I think this is gonna be an episode of this podcast that people share with their friends And they're like look this is gonna sound stupid There's these guys they're not young But they do a detailed psycho analysis of fancy in the song most important thing you've ever heard Trust me, it all makes sense later. So this is gonna be the episode that makes the podcast go big Oh, yeah new listeners start here now my kids have discovered my 90s country playlist How does it make you feel just hearing that? Where's your brain go? Oh, dude my brain goes to Ricky van Shelton I'll keep it between the lines.
Oh, well, that sounds like all the Travis trip now that keep it between the lines I'm not familiar with that. That sounds like a song where somebody's instructed somebody how to drive Yeah, I'm on the road. Yeah, probably not a metaphor for life. No, not at all But that sounded like sarcasm.
Are you suggesting to me that maybe there is some sort of life lesson to that song? I think almost all 90s country songs not all of them But a lot of them had very deep meaning yes. Yeah, I mean they were great, dude Yeah, I mean this is the formula man Every one of these songs it has some little thing that's about a practical thing in life that everybody can relate to and then it goes along a Little bit further from something kind of humor is like yeah We all been there and then all of a sudden it's like but then that's the day my lovely genie died And that's when I realized baseball is actually about losing someone you love except it's all poetic You like what now I get to think about that every time I hear anything about baseball But it's there also ballads in there like dude fancy Dino Fance. Oh my goodness Here's you want chance for a little now is so deep dark.
It's very dark. Yeah, but but It's just I don't know man. I had never heard that song in my life Somehow I avoided there just didn't register because I was young and I didn't understand it and I was driving around here It came on the radio down here in Alabama. I was like I've heard this one is Reba, right?
Yeah, I mean I recognize the voice You know it's Reba. I'm listening to a little closer. I'm like Valley if if this were written in a darker time and it weren't for Sappy nice 90s country sentimental music folks I would think that this lady was about to turn her daughter out onto the street to go and make money Oh my goodness. That's what the song is well.
She's not turn her no no I don't see it that way at all she was from a poor town. They had no money the family was literally dying and She says hey your name's fancy. I named you fancy and her mom scrumpts just together Is that a word scrumpts? I loved it She scrumpts just together all the money they have and she makes her address and she puts fancy in that dress and fancy Becomes a woman right before her eyes and then she goes to this dance or whatever it is with this man And she's like just be nice to the gentleman fancy and they'll be nice to you And then that's what happens and she wins over a man and then there you go You don't get the impression that that was about saving the family fortune by dressing her up real pretty and having her Go and try to mingle in high society to get money.
There was no family fortune to save They were poor destitute had nothing but it was her chance. I mean, it's the story of Esther, right? No Yes, that sounded a lot like Emperor Palpatine when he started Okay, I gotta look it up do you remember like three and a half minutes ago when you turned on the microphone You didn't know what we were gonna talk about yeah, and now we're debating the lyrics to fancy by reading that guitar Okay, well, this is how things are you just your friend to the way your friend fancy lyrics I wonder if this will just give me like some AI generated lyrics that it thinks are fancy. No, they got it.
All right Here we go. I remember it all very well looking back. It was a summer. I turned 18 We lived in a one-room rundown shack rhymes on the outskirts of New Orleans Yeah, so that's the thing about this area of country the rhymes are so quaint, but they feel so right yeah I got no problem with that don't give me weird ironic rhymes make it rhyme.
Okay, we didn't have money for food or rent to say The least we were hard-pressed then mama spent every last penny we had she scrouched I think that's what she's meaning there. She's scrouched it. She scrouched it. Yeah, which is it's different than scrounging because obviously Yes, scrouching.
Yeah, but when you when you scrounge you just run around and get everything you can't shake out the cushion When you scrounge. Yeah, that's more. Yes. It's more hard.
It's more harder Yeah Well, to buy me a dance and dress. Yeah, well mama wash No, no, no, it's not just to buy me a dance and dress What is that's why the way Reba says that to buy me a dance and dress like she says that like the way she sings that has deep Deep feeling it's great go ahead continue. Sorry. Is there a dance and dress and wearing dress?
Is there like an athletic cut or something? I don't know this I've never seen the video to this song, but I can see the dress It's red. It's red. Yeah, it's your head.
Well, when was the song? It's very slender to and this guy sequins on it. Oh, I wasn't picturing sequences I was picturing like kind of clumps around the ribs a little bit muffin tops. No, not muffin tops No, she's fancy.
She's 18. She's not going out to be a social debutante with muffin tops. Come on monster No, they're like little like pleats. It's pleated on one side of the ribs Okay, and on the side that it's pleated the dress goes down further like all the way to the ankle But then it doesn't goes right across at the ankles.
It comes up at like a 45 to the other knee No, dude, that's not what this debt dress is. This is a slender dress with sequins and it's got a slit clear up to the hip almost You don't scrounch for a dress with sequins. It's cheap. It's tacky.
Have you ever seen the video to this because I haven't even There is a way we can saw it last we're gonna read the lyrics and then we're gonna settle all of our questions about fancy keep going Okay, so there's a dance and dress apparently well mama washed and combed and curled my hair Then she painted my eyes and lips see Dude, you don't say painted eyes and lips you do if you don't know what makeup is Tracey Tracey you do if you don't know what makeup is man. Have you ever been to New Orleans like the bad part of New Orleans? I've been to New Orleans. Yeah, there are some parts of New Orleans that are pretty rough That's where fancy's from that supports my theory about the fancy lyrics verse one that you would paint that on Where do they have the ladies of the night man?
New Orleans there is a house in New Orleans No, we're talking about 90s country keep going now the reputation holds How do you call it when you get things and you're a lady and you want to put this material perfume on your face area makeup? Yeah, what do you call that activity verbit? You make up you you apply apply makeup you put on makeup. Yeah, you don't paint your face and lips Sir you are getting dangerously close to offending my culture Okay, look I just I think I met this song to visits ago down here.
