[Verse 1]
Now, Miss Nancy ran a boarding house, with a faded sign that read
"Single rooms for single girls, no men allowed" it said
But rumour had it that a gentlemen with a yen for love for a fee
Can always go to Nancy Ann's for some feminine company

[Verse 2]
Now, one night in June, in the billiard room, I was 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 pool room floor and down the street we ran

[Chorus]
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

[Verse 3]
When we got to the place the front was ablaze, and so was the second floor
So we cut around the side and up the alley and stopped beside the back door
We was catching our breath when the door flew open and knocked poor Leo flat
And out through the smoke ran Mayor Wills wearing nothing but a black silk hat

[Verse 4]
And right behind him with his shirt tail afire came our local chief of police
Then Banker Jones with a redhaired girl he'd always said was his niece
Then I spied Miss Nancy Ann herself helping someone out of the fire
Her arm around the red bald head of old Judge McIntyre
[Verse 5]
A deacon, a dentist, a deputy sheriff, and one state congressman
The county physician, the city mortician, out through the flames they ran
A grand parade of girls in gowns and half-clad gentlemen
Through thick grey smoke that sweetly smelled of French perfume and gin

[Chorus]
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

[Verse 6]
Everybody was out of that girls hotel by the time the roof caved in
And we were heading 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!"

[Chorus]
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