Nancy Sinatra Boots Made For Walking

Needless to say that Nancy Sinatra's song "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'" is a classic. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to claim that this song is her trademark song. But let's see the story behind this all-time classic song...

-->





"These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" is a pop song written by Lee Hazlewood and recorded by Nancy Sinatra. It was released in February 1966 and hit #1 in the United States and United Kingdom Pop charts.

It has to be noted that many cover versions of the song have been released in a range of styles: metal, pop, rock, punk rock, country, dance, and industrial. For example, Jessica Simpson made #14 in the United States in 2005 with her version based on the movie: "The Dukes of Hazzard". Geri Halliwell, Jewel, and KMFDM also released covers of the song.

Nancy Sinatra was encouraged by Lee Hazlewood to sing the song as if she were a sixteen-year-old girl giving the brush-off to a forty-year-old man. Sinatra's recording of the song was made with the help of notable Los Angeles session musicians known as the Wrecking Crew. This session included Hal Blaine on drums, Al Casey, Tommy Tedesco, and Billy Strange on guitars, Ollie Mitchell, Roy Caton and Lew McCreary on horns, Carol Kaye on electric bass, and Chuck Berghofer on double bass, providing the notable bass line.

According to Carol Kaye,  Arranger Billy Strange believed in using the two basses together. Producer Lee Hazlewood asked Chuck to put a sliding run on the front of the tune. Chuck complied by playing notes about three tones apart (4-6 frets apart), but Lee stopped the take. "No Chuck, make your sliding notes closer together", and that is what you hear."


According to Al Casey: "Well, Lee and I had been friends forever, and he said: "I've got this song I'm working on, and I want the guitar to play this." And he showed me, because there's a little bit more than banging on an "E-chord", which is what most people do. There's more to it than that. He said: "I want you to do this on the song," and he sang the song and played the rhythm guitar lick, and I went: "Oh, that's cute!", little suspecting it was gonna be huge."

Other personnel as seen in the AFM (American Federation of Musicians) contracts for the session include: Billy Strange - arranger & conductor & guitar, William Miller - unknown, Don Lanier - guitar, Lou Norell - guitar, Jerry Cole - guitar, William Pitman - guitar, Don Randi - keyboard, Richard Perissi - French horn, Oliver Mitchell - trumpet, Plas Johnson - tenor sax, Nick Bonney - guitar, Donald Frost - unknown, Charles Berghofer - bass, Eddie Brackett Jr. - engineer, Emil Richards - percussion, Jim Gordon - drums, Roy V. Caton - contractor & trumpet, Lee Hazelwood - supervisor.

Nancy Sinatra would later record one of Don Lanier's songs on her 1969 album "Nancy". Nick Bonney was the guitarist for the Nelson Riddle Orchestra. Donald Frost could potentially be the drummer who worked in the Hanna Barbera session musicians in the 60's, though this has yet to be confirmed.

"These Boots Are Made For Walkin'" was used on the soundtrack to Stanley Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket" (1987). Sinatra also sang it on an episode of China Beach in the late-1980s. In 2005, Paul Revere & the Raiders recorded a revamped version of the song using Sinatra's original vocal track. It appeared on the CD Ride to the Wall, Vol. 2, with proceeds going to help Vietnam veterans.

In addition, the Fembots were introduced to the strains of the opening and closing notes of the song in "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery".




In 2006, Pitchfork Media selected it as the 114th best song of the 1960s. Critic Tom Breihan described the song as "maybe the finest bitchy kiss-off in pop history".

Goodyear Tire and Rubber used portions of the song for its 1960s' ad campaign promoting its "wide boots" tires. Nancy Sinatra unsuccessfully filed a lawsuit against Goodyear for using the song, insisting that it had violated her publicity rights.

The song is featured in "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" episode #9.24 "All In", air date May 14, 2009.






The song is mentioned by title in The Stone Roses' song "Fools Gold" ("These boots were made for walking/The Marquis de Sade don't wear no boots like these").

The song also is featured in "Are You There, Chelsea?" episode 11(Boots, March 21-2012) of first season.

Check out the lyrics of the song "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'" below.... 

You keep saying you've got something for me.
something you call love, but confess.
You've been a messin' where you shouldn't have been a messin'
and now someone else is gettin' all your best.

These boots are made for walking, and that's just what they'll do
one of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you.

You keep lying, when you oughta be truthin'
and you keep losin' when you oughta not bet.
You keep samin' when you oughta be a changin'.
Now what's right is right, but you ain't been right yet.

These boots are made for walking, and that's just what they'll do
one of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you.

You keep playin' where you shouldn't be a playin
and you keep thinkin' that you'll never get burnt.
Ha!
I just found me a brand new box of matches yeah
and what he knows you ain't HAD time to learn.

These boots are made for walking, and that's just what they'll do
one of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you.

Are you ready boots? Start walkin'!

Source: Wikipedia

Feel free to comment and share this blog post if you find it interesting!