Keep going I'm learning as we go I don't I don't honestly know I'm just I'm going with my impressions. I'm prepared to be wrong about fancy and I'm just That you are disagreeing with Reba McIntyre. Just understand that well. I don't know that we know that yet.
You're going I think these are great lyrics Clearly I brought them up what I'm saying is that I think Reba is telling a little darker story than you think Okay, you're more familiar with the song and geographically you live closer to the place where this happened you're closer to ground zero So I'm I defer but let's just let's just go to the record. Let's go. Okay about me a dancin dress I come to curl my hair then she painted my eyes and lips Hmm then I stepped into a satin dancin dress. Oh, it's that had it.
Oh dang it It's in the lyrics you cheating dog. I just remember like I had a slit on the side clean up to my hip You knew that was in the lyrics. I did not know the lyrics I just knew the story and the story has like it plays like a movie in my head like I experienced the song growing up And I just know now I did think there were sequins, but maybe I'm wrong I don't think it speaks to the sequence But I'm imagining like some some lace type accents with sequins same color as the dress if there's lace type accents I think it's a one along the bottom. Yeah, look I underestimated the slit.
I'm gonna own that I just didn't imagine that But no, no, no, let's go back to my thesis Whose slit vision better fits their assumption about what's going on here in this song? What see I feel like your vision of the slit all the way up to the hip supports my thesis that this is a little bit dirty What's going on here with her mom and fancy? This is not dirty at all. I think it might be a little bit I think no, I think she's okay.
Look. I don't even remember where the song goes from here I just remember when I first heard this verse dude the baby dies no mama dies and they had to get rid of the baby Like it it's a hard time for fancy and then you quit ruining it for people who don't know how it turns out good point This is the dog died keep going keep going Golly man. It's like your first time you've ever done a podcast. What the heck?
She stepped into a satin dance and dress that had a split on the side clean up to her hip It was red velvet trim and it had fit me good. Did we say red velvet trim? We didn't say that no red velvet That's a lot of miles black velvet. There's another song that came out about this time.
You remember that one? No black velvet in that So southern style that one okay, this is different well standing back from the looking glass There stood a woman a half grown. Oh, there's a woman where a half grown kid had stood She said what did she say? Hmm?
I'm just trying to remember the lyrics are a little blurry that looks like we're going to the course She said what it looks like I mean it's just hard for me to say what happens next I'm asking for a little help You're making a joke. I don't understand. She said she said here's your ticket one chance There's your one chance fancy don't let me down. Oh, that's what it was.
Yeah, okay, so you know Yeah, she said here's your one chance fancy don't let me down So that's the course when you're acting like you're reading your phone, but you can't read it that joke doesn't translate through podcast Nobody understands that joke with me because I can see you squinting at your phone Yeah, but all you got to do is just do your best read the invitation and sing the course Mama dabbed a little bit of perfume on my neck, okay Then she kissed my cheek and then I saw the tears welling up in her troubled eyes why she troubled Destin She knows this is her one chance and one chance to what to not let her mama down How is she supposed to not let her mama down in this situation? Let me explain. Okay. This is like Cinderella Mm-hmm without a fairy godmother.
Okay, this is if like Cinderella had a fairy godmother Bippity-bopity-boo and just make everything happen sure granted everything turned into a pumpkin at midnight. I sure did however Fancy's mama knows hey, I don't have nothing and I'm gonna scrounch everything I got scrunching I'm gonna make this satin dance and dress. Okay with the velvet trim. I can hear Reba say anything good I can hear it So she's gonna put her daughter in this dress and she's gonna send her out on this whatever this activity is It's a dance or whatever it is and she knows that fancy is beautiful And she knows that fancy is going to attract the attention of these men And one of these men is going to make fancy his wife like her mom knows that this is probably gonna happen if and only if Fancy plays the cards right.
It doesn't let her mom down. Yeah, this doesn't feel deeply abusive to you No, this is this is what no, it's not abusive at all this like her mom is trying to bust through the ceiling The socioeconomic position that she's been dealt She's been dealt some some bad cards her her husband's left her or gone. They've got a baby They can't feed like her mom's got a noted child. Okay.
I don't disagree with that I feel that that comes through. I mean the desperation comes through however you read the song you're not supposed to Feel the angry at these people. I mean you're supposed to feel I think empathy at the mom a little bit But I don't think you're supposed to feel good about the situation or what her strategy is to solve the problem What if fancy, you know doesn't want to get married to some guy? She met at a dance one time when she was 18 What about when the guys like let's go dancing again where another or one of your dresses?
Oh, no, dude This is a song of emergence and coming of age because at the end of the song, you know She talks about I maybe you may think I'm plain white trash But it is my name fancy was my name. You know that part of the song. Well, I mean we're getting there Oh, yeah coming of age 90s. That's like Deanna Carter's strawberry wine That's what that's for this first taste of love something white 17, you know that one yeah, okay That's what I think of that there's sort of this fun that song be whiny that was not intentional fun But it is why I was about I was in awe of you It is a why you were about to have to offend off a hug from another man because of what you just accomplished And then you back you backpedaled the whole thing and now you're not gonna get credit for it Yeah, you really didn't mean to do that I didn't but you still think the wine song with wine in the title is whiny.
