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'
 Ab       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
 Ab   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'
    Ab     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

--------------------------------------------------------------

Comments:

Play the following sequence of notes (open strings correspond
to CAPO at II).

Run#1 -f#-||----------  Run#2 -f#-||----------
 -c#-||---------- -c#-||-0--------
 -a -||-----0---- -a -||---2-0----
 -e -||-0-2---0-2 -e -||-------0-2
 -b -||---------- -b -||----------
 -F#-||---------- -F#-||----------

Similar note runs occur throughout the song, so listen for them.
Or make up your own, like me (i.e., whenever I hit a wrong note --
which is pretty often).

What else... the song is performed with a lot of attitude, so the
strumming/pickin' tempo is reflective of that.