Night Miss Nancy Ann's Hotel for Single Girls Burned Down

Now Miss Nancy Ann ran a boardin’ house with a faded sing that read

“Single Rooms For Single Girls No Men Allowed” it said

But rumor had it that a gentleman with a yen for love for a fee

Could always go to Nancy Ann’s for some feminine company

Well one night in June in the billiard room was I chalking up with a friend

He was set to break when the door burst open and Leo James rushed in

He yelled there’s a fire that’s just broke out and it’s down at Nancy Ann’s

So we dropped our cues on the poolroom floor and down the street we ran

Though the flames were hot and the smoke was thick not a single life was lost

And the reason for the blaze was never found

But it long will be remembered in our local history

As the fire that fairly scandalized the town

The night Miss Nancy Ann’s Hotel For Single Girls burned down

When we got to the place the front was a blaze and so was the second floor

So we cut around the side and up the alley and stopped aside the back door

We were catching our breath when the door flew open and knocked poor Leo flat

And out through the smoke ran Mayor Wills wearin’ nothing but a black silk hat

And right behind him with his shirt tail afire came the local chief of police

And banker Jones with the red-haired girl he always said was his niece

And then I spied Miss Nancy Ann herself helping someone else out of the fire

Her arm around the red bald head of old Judge McEntire

A deacon a dentist a deputy sheriff and one state congressman

The county physician the city mortician out through the flames they ran

The grand parade of girls in gowns and hat clad gentlemen

Through the thick gray smoke that certainly smelled like french perfume and gin

Though the flames were hot…

Now everybody was out at the girl’s hotel by the time the roof caved in

We were headin’ back to the billiard hall when Leo turned to my friend

He said I believe that’s the funniest show I’ve ever seen in town

The so called elite caught out in the street with their pompous purity down

Though the flames were hot…