I do actually yeah, all right well done Okay, take my dad a little bit of perfume on my neck Then she kissed my cheek and then I saw the tears welling up in her troubled eyes Why she troubled send her daughter off to the dance after painting her face and her lips because she knows this is her only chance She can't send fancy to college. She doesn't have that kind of money. She's got to take care of the baby So she's at home So she can't even hold I mean yeah, I agree the problem about the child at home the baby She can't get childcare because she can't afford it right and there's no other family support system Apparently so you know grandma's not around to help with the baby And so mom can't go get a job to feed the baby and so her only hope is fancy That's it man as she started to speak She looked at our pitiful shack and then she looked at me and took a ragged breath She said your paws run off and I'm real sick and the baby is gonna starve to death The way she says that in a song and the baby's gonna starve to death Yeah, look when you feel an emotion in a song that you're imitating you do that breath at the end Yeah, I know it got through the armor, so I'm not gonna discount that yeah cuz I know that's we've been doing this for 15 minutes I'm trying to understand the problem keep going because I'm pretty sure there is none. Okay good She handed me a heart-shaped locket that said to thine own self be true.
Yeah, I don't like that part What are we doing here? Yeah, like it go ahead and I shivered as I watched a roach crawl across the toe of my high-heeled shoe That's a kick butt rhyme that is that's real good. It sounded like somebody else that was talking asking mama. What do I do?
She said just be nice to the gentleman fancy. They'll be nice to you. Yeah, it's awesome This is rough man. Yeah, I get it.
Here's why I like the song and here's why I think it struck me to me It sounds like the truth. It sounds like I somebody went through something like this and I don't always need the stories I hear song or see in art to be morally exactly how I want them to be to feel good I mean the story is truth. Whatever the story is is what the story is but sometimes the story is so ambiguous and difficult that you Don't know quite what to do with it, but we're gonna sort it out. We almost got it.
Yeah, she said of course Here's your one 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.
Yeah, and that's why you think this is a marrying up scheme a thousand percent Yeah, maybe right fancy is attractive. She's empathetic. She cares about her family She needs a rich man to be attracted to her. That's what she needs.
She's got to do this Yeah, that's just so bleak. Why what it's it's Esther. Okay, is it no no hold that thought I'm gonna figure out if I can put the story of Esther to this melody in a minute Well, that was the last time I saw my mom that night. I left that rickety shack the welfare people came and took the baby Dang, I remember that part mama died and I ain't been back.
I didn't remember that part Yeah, dude, but the wheels of fate had started to turn and for me there was no way out It wasn't very long until I knew exactly what my mama been talking about I knew what I had to do and I made myself this solemn vow that I was gonna be a lady someday though I didn't know when or how But I couldn't see spending the rest of my life with my head hung down and shame, you know I might have been born just plain white trash Hi, here's a chance fancy don't let me down here's a chance fancy don't let me down Okay, dude. This song is miserable What are the emotions that I should feel right now? I've been in several situations where I have seen another class of society that I just completely did not understand I remember my parents worked very hard at the auto. We were middle-class great jobs growing up I've we were extremely comfortable my parents worked at the auto parts place at the road here They sent me to college.
I didn't know to apply to a bunch of colleges I just applied to the University of Alabama. I didn't know there were other options because of that is the state in which you lived Yeah, it's a good reason public university. Yeah, I didn't know I should be applying to other schools I didn't know these things nobody told me this stuff. So what school tried very very hard?
I remember my junior year. I think it was my junior year I got a scholarship for the Alabama space grant consortium and We wrote up here to Huntsville to the Marshall Space Flight Center And there was gonna be a ceremony where we got the scholarship thing And I remember being in the car on the way to that ceremony and I had a tie and I didn't know how to tie it There was a guy in the car with me. He was Blake and I said, hey man, I've never put a tie on like this I don't when I was younger and we did like some like I in sixth grade I think I hosted some kind of beauty walk thing they had gave me my phone to say the girls names and I had a clip on Tie, but like this is a real tie I don't know how to put a tie on because I got you buddy and he taught me how to tie tie. Did it stick?
Yeah, that's the not I use ever like now and I remember thinking huh like he knew how to tie it Like he knew how to tie it. How do you learn how to tie tie? And so I just remember feeling like there was this other level that I didn't have access to and I didn't know that I needed access to it I remember that so like fancy is a great song She's putting this dress on like it's some kind of Martian exoskeleton like she doesn't know what this is and I think it's really really cool I think it's on and there's a part at the end of the song that I don't really like I've got I've got that part right here Well, let me before you read it if I recall it correctly the thing I don't like about it Is I feel like she sees that higher society and she goes for it and then she's like in a fancy city job and I feel like she's kind of forgotten her roots. That's the way I feel when I hear the song I don't remember the lyrics, but I do remember feeling oh she's now she's quote made it and she's in the big city making big money But she's kind of forgotten what it was like.
I don't know. What does it say? Well, if that is the case and I don't remember any how the song wraps up So for the moment I'm taking a word for it again I don't think this is one of those songs that is a triumphalist You know I mean by that it's not a song that you're meant to hear it and immediately resonate with the hero in the way that you're like Oh, whatever this hero does is right. This is more like I wouldn't say breaking bad But it's more like a questionable hero where they're just in difficult situations and at times It's easy to empathize and root and another time.
It's more like I don't know if that's right I don't know what I would do either though. I don't know what I would do it's meant to be a hard song I mean you've heard me talk about what I like about art before in general for me good art usually is hard Beautiful interest in compelling this song super catchy I mean from just a digestible point of view the song's great, right? The rhymes are all in the right places, but it doesn't make me feel good. It doesn't make me feel bad It makes me feel like I'm listening to a story that is truth Reba isn't giving me the ease and comfort of having this be digestible and simple I'm just going to have to be uncomfortable and challenged by the fact that a story like this exists and that's kind of it That's the way it comes off That's the way I felt about song in the past now Maybe we're gonna read this last verse and we're gonna realize that she got through the first couple verses and we're like I better You know put cherry on this and make it feel a little better here at the end And it is a story of a cent rags to riches and victory But when I first heard this driving around your neighborhood on the radio I thought that this song was a riff on the rags to riches story But it was kind of like a rags to a better looking rags story that I thought would feel like riches But it just feels like a different kind of rags.
