While promoting her boxed set, “Revived, Remixed, Revisited,” country legend, Reba McEntire explained why her 1990 hit “Fancy” is always her closing song.
The tune has long captivated listeners with its powerful tale. Now, it’s the final track for each of McEntire’s three concept albums in the set. McEntire explained why “Fancy” is always the note she ends on.
‘Fancy’ is Reba McEntire’s favorite way to end a show
When interviewed by Absolute Radio, McEntire was asked about her “favorite song to end a show with.” McEntire answers quickly and without hesitation: “Always ‘Fancy.’ I never close a show without ‘Fancy.’”
McEntire continues, “I’ve been a huge fan of ‘Fancy’ since Bobbie Gentry recorded it … It’s a rags-to-riches story song that I just love.”
The singer says the original version of the song had long been a favorite of hers even before she recorded it herself. “I’ve been singing it forever,” she told Absolute Radio. “… I sing it on every show because I just love it.”
And, like many of those who relate to the against-all-odds plight of the song’s narrator, McEntire says, “I become Fancy Rae Baker when I sing ‘Fancy.'”
Reba McEntire’s ‘Fancy’ was originally recorded by Bobbie Gentry
Though “Fancy” was a major hit for McEntire, she was initially stopped from recording “Fancy” by her producer, Jimmy Bowen. It was not until several years later that she recorded the song with her new producer Tony Brown.
Originally written and recorded by Gentry in 1970, “Fancy” was a follow-up to Gentry’s “Ode to Billie Joe.”
As pointed out by Country Thang Daily, both songs began as short stories and are considered Southern Gothic narratives.
“Fancy” tells the story of a destitute 18-year-old girl living with her mother and baby sibling outside New Orleans, Louisiana. When the money runs out, Fancy’s mother sends her out to earn a living and provide for the family as a sex worker. She tells Fancy “Here’s your 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.”
Fancy does as she’s told, but turns her devastating reality into a hard-won victory. This fuels her own independence and financial freedom. The song ends with the fictional Fancy, now the owner of a “Georgia mansion and an elegant New York townhouse flat” who “ain’t had to worry ‘bout nothing for nigh on fifteen years.”
‘Fancy’ is still considered one of Reba McEntire’s best songs
Like Gentry, who called “Fancy” her “strongest statement for women’s lib,” according to Ms. Magazine, so too does McEntire’s singing of the song evoke a sense of female empowerment.
For her original version, recorded in 1990, McEntire built upon Gentry’s more swinging original work adding a powerful choir to the song’s chorus. McEntire also starred in a dramatic six-minute music video that brought the story to life in a new, theatrical way.
The song was not a No. 1 hit for Gentry or McEntire. But “Fancy” lives on as one of the most iconic country songs ever written and is considered one of the songs for which McEntire is best known.
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