The most popular version of this song was performed by Reba McEntire on her 1990 album "Rumor Has It", although it was originally written and sung by Bobbie Gentry. Given Gentry's youth in poverty and a stint dancing in the Las Vegas nude review, Les Folies Bergere, there is a small chance that the song is partially autobiographical in spirit if not in fact.
For some reason this song always gives me that shivery, almost sick feeling that you get right before you start to cry, which is odd when you think about it because I've never been a little girl or worn a satin dancing dress, and although my memory is a little hazy on this one, I'm pretty sure I was never a hooker with a heart of gold. I have been down and out though, and on occasion I've felt like the world has let me down, so maybe that's what I feel a connection to when Reba's voice gets throaty and she starts belting out the chorus.
Well I remember it all very well lookin' back
It was the summer I turned eighteen
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 then she painted my eyes and lips
Then I stepped into a satin' dancin' dress
That had a split on the side clean up to my hip
It was red velvet trim and it fit me good
Standin' back from the lookin' glass
There stood a woman where a half grown kid had stood
She said here's your one chance Fancy, don't let me down
Here's your one chance Fancy, don't let me down
Lyrics and Music, Bobbie Gentry. 1970