Nancy Sinatra, aka Boots, is a remarkable story.  Nancy had to first crawl out from under the long shadow of her legendary father to build a career of her own.  This she accomplished despite a limited vocal range.  For nearly two years 1966 - 1968 Nancy's boots walked all over the hit charts.  Beginning with her collaberation with country music singer/songwriter/producer Lee Hazelwood Nancy busted onto the North American and British music scene.  With bleached-blonde hair, frosted lips, heavy eye make-up, Carnaby Street fashions, and long legged boots; Nancy projected a provocative but good natured style.

Nearly 50 years later, Nancy remains a cult icon with followers all around the world.  A joy of Toronto's east end club scene in the 90's were The Nancy Sinatras, a cover band, in big haired blonde wigs, mini skirts and boots.  In Australia, still today, Nancy is revered as a goddess.  Most fitting that the sun should shine on Nancy first!

These Boots Are Made for Walkin', its title inspired by a line in Robert Aldrich's 1963 western comedy 4 for Texas starring her father and Dean Martin.  One of her many hits written by Hazlewood, it received three Grammy Award nominations, including two for Sinatra and one for arranger Billy Strange.  It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.  The promo clip featured a big-haired Nancy and six young women in loose sweaters, go-go boots and hot pants.

A run of chart singles followed, including the two 1966 Top 10 hits How Does That Grab You, Darlin'? (#7) and Sugar Town (#5) that became Nancy's second million seller.  The ballad Somethin' Stupid, a duet with her father, hit #1 in the US and the UK in April 1967 and spent nine weeks at the top of Billboard's easy listening chart.  It earned a Grammy Award nomination for Record of the Year and remains the only father-daughter duet to hit No.1 in the US.   It became Sinatra's third million-selling disc.  Other 45s showing her forthright delivery include Friday’s Child (#36, 1966), and the 1967 hits Love Eyes (#15) and Lightning’s Girl (#24).  She rounded out 1967 with the raunchy but low-charting Tony Rome (#83) — the title track from the detective film Tony Rome starring her father.

Nancy enjoyed a parallel recording career cutting duets with the husky-voiced, country-and-western-inspired Hazlewood, starting with Summer Wine (originally the B-side of Sugar Town).  Their biggest hit was a cover of the country song, Jackson. The single peaked at #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the summer of 1967, when Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash also made the song their own.  In December they released the dark psychedelic single Some Velvet Morning, regarded as one of the more unusual singles in pop, and the peak of Sinatra and Hazlewood’s vocal collaborations.

In 2003, London's The Daily Telegraph called the song, "One of the strangest, druggiest, most darkly sexual songs ever written - ambitious, beautiful and unforgettable."  As with many psychedelic songs, its overall meaning is somewhat obscure. The lyrics consist of the male part describing a mysterious, powerful woman named Phaedra, who educated the speaker in the ways of love.  The male part alternates with the female part, who identifies herself as Phaedra and speaks over ethereal, twinkling music about beautiful nature imagery and about the secrets held by an unknown collective "us."

Lee sings: Some velvet mornin' when I'm straight I'm gonna open up your gate And maybe tell you 'bout Phaedra And how she gave me life And how she made it end Some velvet mornin' when I'm straight Nancy sings: Flowers growing on a hill, dragonflies and daffodils Learn from us very much, look at us but do not touch Phaedra is my name Lee sings: Some velvet mornin' when I'm straight I'm gonna open up your gate And maybe tell you 'bout Phaedra And how she gave me life And how she made it end Some velvet mornin' when I'm straight Nancy sings: Flowers are the things we know, secrets are the things we grow Learn from us very much, look at us but do not touch Phaedra is my name Lee: Some velvet mornin' when I'm straight Nancy: Flowers growing on a hill Lee: I'm gonna open up your gate Nancy: dragonflies and daffodils Lee: And maybe tell you 'bout Phaedra Nancy: Learn from us very much Lee: And how she gave me life Nancy:Look at us but do not touch

Wanderin' Spirit
September, 2012
"Nancy Sinatra"

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