Mm kind of that and you know see what we'll see how it ends Yeah, verse four it wasn't long after a benevolent man took me in off the streets and one week later I was pouring his tea in a five-room hotel suite. Do you know whether or not she was? What do you mean? Well the next letter case?
Yes, she was yes, I like that I charmed a king Congressman and an occasional aristocrat Then I got me a Georgia mansion and an elegant. Oh, I see where this is going I can feel the rhyme already New York townhouse flat and I ain't done bad. She ain't done bad Let me jump right to this next verse now in this world There's a lot of self-righteous hypocrites that call me bad. Does she mean me?
Oh? Self-righteous hypocrite dang it they criticized mama for turning me out no matter how little we had But though I ain't had to worry about nothing for nigh on 15 years Well, I can still hear the desperation in my poor mama's voice ringing in my ears Here's a chance fancy don't let me down. Oh, here's your chance fancy 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 hun your mama's gonna move you up town Oh, and I guess she did the thing I don't like about the first the fourth verse is that I feel like there's an opportunity there for fancy to actually connect and find love But she kind of uses these men She's like hey, I'm going to conquer these men. I'm gonna get me a congressman I'm gonna get me an aristocrat whatever.
I got a king sure, you know, she turns into a bit of a gold digger at the end Yeah, a gold digger is someone obsessed with conquest No, I've seen this I have a lot of friends who've immigrated and there's something about an immigrant to the United States of America I have seen one of two things happen that I've seen the extremely grateful person that will just totally Just kill it. They do great. They know the opportunity There's a burden that I've seen happen to immigrants where they feel like they have to make money because they have the opportunity to send that money home Yeah, naturally so in some cases they end up being used by their family from wherever they are Yes, I've seen that up close while being I'd say used by society to do some job or whatever It's it's a it's a very very challenging position. So everyone back home views you as oh, he's rich now And then here in america, you're working two or three jobs and you're you're obering on the side or whatever you got to do And then you end up sending a lot of that money home And then people think you're just here like laughing it up eating lobster or whatever you're doing what you're just working like a dog So I've seen that there's another thing I've seen happen with with some of my uh, my friends and acquaintances that I've met who are immigrants where they come and they're like, I'm going to dominate everything And there's this conquering mentality where I'm at this level.
How do I get to the next level and just continue to move up the ladder? Uh level level level up level up. Okay, that's great. What do I have to do?
Who do I have to use? How do I have to get to the next level and the thing about america is you can do that? Yes, you can totally do that like you can Level up as much as you want given the I mean obviously time and circumstance plan But it is possible with effort to get to the next level still yeah, you're good point Yeah, it is still yeah, I mean anything like that where you can put in roadblocks and hurdles where people can harvest money and resources Off of that climbing that conquest. I mean any opportunity to put resource harvesters in your journey Somebody's gonna put there either the state or businesses or in the case of our country right now both So it's harder now.
It's much more difficult now, but it can still be done and people are still doing it and yeah good for them I guess I mean that's awesome So the thing about the end of the song that kind of saddens me is that fancy doesn't create an authentic human love connection with another person She conquers these people and she knows it like she's aware that she's doing that Are we doing a psycho analysis of fancy by reba mak entire finish your thought what is happening? We're doing what needed to be done in this conversation. Yeah, so so I will agree with you that the song is sad Okay, and the reason I agree with you is because of the fourth verse It's not because of the first second or thirties because of the fourth verse because she doesn't understand that Had her mom, you know what you're getting my closed body language now. I am yeah Had she been able to talk to her mom again her mom probably would have wanted her to find love and be happy This charge that her mom gave you here's your one chance fancy.
Don't let me down her mom was saying I want to get you out of this socioeconomic situation. That's all she was doing I don't think her mom was saying I want you to conquer anybody in your way in order to get as much money as possible But she was given the charge and she took it'd be serious and she kept going and she didn't plateau Yeah, but why would she say it that way? I mean because I think it's great writing is why she says it that way But what is the emotionally correct way to phrase pushing your child to go do something really difficult for their own good What do you mean? Hey, here's your one chance kiddo What would you I mean?
What would you say if you were pushing one of your kids to go do something very difficult Even right on the edge of morally difficult, but it's for their own good and I I have to help you here's your one chance kiddo What would you say? What would you say? What would you say? Don't let me down?
Um Maybe at one point in time I would but not anymore. There's no way you would say that What do you mean? You would never make that about you ever you would make it about them and their story You would never put the guilt and the pressure of if you go out in this fancy dress that I took all of our money To put together and you go out out as a debut taunt to this ball the unknown mystery Cinderella girl And if you fail to get the men the gentleman to take interest in you, you have let me down Would you ever send your kids out the door with if you don't achieve this thing you don't even understand how to do and this is your first try You have let me down you have one chance never I'm not gonna say never I'm not gonna say never like it. Do you think about where her fancy mom was she was sick and the baby's gonna starve to death Right that is as bad as it gets and she's super super super.
What does she have like what the only thing she has is The relationship that she's developed with fancy. That's all she has yes I'm I'm realizing my eye contact is way too strong for talking about fancy my rear back I'm sorry, but I'm back away from that eye contact kind of trait more So I am realizing that the only thing she has is the relationship that she's developed with fancy That's all she has and she's drawing from that she has no money. She has no food She has no health The only thing she has is the social equity that she's built up in time with her daughter She's gonna say whatever she has to say In order to make make it happen She wants to send her daughter out into the world and she's got one chance to say something to her that will Give her a good vector, right? Maybe it wasn't perfect, but of course it wasn't perfect I see it as a as an act of selflessness in desperation Okay, I see it as an act of Selflessness, I agree with that But this isn't a song where the things are one or zero good or bad everything is compromised in this song Where this song is going where this story is going is determined before the first lyric of the song ever happened By the situation that they're in now we learn more about the situation as it goes along paul left broke roaches in the shack all of this stuff But the circumstances are meant to be the villain in the song.
