"These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" is a pop song musically
composed by Lee Hazlewood and first written and recorded by
Nancy Sinatra. It was released in February 1966 and hit #1 in
the United States and United Kingdom Pop charts. Subsequently,
many cover versions of the song have been released in a range
of styles: metal, pop, rock, punk rock, country, dance, and
industrial (see selected list below). Jessica Simpson made #14
in the United States in 2005 with her version based on the
movie:
The Dukes of Hazzard. Geri Halliwell and Jewel also
released remakes of the song.
The song is often incorrectly listed as "These Boots",
"These Boots Were Made for Walkin'" and "These Boots Are Made
for Walking."
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."
The second single taken from her debut album
Boots, and follow-up to the minor hit "So Long, Babe,"
the song became an instant success. In late February 1966, the
song topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart, a move it replicated
in similar charts across the world.
When the single was first released, some thought it had to
do with the subway strike in New York. That same year, Sinatra
recorded an early music video for the song. It was produced by
Color-Sonics, and played on Scopitone video jukeboxes. In 1986,
for the song's twentieth anniversary, cable station VH1 played
this music video.
The song was adopted by troops in the Vietnam War when they
marched, and Sinatra traveled there in the mid- to late-1960s
to perform for the U.S. soldiers. It was used on the soundtrack
to Stanley Kubrick's
Full Metal Jacket(1987). Sinatra also sang it on an
episode of
China Beachin 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 sued Goodyear for using the song,
claiming that it had violated her publicity rights. Sinatra v.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., 435 F.2d 711 (9th Cir. 1970),
http://www.altlaw.org/v1/cases/882392.
Megadeth covered the song on their 1985 debut album
Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good!, which
is track four on the original release, and eight on the 2002
re-release. Their version was more of a parody than a cover,
featuring alternate lyrics and titled
"These Boots"on the release. When the album started
selling well, the writer of the song, Lee Hazlewood, began
demanding that the song be omitted, due to its being a
"perversion of the original". Dave Mustaine made the point that
Hazlewood had been paid royalties for years before his
complaint, but eventually omitted the song anyway. A censored
version of the track can be found on the album's 'deluxe
edition' released in 2002.
In the 1995 documentary film
Dika: Murder City, the 74-year-old Dika Newlin, dressed
in leather and backed by the band Apocowlypso, performed a punk
rock version of the song in a concert sequence.
Hardcore ska-punk band Operation Ivy (Rancid's Tim Armstrong
and Matt Freeman's previous band) covered the song, titled "One
Of These Days" on their only LP, Energy. Fast-paced and
ska-style, the song has yelled vocals by Jesse Michaels.
Jessica Simpson recorded her own version of "These Boots Are
Made for Walkin'" (and added her own lyrics) for the soundtrack
to the film
The Dukes of Hazzard(2005). Simpson's cover was
co-produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, and was released as
the soundtrack's first single in 2005). It became Simpson's
fifth top-twenty single in the United States and its music
video drew some controversy because of its sexual imagery.
Simpson's version of the song is performed from the point of
view of her character in
The Dukes of Hazzard, Daisy Duke, and it has several
major differences from Sinatra's version. The song's lyrics
were changed almost completely as Simpson felt that they did
not accurately convey the feelings needed for the film; in the
original Sinatra dealt with a cheating boyfriend, while in the
new version Simpson version explore Daisy Duke's personality
and experiences. She rewrote the majority of the lyrics
herself, although some elements were retained such as the
opening line "You keep saying you got something for me..." and
the spoken "Are you ready, boots? Start walkin'".
Simpson also added some new music to her version of the
song. Whereas the original version did not have a bridge, she
created one for the cover. A risqué rap-like/spoken breakdown
was added after the bridge. Because of the legalities of
songwriting, Simpson has not been credited for the new music or
lyrics that she wrote. The production of the song was altered
as well. Producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis gave the cover a
country-inspired production because of its relationship to the
film
The Dukes of Hazzard, but they also added a more hip
hop-like beat. "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" is the
production duo's second song to contain elements of country
music, after Janet Jackson's "Someone to Call My Lover."
In a current interview with GAC Nights, Jessica stated that
her record label did not want to promote the song because of
its country feel, even though the song is more pop than
country. She said that she told the label "It's a great song
and Willie Nelson's on it with me" and she said the label told
her pop radio wouldn't understand that importance.
"These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" peaked at fourteen on the
U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and in late 2005 the RIAA certified the
single Gold for 500,000 legal downloads or more. Its digital
downloads were high, but radio airplay was low. It reached the
top ten on Billboard's Pop 100 chart, and was Simpson's first
single to appear on the chart. On 11 December, 2006 the single
was certified Gold by the RIAA again, this time by Epic
Records. In total, the single has received 1 million digital
downloads.
Internationally, was a success, reaching top 5 in several
European countries. It became her biggest hit in Australia,
where it reached number two and remained in the top forty for
twenty-four weeks. In Ireland was another biggest hit peaking
the number 2. The song also cracked the top five in the UK,
where it reached number four and is to date, her highest
peaking single in that territory. It reached the top ten in the
chart European Hot 100 Singles, Belgium, and New Zealand and
the top twenty in Austria, Switzerland and Germany.
The video, directed by Brett Ratner, has caused some
controversy because of its sexual imagery. The scene was well
publicized, with Simpson admitting to the public and the media
that she went on the South Beach diet to achieve her well toned
look in the video. Because of its sexual imagery, the music
video is banned in all Middle Eastern and North African nations
except Algeria, Israel, Iraq, Lebanon, and Turkey. In Malaysia,
it was occasionally edited with some of the scenes removed.
The video begins with Simpson (as Daisy Duke) climbing out
of the
General Lee(the famous car owned by the Duke family)
into a bar. Simpson, a waitress at the bar, flirts with
customers as she grinds and dances on the bar stand, and shakes
her buttocks to a customer. After another customer slaps her
butt with his hand, Simpson smiles and turns to the customer
acting as if she likes it. She then says the verse "You believe
you’ve stopped me for a reason"..."Now I’m pretending my
bending's(bends over and rubs her butt against his crotch) just
for fun"..."These double DDs breasts". She then punches him and
the man's fall causes a fight to break out between the bar
patrons. Unfazed, Simpson sings the song with the assistance of
Willie Nelson on guitar and backup vocals, and several female
dancers join her during the song's "Can I get a handclap..."
spoken/rapped breakdown. After recovering from their injuries,
the men join Simpson and the dancers in a line dance. This
scene is intercut with shots of a figure entering a barn, and
at the video's end it is revealed the figure is Simpson wearing
nothing but a skin-tight, revealing pink bikini. She then
grinds and washes the
General Lee. The music video also features Jessica
Simpson belly dancing. It was parodied as "The Dukes Are Not
Worth Watching" by
MADtv, with Nicole Parker portraying Simpson.
The video ranked the #44 in the countdown of MTV Latin
America's 100+ Pedidos del 2005.
The song had an official remix witch was called "These Boots
Are Made For Walkin' " (Bimbo Jones Radio Edit).,