And criticized my mama for turning me out
No matter how little we had
And though I ain't had to worry about nothin'
For nigh on fifteen years
I can still hear the desperation in my poor
Mama's voice ringin' in my ear

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
Now get on out, girl
You better start livin' uptown

And I guess she did

I used to believe
in the days I was pure
and I was pure as you used to be

My wonderful someone
would come to me someday
and then it would all depend on me

If he's a good man
if he's a rich man
wears a fine cravat, smokes a cigar
and if he's good and treats me like a lady
then I shall tell him, "Sorry."

Chin up high
keep your powder dry
don't be lax or go too far
oh, the moon is gonna shine 'til dawn
keep that little rowboat cruising on and on
you stay perpendicular

Oh, you can't just let a man walk over you
cold and dignified is what you are
such a whole lot of things can happen
so firmly say but sweetly, "Sorry."

The first to appear
was a young man from Kent
he was all that a man ought to be

The second was older
and bolder, I mean
and the third was crazy mad for me

They were all rich men
they were all fine men
wore silk cravats, smoked a big cigar
and since they all made me feel a perfect lady
I said politely, "Sorry."

I would sigh, keep my chin up high
never relaxed or went too far
oh, I let the moon go shining on
I let that narrow rowboat cruise around 'til dawn
I stayed perpendicular

I could not just let a man walk over me
perhaps my dignity went rather far
such an interesting lot of things might have happened
I simply indicated, "Sorry."

One day comes a man
but what kind of a man
do you know why he does what he does

He walked into my room
and he hung up his hat
and I just didn't know where I was

He was a lean man
he was a mean man
didn't own a cravat, smoked no cigar
and God knows he never made me feel a lady
there just wasn't time for "Sorry."

Chin up high, my chin was down my shoes
and I relaxed but far too far
oh, the way the moon kept shining on
the night was nigh for rowing and this girl was gone
not so perpendicular

so you let a man just walk right over you
who said dignified is what you are
such a wonderful lot of terrible things did happen
and now it's you can tell me sorry.