Yeah, so this is not A man versus man plot. This is man versus nature and man versus themselves man versus himself right those the three big plots Man versus other man man versus nature man versus himself I think it ends up as a tragedy because fancy ends up falling for the trap that is riches Okay, and so I think that's that's where it goes off the rails at the end like it it could have been Well, what would have been a better ending? I don't think the song's over. She's 33 dude She's still got her.
She's bigger in beauty 33 If she's 43 she's still young if she's 53 she's still young if she's anything three She's still young because she's alive. She has agency The story can be written the paint is still wet. So for me, I don't get to the end of the song and be like, uh, you blew it I get to the end of the song and I'm like, well, that's about where you should be on this journey This arc right now and I can kind of project out the fact that the main character is singing those final two versus the way She's saying it drips within security Should we write a fifth verse to fancy and perform it for writing one right now? Question I think this is happening.
I think 33 year old fancy the age of jesus of nazareth at the time he went to the cross dude You laugh go and look at the theme of 33 years old Like there is something if you had told me last night. Hey, deston. So, um, here's the deal So it's going to bed in the morning. We're gonna have a conversation.
I get some freddies I mean at one point at one point. I'm gonna utter the sentence the 33 year old fancy the age of jesus of nazareth Yeah, this one like if you would have told me we were gonna arrive at that sentence somehow I would have said no that's not happening. Would you really have said that but here we are here? We are Yeah, okay.
Keep going. I'm sorry. You were about to blow my mind Okay, you know a thing or two about riba does she strike you as the devout type or the godless type the devout type Yeah, she's I mean she's not an atheist or an agnostic She's a southern Christian woman in the 20th century sense for sure She knows dang well that she picked 33 to be the age from which fancy is singing the song do math to get to 33 Yeah, but it was pretty easy. I just took so my mind I just took 15 and 18 I was like I'll put the tens together that's 20 and then the eight and the five that gives me another 10 That's 30 and then I got the three left over.
That's how I did it. Okay, okay. Yeah, so I'm just saying it wasn't that tough my point being This is an age of inflection Riba knows that and so she's telling a story about somebody who isn't finished and how does fancy sound secure in what she's done or Defiantly insecure insecure defiantly insecure. Yes, right.
Yes. I done this I done that I done that ain't nobody can tell me that I'm not Who someone who feels good about their choices doesn't tell you about their choices that way I mean this song could just as easily be described in 2020's meme format as nobody colon blank spaces fancy colon I've done seduced kings and aristocrats and became rich and got two fancy houses and don't nobody tell me I did it wrong Okay, all right cool lady. I like how your southern is just like just bad angling tripling down on negatives No double negatives not enough. We need a triple negative I can't I have that in my bag of tricks.
Okay, Chad GPT right me a fifth verse to fancy by riba mac and tire Where fancy finds a good man and loves him devoutly Verse five now fancy found a good man strong and true His love was like a beacon guiding her through with each passing day her heart grew fonder Their their love a flame that nothing could squander together. They danced in love sweet embrace fancy found her heaven and his loving grace Yeah, hey eyes does a long way to go. I mean Yeah, riba is a lot better than a yeah, she is yeah, can I see that for a second? I want to do a verse too before we end it's all this thing I think the beauty of 90s country is it makes you feel things And it's not just about the beat but man, there's something about the whole country band.
I can still hear the You know like the guitar licks. Yeah, it's like it's awesome. What were you gonna say? Go ahead.
No, I'll get to this. No, I'll get to this. No, I'm gonna. I haven't got it.
You wrote a six verse. I'm gonna Yeah tag one more on okay, dude most songs you can't do this with it doesn't matter how hard we try If we take dance the night away the summer blockbuster dance hit by doua leapa from the barbie the movie soundtrack There's just nothing to break down. Do you like it when they do that off beat double clap? Do you like it when she's like watch me dance dance the night away?
You're like, what do you think? Why do you how long do you think she's gonna dance? I know that's probably till the sun comes up. It sounds like from what she's saying just fixing to I guess you can't do it It doesn't mean anything.
It's meant to be hobby lobby music. It's just yeah, it's art I guess and that it's in a frame and there's sort of colors on it neutral progression is the term I've heard okay Yeah, it's like we're going to provide music and there will be no progression or it won't advance a story or anything like that It's just like you're meant to just feel A certain level of emotions and just stay right there It's meant to affirm where you already are maybe and that's what a lot of art does now It's either nihilistic just in a flip over the table kind of grouchy sort of way with no constructive proposal or telling any kind of really meaningful story just saying Um, you know, hey, I'm lazy art and my lazy art emotion That sort of vaguely comes through in this thing that no one will remember ever a month from now is I don't like it I'm not happy Okay, well, there's an honest emotion underneath that art somewhere But you didn't put in the effort to explore why or the narrative behind it or where the narrative goes It's just not compelling. It's like a kid walking into a room and stomping a foot and saying I'm unhappy Well, that doesn't motivate me to do things or really explore further most of the time Generally as a parent, I'm gonna be like huh kid walks into the room and stops at you and says I'm bored What do you do my kids know not to say that? First of all, they know I heard that word uttered from the lips of one of my kids one time First of all, I thought that's great and it was recently recently when they said that because uh one of my kids was injured And I made them stay home and rest and when they said I'm bored I said thank you for telling me that that was uh, you know, that was kind of my goal So they just need to rest for a bit.
