koganbot | Just be nice to the gentlemen, Fancy, and they'll be nice to you (Bobbie Gentry and The-Dream)

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Lex makes a connection I'd not thought of. Incredible!

Do you know Bobbie Gentry's 'Fancy', btw? Struck me today - no idea why I didn't think of this earlier - that The-Dream's 'Fancy' is basically the same story taken up from a different character's viewpoint at a different point in time. (Destiny's Child's 'Fancy' could be the Greek chorus of the Moral Majority singing their disapproval.)

(That's the Reba McEntire video above, which I find touching. Bobbie Gentry is under the cut, along with further convo.)

Me: The-Dream's "Fancy" is in contention for My Favorite Track on Love Vs. Money. It sounds like a '30s Hollywood dream sequence in the clouds, the instruments creating a nonstop mist, a tingle of small, swarming sounds; then drums come in ominously right at the end; at least I think they're ominous. The whole album is so tense. Some of this is my tension, my being scared of the sensibility, the high-flying lives, the swagger, the sex wars. But of course the album itself makes the song unstable: the woman wants to live fancy, he gives her what she wants, she's the dream of a billion men, she's the gorgeous being who brings him love and status, the center of a lush life, and the song never explicitly states "this is going to come crashing down"; but the conditions described in "Fancy" are identical to the ones that caused the bust-up two tracks earlier, when he was the money guy tossed out in favor of the love guy. And so the whole setup is doubly insecure, since there's no guarantee that he keeps his wealth anyway, remains the money guy. And without the wealth he doesn't keep the woman, and wealth isn't enough anyway.

Lex replies: 'Fancy' is probably my default favourite on the album (day-to-day favourite oscillates wildly, for the moment it's still settled on 'Mr Yeah'). I hear it as the resolution of the previous two tracks - back to the original situation, sure, but with a new understanding and acceptance of where both parties stand, and why they stand there. Which doesn't preclude that tension at all, but it enables you to really, really enjoy the luxury and opulence (understated in comparison to the somewhat gauche gaudiness of the first few tracks). Bringing the beat in with less than 20 seconds left blows my mind.

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