I love Reba McEntire. As far as I’m concerned, she bests Patsy Cline as the greatest female country artist of all time.
“When Whoever in New England’s Through with You” and “The Greatest Man I Never Knew” are just a couple of my favorites. I even like her television shows. I haven’t read her books, but I have little doubt I’d like them, too.
But there’s one Reba song that sometimes rubs me the wrong way — “Fancy.” Now before you offer up those chastising emails, please hear me out.
I realize that “Fancy” is Reba’s signature song. It’s the one she sings at the inevitable curtain calls when she plays in concert, and she admits it’s her favorite song she’s ever recorded. “Fancy” is a rags-to-riches story, she’s shared, and she loves the story it represents.
That’s where we part ways, if only for a moment.
Every time I hear “Fancy,” I have to ask myself: Does this song glorify prostitution? I’m not alone in that thought. The song is noted on most lists of the “most controversial country songs ever recorded,” and for good reason.
Of course, “Fancy” also sits high on the list of the most popular country recordings.
To be clear, Reba did not write “Fancy,” nor was she the first to record it. Both of those credits go to Bobby Gentry of “Billy Joe McCallister” fame. Gentry released the song in 1970, and it made it to No. 26 on the charts. Gentry has said she looks at “Fancy” as a feminist statement.
“‘Fancy’ is my strongest statement for women’s lib, if you really listen to it,” Gentry says. “I agree wholeheartedly with that movement and all the serious issues that they stand for — equality, equal pay, day care centers and abortion rights.”
If that’s what Gentry claims about “Fancy,” we can only assume it to be true. She did, after all, write the song. But it’s the first time I’ve heard an argument that feminism equates with prostitution. That’s quite a leap of logic.
The “Fancy” story
If you’re not familiar with the story of “Fancy,” it is truly a rags-to-riches tale, as Reba says.
However, I believe the song shouldn’t be confused with the extended music video that accompanied its release. The music video tells us how to interpret “Fancy” — and that’s one of my pet peeves about country music and videos in general. Music is an auditory experience. Let’s leave a little bit to the imagination.
Then again, if ever a song and its accompanying video were hard to separate, “Fancy” fits the bill.
Fancy, the name of the song’s main character, lives with her mother and baby sister in a “run down shack on the outskirts of New Orleans.” This brief description of poverty sets the stage for the song’s storyline: Fancy’s mother has a plan to help her daughter escape a life without a foreseeable positive future. The song’s lyrics refer to the family as “poor white trash.” I don’t like the phrase, but it may be fitting (at least that’s what the video leads us to believe).
In brief, the plan is for Fancy to escape poverty by embarking on a life as a prostitute. We can’t be sure the mother actually sells Fancy into prostitution — but if we follow the video’s images, there’s a strong reason to believe it to be the case.
Fancy is picked up by what appears to be a wealthy man in an expensive black car. That darkness implies that some sort of “sale” — or at least an “arrangement” — was involved, and that the man in the car is up to no good. Again, such a conclusion requires that we see the video and lyrics as one. As noted, I don’t like to look at music that way.
As the song tells us, especially in the extended version that doesn’t often receive radio play, Fancy DOES become a prostitute (although the word is never mentioned).
It’s noted that a benevolent man took her off the streets, a place prostitutes often live. And Fancy “charmed” a “king, a congressman, and an occasional aristocrat.” I don’t think we need to interpret much to know the type of “charming” to which the lyrics refer.
In the end, Fancy’s escape from poverty somehow leads her to a luxurious lifestyle (not to mention the acquisition of a sizeable sum of money). If we go back to the video, Fancy managed to parlay her stint as a prostitute into stardom as both a singer and actress.
The “Fancy” message
Here’s my beef. I worked for an anti-sex trafficking organization for a few years, and I’m familiar with TAT, or Truckers Against Trafficking. I learned a few things along the way.
For one thing, few prostitutes willingly enter the trade. it’s not something girls aspire to do when they grow up. Most states have laws noting that a minor cannot be charged as a prostitute. Why? Because there is always an adult — let’s call a spade a spade and just say it, a pimp —behind teen prostitution. And in most cases, even when reaching the age of majority, a sex-trafficked woman is often controlled by the same pimp.
The lyrics to “Fancy” reinforce this, stating, “for me there was no way out.” Of course, listeners learn that, for Fancy at least, there WAS a way out, and it led to an enchanted lifestyle.
This is where we get down to the question at hand: Does “Fancy” glorify prostitution? Even more sinister, if it does, does it also glorify sex-trafficking?
Now, I’m not going to suggest that Reba’s signature song has inspired some wayward girls to enter prostitution as a profession. If nothing else, it may have inspired them to escape the sex trade.
But the question remains. Should a song that, in conjunction with its video, alludes to prostitution as a means of escape from poverty be held in such high regard?
Despite my misgivings, my answer is “yes.” I believe “Fancy” takes a headlong look into the issues of life in the United States, particularly in the South. That, after all, is what country music is all about.
Until next time, support TAT. You can make a difference.
Since retiring from a career as an outdoor recreation professional from the State of Arkansas, Kris Rutherford has worked as a freelance writer and, with his wife, owns and publishes a small Northeast Texas newspaper, The Roxton Progress. Kris has worked as a ghostwriter and editor and has authored seven books of his own. He became interested in the trucking industry as a child in the 1970s when his family traveled the interstates twice a year between their home in Maine and their native Texas. He has been a classic country music enthusiast since the age of nine when he developed a special interest in trucking songs.
