Fancy (Song)

Fancy is a popular song originally released in 1969 by Bobbie Gentry, later re-released as a country song by Reba McIntire in 1991.

The song is told from the standpoint of the titular character, Fancy, 15 years after the summer of her 18th birthday. As a teenager, Fancy, her terminally ill mother, and an infant who's gender is not stated, are living in abject poverty on the outskirts of New Orleans (the father has abandoned the family). Desperate to get Fancy out of the vicious cycle of poverty, her mother spends her last money to buy Fancy a red dancing dress (with a slit running completely up her leg), perfume, makeup, and a locket saying "to thine own self be true", and suggests to Fancy that she can escape the family's fate by entering into prostitution. Soon after Fancy leaves, her mother dies and the baby is taken by Child Protective Services.

Fancy follows her mother's advice, finally achieving both financial independence (owning a New York townhouse flat and a Georgia mansion) and acknowledging the desperate situation in which her mother found herself.