CAPO at II
[Intro]
E G A E
/ ///// / ///// / ///// / //// /
[Verse 1]
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
[Chorus 1]
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
[Verse 2]
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
[Chorus 1]
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
[Chorus 2]
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
[Verse 3]
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
[Chorus 1]
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
[Verse 4]
* 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
[Chorus 1]
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
[Chorus 2]
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.
