Nancy Sinatra and Frank Sinatra: "Somethin' Stupid"

May 6, 1967 (1 week)

Had social media in the sixties consisted of more than (a) two (or more) people speaking to one another face-to-face, (b) correspondence over the mail or (c) conversing on the telephone, it's quite possible that Nancy Sinatra would've been bashed as a nepo baby. I'm sure people knew that having a famous father opened doors for her — even if they may not have always been the doors she wished to have opened — and perhaps there had been resentment in some quarters that her connections gave her fame but this sort of criticism didn't seem to dog her. If anything, the fact that she and longtime collaborator Lee Hazelwood struggled to have a hit prior to "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" suggests that daddy's pull was either ineffectual or nonexistent.

With Frank Sinatra, he too had been coming off a US and UK number one smash from a year earlier with "Strangers in the Night" (which could do no better than number three in Canada). While no longer quite the transcendent figure he had been in the forties and fifties, Sinatra could still sell out venues around the world. Thus, it wasn't as if either of them really needed the other to sell a pop song. Fans of Nancy's probably weren't clamouring for records from Old Blue Eyes — and vice versa. It turns out, Frank didn't even need his glamourous daughter for their supposed duet "Somethin' Stupid".

Vying for crossover appeal must have been the reason for why she's even on this thing. Nancy is just a glorified backing vocalist and one, it must be added, who doesn't sound particularly excited to be there. Singing a song about a romance between a couple with your dad couldn't have made her comfortable and it's possible she wasn't especially thrilled to be going in the direction of MOR pop at such a crucial point in her career. This is where the idea of a crossover falls flat on its face: despite having her name credited first, this is a Frank Sinatra solo record in name only, one that barely has room for Nancy much less in attempting to accommodate her style.

There's a heavy doling of intimacy on the original "Something Stupid", sung by composer C. Carson Parks (the brother of eccentric singer-songwriter and Brian Wilson collaborator Van Dyke Parks) and his wife Gaile Foote. The pair sound like they're whispering the lines to each other as if it's all a big secret. It's a nice recording, one that has the duo singing the same lines while seemingly communicating different messages to each other. In his case, it's the more literal sense of feeling turning a lovely evening into something awkward by spoiling it with the L word; for her, she knows that in spilling her heart out, she's about to relinquish the power in the relationship. Parks and Foote also communicate an obvious fondness for one another, something that the Sinatras fail to do.

Frank Sinatra's status in the world of showbusiness was such that he wasn't about to take suggestions from anyone beyond maybe Nelson Riddle. His daughter? Forget about it. This is a shame since the parallel universe scenario of Lee Hazelwood composing a far more appropriate single for the pair is tantalizing. It could have catered to Frank's talents while also bringing out the best in Nancy. Instead, we get a typically good Frank vocal with little else of note going on. And not only was Nancy poorly utilized but "Somethin' Stupid" also coincided with the end of her days as a top pop diva. So, not only did her dad do little to help her get started but he also may have played a part in her premature decline. See? It's not as easy being a nepo baby as some would have you believe.

Score: 4

Nancy Sinatra: "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'"

March 7, 1966 (1 week)

The best thing about "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" is after the third or fourth go of that distinctive descending bassline when Nancy Sinatra asks "are you ready boots?" pauses and then adds "start walkin'!" The horns kick in and now we really have a killer tune. But no sooner has it peaked then it starts to fade and it's all over.

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