3 Songs Reba McEntire Recorded That Were Actually Covers

Reba McEntire has built a lengthy career in country music by singing songs written by other people and making them her own. But some of her biggest hits are actually covers, recorded by someone else first.

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These three Reba McEntire songs became successful singles for her, although someone else had released them before her.

“Fancy”

There isn’t a more iconic song for McEntire than “Fancy”. Out in 1991 on McEntire’s Rumor Has It record, McEntire still includes “Fancy” in all of her live shows, 34 years later.

But before McEntire released “Fancy”, Bobbie Gentry, who wrote the song, released it. “Fancy” became a Top 10 single for Gentry, out in 1969.

Perhaps ironically, McEntire wanted to release the song for several years. But it wasn’t until Tony Brown started producing her that she was finally able to release what became her career song.

“The first time I ever heard it, I fell in love with it because I like story songs,” McEntire says (via Wide Open Country). “I’m a huge fan of Dolly Parton, Tom T. Hall — people who write story songs — Bobbie Gentry, ‘Ode to Billie Joe.’ Well, ‘Fancy’ was the first one that was really big in 1968. Later on, when I got to start recording and singing old songs, I wanted to do ‘Fancy’. [Producer] Jimmy Bowen wouldn’t let me because it’s a rags-to-riches song, and probably in a very not-appropriate form. She’s a prostitute.”

“Somebody”

McEntire had a No. 1 hit in 2004 with “Somebody” on her Room To Breathe record. Written by Dave Berg, Sam Tate, and Annie Tate, “Somebody” first came out by Mark Wills for his 2001 Loving Every Minute album.

But McEntire liked the song so much, she released it just a few years later. The optimistic song says, “But keep on looking ’cause maybe who you’re looking for is / Somebody in the next car / Somebody on the morning train / Somebody in the coffee shop that you walk right by every day / Somebody that you look at but never really see / Somewhere out there / Is somebody.”

“Somebody” became a No. 1 hit for McEntire, and her last for five years, until “Consider Me Gone”, which she released in 2009.

“The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia”

In 1992, McEntire released “The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia” on her For My Broken Heart album. A multi-platinum hit for McEntire, the song was written by Bobby Russell. His wife at the time, Vicki Lawrence, had the only No. 1 hit of her career with the song on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

In 1981, Tanya Tucker also released “The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia”, although hers was a slightly different version, used for a movie of the same name.

But it’s McEntire’s version that remains the most well-known. Not surprisingly, McEntire also stars in the video.

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