But when my kids say I'm bored, we we have so many things we can do mostly work Yeah, that's exactly what you do great. I got something for you Yeah, you hit me with one singular emotion with no narrative behind it. Here we go Yeah, it's petulant it demands that you figure out the thing just make something happen here That's what bad art does good art and there's good art from every generation from a good art is being made right now Wonderful music is being made right now, but the good art it doesn't matter what the genre is And I don't think of myself as being a country music fellow or a reba fan But good art can provoke two grown men to sit around and debate a song from whatever 40 years ago And debate what we're supposed to take from the lyrics because what is the song actually doing? It's telling you a story that's in process and incomplete.
She's only 33 years old and I kind of understand the arc I can relate to parts of it. I can't relate to other parts of it But it's the truth and it makes me curious and makes me feel empathy About her story and that gives us something to shoot at something to think about and what started as us kind of goofing around eventually turns into What would I do? What would that feel like and all of a sudden? I'm feeling the story of someone who's living a life completely different from mine with pressure is completely different from mine in a part of the world A completely different from mine.
I'm a dude with a beard it's an 18 year old girl That should be really difficult for me to empathize with but Reba wrote a great song and forced me to be uncomfortable and try to empathize with the thing I think it's good art and people can dismiss it as campy and having too many double negatives, but I like it triple negatives even What do you got there? You're doing something? Well, I want to write one more verse just around out the story in a satisfying way What are you working on? So there's a song that I've you said that good art's being written now and I I know a song that I think is okay better Hold that thought this will be tonally inappropriate.
Okay, great That makes me excited for what you're doing. What are you doing? Okay, I wrote a fifth verse here what I'm gonna level with you I'm having chat GPT do it for me, but I just I want a tonal change up. It's bleak.
I want to see her character evolve I want to see her accomplish new things so we're gonna try this write me a fifth verse to fancy by Reba MacIntyre where fancy becomes the Empress of Earth and has to defend the planet from an invasion by a race of sentient alien cyborg bugs I think it sounded really good. Oh, wait, right? But fate had more in store a cosmic twist fancy ascended her destiny kissed as Empress of Earth She stood tall and brave to protect her world from the cyborg's rage with courage ablaze She led the fight defending humanity with all her might see that doesn't work. It all rhymed Yeah, but the whole the whole song is first person So it changed it didn't listen to tell it tell it tell it you need it first person.
You're absolutely right. Yeah, okay. We're not Was my name Shooting the doctor weapon from industry It was my name laser blasters Okay, new prompt read me a fifth first of fancy by Reba MacIntyre where fancy sings in first person about becoming the Empress of Earth and has to defend the planet from an invasion By her ace of sentient alien cyborg bugs Now I stand as Empress with worlds to defend against cyborg bugs our survival alopend Their metallic armies march with sinister intent, but I'll fight with valor and resolve unbent for earth my home I'll rise and strive with every fiber of my being. I'll keep hope alive That was stronger.
It needed to be first person Earlier you said that there are good songs that there's good art being made now Yeah, and I would submit one to you. Okay, that I think is fantastic. I mean like it's incredible I don't know when it was written but it was written recently it means a lot to me The song means a whole lot to me actually okay, and I recently met the person that wrote it Into them it was a throwaway like an interaction with a fan like oh this person's they're probably really nice You know and because I know what it like it feels like to be on like yes You know like when you were a pastor at the end of the service you have all the people walk up to you and they're all talking to you So as I was talking to this person I could tell like okay, he's had this conversation 10,000 times This is the only time I've ever had this conversation But there's a song by the arkadian wild called the ballad of donny jean. I'm interested Well, you've heard the song because When we were up near your home, we were going out to fish and I grabbed your phone and I played the song you cried Oh, it's that one.
Yeah, dude. We're having a nice conversation Come on man. I know right. I mean that song is incredible the ballad of donny jean by the arkadian wild So I was in national recently at this event for the wing feather saga They are releasing season two of the animated series and the arkadian wild did the music for the series and it's incredible really Yeah, I watched that series with the kids.
Yeah, I think we had pretty good time with it But I didn't I didn't know there was a connection to the song that made me cry Yeah, they did the music and so I had this brief moment where I was backstage and they were getting ready to go out And they were gonna play on stage for everybody at the event and I said you guys are amazing Your music is incredible. They're like, oh, thank you very much And I could I could I could feel the we have to say this a lot because they legitimately are amazing They probably have people tell them this all the time and I said who wrote the ballad of donny jean and It was the guitarist and the the mandolin player were the two that I was sitting there talking to and so the guitarist is Isaac horn and the mandolin player is Lincoln mick. That's who I was talking to and Lincoln wrote it So Isaac said yeah, he wrote that one. I said man.
That was incredible How did you write it and he said well, I didn't write it. I just wrote it down I said, well, what do you mean here we go? So what do you mean? He goes?
Well, it's just the story of my grandfather I was like dude. It's incredible. Thank you for doing it. I mean it means a lot to me So it's the song about this man who's courting this woman when he's young He's got hubris and you know He has a way of saying things and he can convince people to do things and uh long story short He eventually convinces his wife to marry him takes him two times But he asked her and so and then it goes through their life There is the journey of their entire life of children of being married of you know It says basically it's talking about don't give up on her and she won't give up on you So it's this really amazing story about faithfulness in a marriage when people are going through life and it gets hard It's just a beautiful song.
