About The Song
If we’re going to make a list of greatest songs, we can’t miss Reba McEntire’s ‘Fancy.” It’s a hit single that has always been part of the country classics list. Reba had come a long way when she first dominated the Billboard charts over forty-five years ago. As the years go by, “Fancy” is still making waves for country music. Like Dolly Parton, the name of Reba is a sturdy stone on the genre.
Do you know that “Fancy” is not a Reba McEntire original? Bobby Gentry wrote and sung it in 1969 for her album titled with the same name. According to reports, Reba wanted to record the song in 1984, but her producer refused at the time. Jimmy Bowen, her past producer, thought that it embodies closely to Bobby only, so he felt Reba could not sing it.
The famous country singer thought that there’s no hope for her to include it in her albums. But, she changed producers in 1990, switching to Tony Brown. McEntire and Brown had almost finished recording for her album ‘Rumor Has It.’ The new producer asked his talent what other songs does she wants to add to the album. Thinking about the music her past manager turned down, she seizes the opportunity.
McEntire told him about wanting to cover “Fancy,” and Brown agreed instantly. Little did they know, her cover would become one of her signature songs.
Although Bobby Gentry is the original of “Fancy,” that didn’t stopped McEntire from owning the song. She sung it and even surpassed Gentry’s No. 26 spots on the Country chart and #31 on the Hot 100. The rendition achieved No. 8 in 1991 for the same song. What’s more impressive is that her cover consistently ranks at 100 Greatest Country Songs up to this day.
“Fancy” is a rags-to-riches story that the protagonist earns money unconventionally. Reba McEntire spilled in an interview how the song is like Cinderella and Annie Get Your Gun. She loves those stories, by the way.
For an elaborate version, Fancy is the name of the song’s main character. She and her mother lived in extreme poverty. Her father abandoned them, and she is in a hopeless situation. Fancy’s mother gave everything, even the last penny, that she has to her daughter.
She bought her a lovely dress and dolled her up. Before setting off Fancy into the world, she told her to “be nice to the gentlemen, and they’ll be nice to you.” The 18-year-old worked as a prostitute. As luck may bring, she eventually landed her a New York townhouse and Georgian mansion.
However, Fancy is still haunted by her past, so she returned to where she lived before. McEntire took it to a whole new level by making her shack before a refuge for runaways. The official video was practically a mini-movie. The queen of the country played the role of Fancy on the video
Video
Lyrics
I remember it all very well lookin’ back
It was the summer I turned eighteen
We lived in a one-room, run-down 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 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 hips
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”
Mama dabbed a little bit of perfume on my neck, then she kissed my cheek
And then I saw the tears wellin’ up in her troubled eyes when she started to speak
She looked at her pitiful shack
And then she looked at me and took a ragged breath
She said, “Your pa’s runned off, I’m real sick
And the baby’s gonna starve to death”
She handed me a heart-shaped locket that said
“To thine own self be true.”
And I shivered as I watched a roach crawl across
The toe of my high-heeled shoe
It sounded like somebody else that was talkin’
Askin’, “Mama, what do I do?”
She said, “Just be nice to the gentlemen, Fancy
And they’ll be nice to you.”
She said, “Here’s your one chance, Fancy, don’t let me down
Here’s your one chance, Fancy, don’t let me down
Lord, forgive me for what I do
But if you want out, well, it’s up to you
Now don’t let me down
Now your mama’s gonna move you uptown”
Well, that was the last time I saw my ma
The night I left that rickety shack
The welfare people came and took the baby
Mama died and I ain’t been back
But the wheels of fate had started to turn
And for me there was no way out
It wasn’t very long ’til I knew exactly
What my mama’d been talkin’ about
I knew what I had to do and I made myself this solemn vow
That I’s gonna be a lady someday
Though I didn’t know when or how
But I couldn’t see spending the rest of my life
With my head hung down in shame
You know I might have been born just plain white trash
But Fancy was my name
She said, “Here’s your one chance, Fancy, don’t let me down”
She said, “Here’s your one chance, Fancy, don’t let me down”
It wasn’t long after that benevolent man took me in off the street
And one week later I was pourin’ his tea in a five-room hotel suite (yes, she was)
I charmed a king, a congressman and an occasional aristocrat
And then I got me a Georgia mansion and an elegant New York townhouse flat
And I ain’t done bad (she ain’t been bad)
Now in this world, there’s a lot of self-righteous hypocrites
That would call me bad
They criticize my mama for turning me out
No matter how little we had
But though I ain’t had to worry ’bout nothin’ for now on fifteen years
Well, I can still hear the desperation in my poor mama’s voice ringin’ in my ears
“Here’s your one chance, Fancy, don’t let me down”
She said, “Here’s your one chance, Fancy, don’t let me down
Lord, forgive me for what I do
But if you want out, well, it’s up to you
Now don’t let me down
Now your Mama’s gonna move you uptown”
Well, I guess she did
