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 claid 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