Reba McEntire’s “Fancy” Lyrics Meaning

“Fancy” begins with the singer looking back at her past. What she harps on specifically is that upon becoming a woman, as in reaching the age of 18, succinctly put her mother compelled her to entertain the life of a working girl.

This was not due to any shortcoming in her mom’s personality. In fact she was quite sad to push her daughter in this direction. Rather she did so as a result of the crippling poverty the family was enduring. Indeed she, Fancy (the singer) and a baby were all living “in a one room, rundown shack”. And the man of the house, i.e. Fancy’s father, deserted them. So Fancy’s mom dresses her nicely and tells her to “just be nice to gentleman”, and these men will respond in kind.

Venturing out to do so was actually the last time Fancy saw her mother or the baby, as her mom died, and the baby was taken by social welfare agencies.  And up until this point, this is indeed a very sad song. But upon realizing that she cannot go back on the path she has now chosen, Fancy embraces the life her mother had chosen for her. In other words, she sees this “immoral” work as a genuine opportunity to experience upward social mobility. Simply put, she sees engaging in rough trade as the only key to overcoming the poverty that she was born into.

Fancy defeats poverty

And conclusively Fancy does in fact become an accomplished escort. She is able to make a lavish living for herself entertaining rich and powerful clients. And some 15 years on, while relishing her professional accomplishments and affluent lifestyle, she can’t help but to lament over the impoverished state that her mother suffered while she was alive. 

And Fancy understands that her lifestyle is an immoral one which she may one day make an effort to leave behind. But in the midst of it all, she still praises her mother for pointing her in the direction which did prove successful in terms of helping Fancy defeat poverty.       

Facts about “Fancy”

This classic was originally dropped by a songstress named Bobbie Gentry, who also wrote it, back in 1969. Reba McEntire’s version, which came out via MCA Nashville on 1 February 1991, served as the third single from her album “Rumor Has It”.

This is one of Reba’s (and the fans’) favorites amongst her entire catalog. In fact even though she didn’t release “Fancy” until 1991, she had been making attempts to record it professionally since the early 1980s. Now she regularly uses the song as an encore, and while rendering it she tends to alter her outfit mid-performance.

Reba McEntire’s rendition of “Fancy” was co-produced by she and Tony Brown.

McEntire’s rendition was a recognized hit in the country-music industry in both Canada and the United States. And whereas it didn’t overly impress chart-wise, Country Music Television (CMT) had still placed amongst the top country music songs ever dropped.

Stephen King references this song in a Book

Novelist Stephen King released a New York Times Best Seller entitled “Duma Key” in 2008. And it contains numerous references to this song, including namedropping “Reba” herself.