When you're the daughter of one of the most popular musicians of all time, it's got to take one heck of a song to make your own mark on history. For Nancy Sinatra, "These Boots are Made for Walkin'" did just that. She was officially able to step out of her dad Frank's shadow and became a smash hit in the 1960s and '70s. But initially, her signature song wasn't even meant for her. It was written from the perspective of a man, which kind of changes the entire vibe.
In the mid-'60s, Sinatra found herself 25 years old and divorced. She was signed to her father's record label, Reprise, but her career wasn't necessarily going anywhere. Texas country singer Lee Hazlewood was brought into Reprise by Frank and he asked him to help with his daughter's career. Hazlewood brought over some potential songs for her one night and one of them was "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'."
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"We were at my mother's house because I was living there after my divorce," Sinatra told the LA Times, recalling the first time she heard the song. "He played me a bunch of songs . . . then he sort of threw away 'Boots' because it wasn't finished. He says, 'This is one I do in the bars,' and he sang two verses of it, and I said, 'Wait, wait, wait, that's the one.' . . . I just knew I was right."
Hazelwood had actually intended to record the song himself since he wrote it from a male perspective. But Sinatra told him that she really felt it would come across better if a woman sang it. She was definitely right.
"I just told him the truth," Sinatra explained to Rolling Stone in 2021. "That I didn't think it was good for a man to sing it, that it sounded kind of ugly, and that a girl should sing it and it would be better. And he realized I was right."
Nancy Sinatra immediately went from a little girl who had performed on The Ed Sullivan Show that one time to a recording artist with a number one hit on the Billboard Hot 100. But Hazlewood wasn't just the songwriter for her new hit. He was heavily involved in recording the song and, according to Nancy Sinatra in her 1985 biography Frank Sinatra, My Father, he gave her some colorful instructions in order to get his desired tone.
"I was still singing like Nancy NiceLady. Lee hit the talk-back switch in the booth and his deep voice blew my ears off....Let's do one for the truck drivers. Say something tough at the end of this one... Bite the words.'"
It seemed to have done the trick because the song has become a classic and audiences immediately loved it. It was released on Sinatra's debut album Boots which Hazlewood also produced. Decades later it's been covered by everyone from Billy Ray Cyrus and Jessica Simpson to heavy metal band Megadeth. Even Hazlewood ended up recording his own version. And to think...that song was almost introduced to the world through a man. Thank goodness we had Nancy Sinatra there to make the song into what it should have been.
"These Boots are Made for Walkin'" Lyrics:
You keep sayin' you've got somethin' for me
Somethin' you call love but confess
You've been a'messin' where you shouldn't 've been a'messin'
And now someone else is getting all your best
These boots are made for walkin'
And that's just what they'll do
One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you
Ya
You keep lyin' when you oughta be truthin'
And you keep losing 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 walkin'
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 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 walkin'
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'
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