A Bite of Nancy Sinatra 🍪
How this sexy girl-next-door found me in the dog days of summer
Monday Bites are bite-sized musician spotlights & playlists by Grace Lilly.
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• 3 min read •
I’m sixteen years old
I’m in my happy place: the movie theater. Summer is exactly halfway over and crisp air conditioning is puddling over my skin.
I’m distracted by the lavender-colored ribbon in Zooey Deschanel’s hair as she sings Nancy Sinatra’s hit “Sugar Town” in 500 Days of Summer. I’d never heard the song before, but I instantly loved it.
Hours later, Nancy and I are having a staring contest in my bedroom. I’m on my laptop looking in awe at her bikini album cover for Sugar. She looks confident, her gaze is direct & straight-on. Her thumb is pulling down her bikini bottom, revealing her bare hip.
I didn’t know who this woman was, but she got my attention. I’ve been crushing on her music ever since.
Nancy Sinatra
The basics
🤝 American singer
🤝 b. 1940 (Jersey City, NJ)
🤝 Her tough-talking, effortlessly cool image and idiosyncratic fusion of rock, country, and pop made her a star in the 1960’s
Why you should know her: Considered a cultural icon, particularly for her contributions to music and fashion during ‘60s, she forged a successful music career separate from that of her famous father, Frank Sinatra
If you like
✨ Lana Del Rey
✨ Kacey Musgraves
✨ Blondie
✨ Clairo
✨ Men I Trust
Known for
🏆 Her cool & flirtatious delivery, coupled with an assertive & seductive public image
🏆 No. 1 hit “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’” about a woman who refuses to be pushed around
🏆 Her sexy girl-next-door image; she was a favorite pin-up of troops during the Vietnam War
🏆 Between 1966-1968, charted on Billboard Hot 100 with 14 titles, 10 of which reached the Top 40
🏆 Collaborating with husky-voiced Lee Hazlewood, who sang duets with her and wrote & produced most of her hits
🏆 Sonic Youth, U2, Jon Spencer, and Pulp's Jarvis Cocker & Steven Van Zandt, have all cited Sinatra as an influence
Bite-sized facts
🍪 Studied music, dancing and voice at UCLA in the late 1950s, but dropped out after 1 year
🍪 First singles charted in Europe & Japan but was almost dropped by her label because she didn’t have a US hit 4 years after signing
🍪 Received a boost with the help of songwriter & producer Lee Hazlewood who had her sing in a lower key; legend says he told her, “You can't sing like Nancy Nice Lady anymore. You have to sing for the truckers.”
🍪 Has progressive positions on political issues, advocating for advances in women's rights, healthcare and reversal of climate change
🍪 At 54, posed for Playboy in the May 1995 issue
In film & tv
In film & tv:
📺 Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket (1987): after Nancy performed for US troops in Vietnam in 1966 & 1967, many soldiers adopted her song “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’” as their anthem, as shown in a scene in this film
📺 Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill, Vol. 1 (2003): “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down),” plays over the opening credits
📺 The Sopranos, “Chasing It” (2007): appeared as herself on one of the final episodes of the series
Songs & dates
♫ 1966 “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’” sells more than 1M copies and is awarded a gold disc; becomes a transatlantic number-one hit; receives 3 Grammy Award nominations, including 2 for Sinatra
♫ 1966 gets two more US Top Ten hits: “How Does That Grab You, Darlin'?” (no. 7) and “Sugar Town” (no. 5); “Sugar Town” becomes her second million-seller
♫ 1967 “Somethin' Stupid” — a duet with her father — reaches No. 1 in the US and the UK, becomes her 3rd million-selling disc, and earns a Grammy nomination for Record of the Year; remains the only father-daughter duet to hit No. 1 in the US
♫ 1971 Sinatra and Hazlewood achieve their first collaborative success on the UK Singles Chart with the No. 2 hit “Did You Ever?”
♫ 2004 Releases her album Nancy Sinatra; features U2, Sonic Youth, Calexico, Pete Yorn, Jon Spencer, Pulp's Jarvis Cocker and Steven Van Zandt; each artist crafted a song for Sinatra to sing on the album
♫ 2020 “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’” is inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame
She said
⭐ “I think I've finally proven something to people who were cynical about me.”
⭐ “The one hit song that I have tremendous gratitude for is ‘Boots,’ because it has a life of its own. It's like being identified with a brand name.”
⭐ “I used to write three- and four-part harmonies for my YWCA club in high school. We used to win all the song contests. But people would say, 'Look who her father is. He probably did the whole thing.’”
My Nancy Playlist
I gathered my fav Nancy songs, from me to you with love. Like & save on Spotify and listen all week 💗
Where to start
Performing “Sugar Town”
On The Ed Sullivan Show, from October 30, 1966
〰️
Singing with Lee Hazlewood
Performing their hit "Summer Wine" on The Ed Sullivan Show on April 16, 1967
Down the rabbit hole
If you wanna dive even deeper:
Nancy & Lee In Las Vegas on Youtube
This 1972 Swedish documentary chronicles Sinatra and Hazlewood’s Las Vegas concerts at the Riviera Hotel, and features solo numbers and duets from concerts, behind-the-scenes footage and scenes of Sinatra's mother and her husband, Hugh Lambert. Watch here.
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I love this format!
I have a hand-signed letter from Nancy Sinatra to me framed in my house!! One of my most prized possessions!