I don’t know about you, but every time I zip on a pair of knee-high boots, there is one song, and one song only playing in my head. It’s "These Boots Are Made For Walkin’ " by Nancy Sinatra, one of the most timeless hits of the 1960s.
Sure, Jessica Simpson made an attempt to bring it back in the early 2000s, but there’s just no competition with the original. Nancy, the daughter of Ol’ Blue Eyes himself, was the reigning pop queen of the moment in the mid-’60s, and an incredibly gifted performer.
This song was the biggest hit that Nancy and her songwriting partner Lee Hazlewood ever had, but what it makes it truly remarkable to me is that it precipitated one of the first ever mainstream music videos. Though there were plenty of recorded live performances in the ‘60s, Sinatra was among the first to create a dedicated short film for her music.
Her video for ‘These Boots’ also helped cement another musical tradition — the scantily-clad chanteuse. If you thought that the current crop of pop stars had a lock on scandal, be prepared for a very different view of mid-century superstardom.
Though she certainly isn’t quite reaching the hip-shimmying antics we expect from Miley Cyrus or Beyonce, Nancy and her backup dancers are certainly letting their hair down. Clad in Twiggy-approved micro-minis, sheer stockings, and, naturally, go-go boots, these women were definitely not interested in holding back!
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