Walker Hayes – "Fancy Like" (2021)

My girl is bangin'

She's so low maintenance

My fifth-born grandson surprised me a few weeks ago by suddenly singing “American Pie” while we were in the car.

Apparently, his dad has been crooning that classic to him as part of their bedtime ritual, and his sponge-like little brain quickly soaked up the lyrics.

When he came out with “Did you write the Book of Love/And do you have faith in God above/If the Bible tells you so,” I didn’t immediately recognize what song he was singing.  I thought it must be a song he had learned in Sunday school.

An Applebee's Oreo shake

But the penny finally dropped when he got to “Them good ol’ boys/Were drinking whiskey and rye.”  (Doh!) 

He doesn’t know every word of “American Pie,” but he knows more of the lyrics than I do.

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This week, he and his brother sang a different song in the car.

I had no idea what it was, but the boys’ parental units told me it was Walker Hayes’s 2021 country single, “Fancy Like” – which is also known as “the Applebee’s song” because it name-drops Applebee’s in the chorus.

I’m not sure if Walker Hayes was inspired by “(We’re Not) The Jet Set,” which was a 1974 hit for George Jones and Tammy Wynette.  But both songs feature working-class couples who are so in love that it doesn’t matter that they can’t afford fancy food and drink.

From “(We’re Not) The Jet Set”:

No we’re not the jet set

We're the old Chevrolet set

Our steak and martinis

Is draft beer with weenies

From “Fancy Like”:

Don’t need no Tesla to impress her

My girl is happy rollin’ on a Vespa

Yeah, we fancy like Applebee’s on a date night

Got some Bourbon Street steak with the Oreo shake

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Apparently Walker Hayes actually takes his wife to a Nashville Applebee’s on their date nights.  (I wonder where he takes his side chick?)

Not surprisingly, Applebee’s jumped on “Fancy Like” like a big dog, and created a series of TV ads featuring the song.

The restaurant chain even brought back its Oreo shake, which had been removed from its menu during the pandemic because it was "too complicated" to make. 

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Click here to listen to watch the official “Fancy Like” music video.  (I wish I had recorded my grandsons' rendition to share with you, but I didn't.)

Click here to buy the record from Amazon.