"Fancy" is a song written and originally performed by Bobbie Gentry in 1969. The song depicts its heroine overcoming poverty to become a successful courtesan. Gentry's personal view on the song:

Other than Gentry's, the best-known version of the song was recorded in 1990 by country music artist Reba McEntire for her Rumor Has It album. McEntire had a Top Ten country hit with her cover of the song in 1991.

The Southern Gothic style-song is told from the perspective of a woman named Fancy, approximately thirty-three years old, looking back to the summer she was 18.

Fancy's family (consisting of Fancy, a baby sibling whose gender is not mentioned, and their mother; the father having abandoned them) lived in poverty — "a one room, rundown shack on the outskirts of New Orleans". Her mother is terminally ill and has no one to care for the baby.

In a last, desperate act to save Fancy from the vicious cycle, her mother spends her last money to buy Fancy a red "dancing dress", makeup and perfume, and a locket inscribed with the phrase "To thine own self be true". She encourages Fancy to "be nice to the gentlemen, Fancy, and they'll be nice to you" (implying prostitution as a means to gain financial independence). Soon after, Fancy's mother dies and her baby sibling becomes a ward of the state.

Fancy recalls her mother's parting words: "Here's your one chance Fancy don't let me down" and "If you want out, well, it's up to you." Fancy ends up using sex and connections she makes to build a better life for herself (eventually owning a Georgia mansion and a New York City townhouse flat), eventually making peace with her mother and acknowledging the complexity of the decision her mother was forced to make.

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