I think it's beautiful And so when you said there's beautiful art being created today I immediately thought of that song and I thought of his eyes when I said who wrote this song Because you could tell he knows he's like he's not gonna say it But you could tell he was so happy to have written the song And uh, it's just really good So I really in his humility in that moment like he didn't take credit for it Can you imagine writing something so powerful that if a man plays it in a car for his friend Will just start crying on the first try on the first try. Yeah, yeah, and I'm not I'm sorry Yeah, I kind of outed you on that, but it's I don't care if people know I cry every now and then yeah I mean I cried once in my forties So Yeah, it was uh Imagine writing something that powerful and knowing you wrote it and then somebody says thank you for writing this It was incredible and then you just totally parry the compliments say oh, I didn't really right I just all had to do is write it down I thought that was gorgeous and so hats off to to Lincoln, Mick the mandolin player for the arkadian wild for for writing that And if you haven't listened to the arkadian wilder incredible Yeah, that got straight through the armor, but not with schmaltz it wasn't just sap It challenged me as a through the front door challenge as I recall. I've only heard the song one time in my life It's a story that has really clear implications for a human of any age listening to it Yet it didn't feel patronizing or insulting to me The parts that really got me were the honoring of it felt like honoring of a parent or a grandparent the way it was written And the honoring of two people being absolutely relentless And battling against all of the emotional elements of a lifetime to defiantly insist on loving each other anyway And being in with each other and being there for each other and faithful and loyal and just everything that has to go into that I don't know if this is a saying or how this maybe this is the whole thing And I'm the only person who hadn't heard it until recently But I saw a brief clip of an interview recently where a guy was interviewing that dude who keeps injecting himself with stuff to be forever young Oh, yeah, I've heard the story. Yeah, and the interviewer I was like, why do you want to live forever?
Why would you want to do that? And the guy's like, well, I mean look at me You know say that but that's the counter argument was like look how awesome I am I don't know what the counter argument would even be and it's a valid question I mean the interviewer was questioning the entire premise of the guy's company and lifestyle and what he's doing with his body And maybe it's okay to try to make your life super long. I don't know. I don't have any judgment on that What I do know is that the interviewer was like But over the course of life Your mind collects all of these barnacles that attach to the whole of memory of failure of heartache You know, you've only got I'm paraphrasing big time You only got so much room for all of the relational weight good and bad And at some point the whole is just covered in the barnacles of life It sort of feels natural maybe again paraphrases mind to go into the doc You know that there isn't really a way to clean those off and still have you be you It's just sort of the natural cycle to be in a person When people say scars, I think that's a lazy analogy because it's the good stuff and the bad stuff What got what got me about the song was the idea of being with somebody as those barnacles collect and attach to the whole And you have the hurt and the memory and the forgetfulness and the blank spaces where you know there was memory But now there isn't memory there just not because you have to mention just because time has passed on a lot of other things have happened And to share that with somebody to know that somebody is there for you like that Beyond all the other relationships and everything else Like that was a part that broke me that was just thinking about Camilla.
That's why I came on glued when you played this song Yeah, I think there's a stubbornness required for a good marriage Like you have to be stubborn enough to say yeah I messed up and I hurt you, but you're you're willing to stick with me anyway, or yeah, you know You hurt me when you said that but you know, I love you no matter what That's the obvious stuff and I agree with everything you just said and I think it's beautiful But then there's the completely innocuous stuff Like the world was different six years ago and I haven't really thought about the world for six years And yet here we still are you ever have that moment where you go to grab a shirt out of the uh drawer and you're like I got this shirt nine years ago What am I doing like I asked the wrong person. I apologize. What are you talking about? Completely just messing I have a shirt in my closet right now.
That says she's 50 I bought it before we got married. It's a a shirt I found at the thrift store in tuscole, sialvamma when I was in college It's a red shirt. It's too big for me. It says she's 50 and it has a finger pointing to one side And I have been saving that shirt.
It will have been Over 30 years when I finally get to wear it a crusty moth eaten disaster Oh, dude. It's it's the longest play joke I have in my life right now and it's gonna it's gonna be great It's gonna slay it's gonna be great. It's the equivalent of my pigeon gets a hot dog at it joke It's a long long and best when I've told you about my pigeon gets a hot dog at it joke I don't think I want to know okay quick aside My buddy had his first daughter and there's a book like the pigeon gets a hot dog It's about this pigeon it finds a hot dog and then this other little squawky bird is like I want some of the hot dog too And in the end they decide to share the hot dog to solve their problem. Okay My buddy he turned 40 when he was 17 He's just been delightfully cranky I use an old man when he was 17 So of course he complains about his daughter bringing in the same book all the time But it's the kind of complaining where you know what means he loves her right?
You know people like this Yes, he brings me the same book every time he holds it up. It's just about pigeon it gets a hot dog Oh, no, it's gonna share the hot dog I read it like something different's gonna happen and I thought Yeah, like something different's ever gonna happen that night I took it to my house and using my wife and I's photoshop and art skills. I drew two new pages of the book Carefully neatly glued to them over the top of the existing pages and simply replaced the outcome of the story So as my buddies read and then I just sneak back to his house the next time and replaced it Did you really get it from about two years later the phone rings? 830 at night, you know roughly bedtime for a child and there's just screaming and laughing on the other side But clearly everybody's having a really good time It's about as hard as I've ever heard this particular person laugh And I knew I knew what it was because that night his daughter had rediscovered the penguin gets a hot dog book Pigeon Pigeon get hot thank you And he sat to read it and everything was happening because nothing like the different outcomes ever Gonna be different then he got to the parts where I changed the pages And the pigeon says I've got an idea Which happens in the book and then the idea is share and then he turned the page and the little squaky birds legs are just sticking out of the pigeons mouth And the pigeon is saying hmm And the little squaky bird from inside the pigeon's belly is saying there is no god and that's the end of the book And he was ready to go to his daughter.
That's awful. That's my, I'm with 50 joke. It's a long play investment. And I didn't get 50 years out of it or 30 years out of it.
That's a pretty good play. That's the best I can do. Just the idea of him saying that to his child. What happened to him?
There is no, oh, never mind. I'll just go to bed. That's a good play. Thanks.
I feel really good about it. I feel really good about this conversation. And I love that I am left in a slightly different state of ambiguity. I agree.
