Nancy and Hazlewood quickly followed up
"So Long Babe" with the sassy, ultra-hip "These Boots Are Made For Walkin',"
which stormed to #1 on February 26, 1966 in America, and repeated that feat in many countries abroad.
Nancy has vivid memories of the session: "We sat together, Lee with his guitar and
[arranger] Billy Strange wth his pencil. Lee said, 'I want a quarter-tone bass run,'
and tried to play it on the guitar. Billy picked up on it immediately. Lee knew what he wanted to hear.
And that for me was what made that whole record."
Beyond the ultra-mod fashion statement of Nancy's kicky high-heeled go-go boots,
it seemed that almost everyone has someone in their lives they'd like to walk all over as
payback for being walked on. Women especially felt empowered to action by this new attitude.
Years later, Nancy revealed that Lee had urged her to sing "Boots" as if she were a 16-year-old girl
giving the brush-off to a 40-year-old guy.
With "The City Never Sleeps At Night" on the flipside, the "Boots" single went gold in the U.S.,
and made Nancy an international superstar.
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