The Man Who Almost Recorded “These Boots Are Made For Walkin’” (And the Understandable Reason Why He Didn’t)

It’s hard to imagine anyone but Nancy Sinatra performing the 1965 go-go track, “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’”. But for a brief moment in the pop culture timeline, this quintessentially 1960s track was going to have a much different vibe. Even the song’s original inspiration seems leagues removed from the version Sinatra released on her debut album, Boots. Lee Hazlewood, the original songwriter, lifted the song title and refrain from a line Nancy’s father and blue-eyed crooner Frank Sinatra says in the 1963 cowboy comedy, 4 for Texas.

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“They tell me them boots ain’t built for walking,” Frank Sinatra’s Zack Thomas says. “They ain’t exactly house slippers,” Joe Jarrett, played by fellow Ratpack member Dean Martin, replies.

As the original songwriter, Hazlewood was also going to be the one to cut a version of “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’”. While auditioning other songs for Nancy to include on her mid-60s debut, he performed a two-verse rendition of “These Boots”. Nancy asked for more details about the song, to which Hazlewood replied, “It’s not really a girl’s song. I sing it myself on stage.” Nancy told Los Angeles Magazine, “I told him that coming from a guy, it was harsh and abusive. But it was perfect for a little girl to sing. He agreed.”

Nancy Sinatra’s 1965 Hit Was Part of a Larger Rebrand

Despite being the daughter of crooning icon Frank Sinatra, Nancy Sinatra wasn’t exactly an industry shoo-in. She had a deal with her father’s record label, sure. But that didn’t make her immune to getting dropped, which seemed increasingly likely in the mid-1960s. Lee Hazlewood playing Nancy songs over at the Sinatras’ house was part of the producer’s obligation of a request by Nancy’s boyfriend (and Hazlewood’s neighbor), Jimmy Bowen, to help give Nancy a boost. She needed a rebrand and quick, and Hazlewood had some ideas.

Hazlewood encouraged Nancy to dye her dark brown hair to a golden blonde, don mini-skirts and tall boots, and wear dark eye makeup and frosty lipstick. He might have been in his late 30s. But Hazlewood knew how to style a female singer in her early 20s in a way that made her highly marketable. He even gave her specific notes on how to perform “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’” that coincided with his visual aesthetic. (Although they’re nothing short of concerning and gross by today’s standards.) It was…uh…a different time?

Determined to transform her into a “tough little broad,” Hazlewood told Nancy to sing “These Boots” like “a 14-year-old girl who screws truck drivers.” According to the Irish Independent, later accounts of this anecdote change “fourteen” to “sixteen.” Still, that is very much a child and incredibly weird.

Anyway, whatever Nancy did on the recording obviously worked. “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’” topped the charts in the U.S., U.K., New Zealand, and throughout Europe. Countless films and television shows have used the song, too. Somehow, we just don’t think it would’ve had the same lifespan if Hazlewood recorded it.

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