In a way, this is the right approach. Leave 'em wanting more, as old showbiz types (like Nancy's dad Frank) used to say. Still, leave me wanting more after twenty or thirty seconds of a kick ass horn part rather than eight. It's not as if there's anything that I feel is itching to be cut from the first two minutes or so; I'd just like it to be longer is all.
Up until this point, brevity has linked virtually every entry in this space. Several have even clocked in under the two minute mark. As a matter of fact, the single which displaced "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" from the top of the RPM is a tidy minute and fifty-two seconds (spoilers: its conciseness does absolutely nothing for it even if it would have been that much worse had it had an extra sixty seconds tacked on). 1966 seems to have been a year in which the two minute pop song seems to have fallen out of favour but clearly still had its adherents.
"Boots" is considered something of a classic and it's easy to see why. Jon Savage's comment that it's an "extraordinary mixture of Las Vegas and Los Angeles, of S&M fantasy and feminine revenge" is right on the money. It's a feminist anthem if one chooses it to be so but it can just as easily be a suggestive account of Sinatra's smoldering sexuality. The fact that it's about both is to the credit of everyone involved.
Songwriter and longtime collaborator Lee Hazelwood initially wanted to record "Boots" himself until Sinatra talked him out of it — and she was absolutely correct on that one. It's hard to imagine a grown man getting much out of it (and Hazelwood was in his mid-thirties at the time so he didn't even have youthful exuberance on his side). How empowering could it be coming from an individual who looked like he owned a chain of moderately successful drycleaning stores? Granted, his mustache did make him look like he threw key parties on the weekend but the sexual aspect of this song is meant to be titillating not creepy. Nope, these words had to be sung by a young woman who took no bullshit from others and who owned her sexuality.
Out of curiosity, I looked up some notable cover versions and discovered that both eighties' metal group Megadeath and country-pop star Billy Ray Cyrus both gave it a whirl. (They, along with pop diva Jessica Simpson, make for a curious selection of acts to take on the same pop hit from the sixties) In fairness to Hazelwood, the idea of any man at all taking on "Boots" seems so out of place that I had to check them out.
Megadeath's version is the pick of the bunch. I don't care all that much for it but I respect what they did with "These Boots" (as they renamed it). Rather than pretending to be liberated, they interpret the lyrics as literally as possible. This boot of theirs is meant to kick in the head of a poor Slayer fan or something. Violence and aggression may not have been the what Hazelwood and Sinatra had intended but it's probably the only effective way of doing it in a metal or hard rock style. While they changed the lyrics around a bit, it isn't at the expense of the composition. (Hazelwood was said to have been unhappy with their version but only, as singer David Mustaine pointed out, after receiving royalties on it for a decade) As for Miley's dad, it's as bland and boring as you'd imagine. He isn't standing up for himself, he isn't expressing sexual liberation and he isn't even threatening violence; in effect, all he's doing is reaffirming his place as a white guy who gets to do his thing 24/7. Way to take a stand there, Bill.
My number one blog brethren think more highly of "Boots" than I do — Toms Ewing and Breihan both consider it a perfect 10 while Adian Curran hedges his bets with a 9 — but only because I want more from it. Going for another half-minute or so wouldn't simply make for more of the same but for something that would have been even better. A joyful instrumental to see out one of the finest pop songs of the era is only teased at and it's something I can't quite get past. It's not unlike my main hang up with the classic sitcom Fawlty Towers. While it's often praised for its near flawless dozen episodes, I feel they left too many potentially good storylines on the table. (One in which a group of grubby backpackers turn up would've been brilliant; I also feel they had a Christmas special in them) Sure, they never let the quality slacken but they could've kept the quality going. Don't outstay your welcome but don't just leave early right when the fun is about to kick off either.
Score: 8
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