You've made a good point. I will concede that perhaps my bleak, darkened mind overly read evil intent and evil outcome into verse one of fancy by Reba McIntyre. Perhaps it's not quite as bleak as I made it out to be. I sort of had it in that house of the rising sun range, like the girl version of that.
I will concede it is at least a little more ambiguous than that. Apology accepted it. Thank you. Yeah.
That's a mark of immature man. And I would say that I started this conversation believing that fancy by Reba McIntyre was a fantastic song in that I was on the side of fancy. And I recalled that in the fourth verse that I don't really like the way she handled her business toward the end. And I'm glad that she became the Empress of Earth and defended this from the side of the side of the side.
And I will say to you, Destin, this is what mature emotional conversation looks like. I will say to you, Destin, that I at the end of carefully evaluating the lyrics to fancy by Reba McIntyre still feel that she's in process. I don't think this girl is done. I think the fact that she's writing the song, fancy, is writing the song and telling the story with that tone means that her view of herself and what she wants to accomplish with her life, she's having to tell people that she likes it, which means that if she's saying that defiantly to you, and he's trying to convince herself, she's trying to convince herself, man.
Something's rattling in her heart. This story isn't done. She is still changing. Anytime you're going to people and defiantly saying, I done this and I done that and I done that and I feel good about it.
Nobody can judge me, but God, that means you do not feel good about it. Your internal narrative is not right. You are not at peace with that thing. She's not at peace with losing her mom.
She's not at peace with her. Happened to the baby. She didn't go look up her sister. There's no indication of that.
She did 15 years of self-indulgence. And her kid sister is probably 16 years old right now. That baby has grown up apart from any family. She hasn't made the effort.
I think that all joking about bugs and the empress stuff and aliens aside, I think the next four verses would be her heart softening. And the thing that softens it is one night, she's alone. Man leaves her and her mind goes back to her family. And she decides she's going to go look up that 16 year old kid sister and they connect and it's not fun.
And it's hard to explain it. Jeannie Ray, it's a Jeannie Ray. Or maybe it's Grace. Oh, Golly, that would be better.
That would be better. I shouldn't have screwed around with that one. And then this thing happens where she finds herself in a position where she loses everything. And she's reestablished a relationship with Jeannie Ray over these last couple of years in verse six.
But now they're back in the shack, basically. The bills are due. The men are out of her life. Where's she going to get the money?
And she faces the temptation to push Jeannie Ray out and use the trust she's carried with her this restored relationship with her kid sister. But something happens in her heart and the generational cycle is broken. And instead, they come up with a new solution that wasn't available to Fancy's mom because she just didn't know. She just didn't know what to do.
But Fancy, through the good times and the hard times, has learned something. And something new happens. And they solve their problem different. And they stay back to back.
And she doesn't die. And they take care of each other. And there's a redemption and a breaking of the generational cycle of hurt that happens. That's what I think occurs next.
You know, who wrote Fancy? Do we know the writer of the song? Let's go find out. Reba McIntyre could do like Fancy too.
She could do a song like the sequel to Fancy. That's still on the table. It's still on the table. Who wrote it?
No way. What? It's a cover. What?
Yeah. Is it really? Yes it is. It is originally by Bobby Gentry.
Is it really? From 1969. She released it in 1991. Summary, the storyline of the song follows a woman named Fancy who gives up her life of poverty to pursue financial independence by working as a sex worker, Destin.
I don't. The song retains its style and motif of hard luck feminism that Bobby Gentry baked into the original video. Come back with the song right turn 18. What?
We lived in a one room rundown shack on the outskirts of New Orleans. We didn't have money for food or rent. Save lives for the world's hard press. New mocks go, every last penny we had to buy me a dancing dress.
I'm a washroom cold and curl my hair and she painted my eyes and lips. And then I stepped into the setting dance and dress. It was a little sad, little sad, little tonight. Whoa.
Destin, I think we just got confirmation that my reading between the lines was correct and your reading between the lines was incorrect. I don't know if I'm prepared to admit that. OK? I'm cool with that.
Art can be interpreted. You know what? I don't want her to be a lady of the night. I think she's a lady of the night.
I don't want that. But think about what that does for my final verses. Doesn't that make it even that much better that she comes around? Like this isn't.
That's interesting. It's a cover. Man, it is. And the original version was good.
That was really good. I didn't know that. That was awesome. Smokey.
I think that's what they call those kind of vocals. Yeah. Smokey. Yeah, it's like a son of a preacher man kind of vibe.
Oh, wow. Yeah. Wow, actually. Yeah.
Yeah. Camilla likes that song. I like it when she plays it. I do.
I like it when she plays it. Because we're dads are preacher man. I'm not apologizing for that. I think it's kind of cool.
Dude, that was great conversation that I didn't expect. Thank you very much. Well, that's how friendship works, buddy. One day you're throwing things at each other in the kitchen when nobody's looking to see if you can hit the other guy real hard in the crotch.
And then a second later, you're talking about the lyrics to Reba's fancy. I didn't see this coming, dude. I really did not see this conversation. Good.
Thank you for taking it seriously. Yeah. You could have just made fun of me the whole time for wanting to talk about fancy. But instead, we got to talk about fancy.
In my heart, I know that fancy, her heart has softened and she's gone and found grace. And she is instructing grace in all the mistakes that she's made so that she is the real purpose of the whole story, that baby. Oh, I like that. I come away from this conversation feeling like fancy has gone through a dramatic and volatile character arc.
And she's becoming who she needs to be. But looking back someday on her life, she's going to realize that all these things she went through, the men, the dress, the dance, losing mama, the roaches, the shack, the highfalutin living, then losing it again, putting the relationship back together with her kid sister. All of it was just how God was preparing her to defeat the cyberorganization as a person.