Boots, Books, and Mixed-Up Lees: Lou Waxman on Nancy in London

Nancy Sinatra.  You immediately flash to “These Boots Are Made for Walking”.  Not the song so much as the official video.  Nancy in knee-high boots and those go-go dancers and the micro mini-skirts and the colors.  The video has become Exhibit A for the Swinging Sixties.  And rightfully so.  Thigh-high boots are the bomb.  Think Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman.  Or Shelly Michelle as the case may be.  Lou remembers that Lita Ford wore thigh-high boots in the video for “Kiss Me Deadly”, but he is wrong on that.  Lita did wear kneepads which are their own fetish Lou supposes.  The cult surrounding roller derby must have some explanation.

As you know, Lou hates to dance.  Dancing is unseemly.  Lou understands where the town board in Footloose is coming from.  And that is why Lou watches YouTube videos of dancing.  Prurient interest.  Go-go videos from the 1960s are high on the list and Nancy gets it right.  Lou also enjoys videos of Northern Soul and shuffle dancing.  Hours of enjoyment.  Disco dancing as well.  Lou has also been known to watch old Soul Train clipsin his spare time.

But Nancy is more than “Boots”.  That song went to Number One on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1966 and is her signature tune.  She had many more hits.  Ten reached the Top 40 including another Number One with “Somethin’ Stupid”, a duet with Frank.  She hit Number 2 with “Did You Ever”, a collaboration with Lee Hazlewood in 1971.  “Sugar Town”, “Love Eyes”, “Summer Wine”, “Some Velvet Morning”.  The list goes on.  In 1967, she sang the title song for You Only Live Twice, prime Bond, but not one of Lou’s favorite Bond tracks.  It is not up there with “Goldfinger” or “For Your Eyes Only”.  

Sinatra also appeared in cult film roles.  She co-stars with Peter Fonda in the classic The Wild Angels, the biker exploitation flick that really got that genre on the road.  In 1968, she was in the Elvis Presley movie Speedway.  What really matters is that Nancy had a supporting role in The Ghost in the Invisible Bikiniin 1966 as well as performing a song.  Boris Karloff is in it as is Claudia Martin, the daughter of Dean Martin, but who the fuck has heard of her.  Nancy is the true nepo star here.

Lou found a copy of Nancy in London at The Vogue.  This album is no Dusty in Memphis, but it is a collaboration with Lee Hazlewood, so it must be good.  Nancy and Lee are one of the great duos in popular music.  All the critics say so therefore it must be true.  Lou tends to agree.  Nancy in London was released in 1966 on Reprise, Frank’s label, and did not really do much.  It struggled to 122 on the Billboard 200.  It is a mix of covers (“On Broadway”, “Wishin’ and Hopin’” and “The End”) and Hazlewood originals (“Summer Wine”, “Shades”, “Hutchinson Jail”, and “Friday’s Child”).  “Summer Wine” is a duet with Hazlewood.  Nothing earthshattering but a solid effort.  Lou is glad he bought it.

Yet another embarrassing admission.  For years, Lou thought Lee Hazelwood was Lee Harwood.  This may not be the case for you, but Lou knew of Lee Harwood, the British Revival poet from the 1960s and beyond.  In 1966, Angel Hair Books published The Man with Blue Eyes, which won the Frank O’Hara prize.  You get the misunderstanding, right?  Blue eyes, Old Blue Eyes.  1966.  Nancy Sinatra.  Well, Lou was confused.  Harwood was British but he was heavily influenced by the New York School of Poets, such as Frank O’Hara, John Ashbery, Kenneth Koch, and James Schuyler.  In Harwood’s case, John Ashbery in particular.  

In the 1960s and early 1970s, Harwood published with Writers Forum, Fulcrum Press, and Unicorn Bookshop, all icons of the underground press in England.  But Lou really knows Harwood from The Man with Blue Eyes and his association with Angel Hair Books.  Angel Hair was run by poets Anne Waldman and Lewis Walsh, who were an It couple on the Second-GenerationNew York School scene.  Their apartment was a salon and Angel Hair Books, which was also a little magazine, put out some magnificent work from the period.  What I like best about Angel Hair Books are the distinctive book designs.  Everything looks fantastic.  In terms of the presses of the Mimeograph Revolution, Angel Hair Books is high on the list.  

Now that Lou has Nancy in London, he will finally get his Lees straight.  Lou is a hands-on guy.  To own it is to know it, which begs the question why he hasn’t bought more Angel Hair publications, particularly The Man with Blue Eyes.  You can’t buy everything.  Where would you put it?  But Lou tries.  Lord knows he tries.

Suggested Sites and Sounds:

Nancy Swings:  Nancy Sinatra - These Boots Are Made For Walkin' (Official Music Video)

Nancy Does Bond:  Nancy Sinatra - You Only Live Twice (HQ)

Northern Soul Dance Competition:  NSTV Blackpool 2024 Northern Soul Dance Final

Shuffle Dancing:  Top 10 BEST SHUFFLE Dance In World

Disco Dance Competition:  Disco Dance - 1980 - World Finals (pt 1)

Soul Train Down the Line:  Soul Train Line Dance to Jungle Boogie (1973)

The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini:  The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini (1966)

Lee Harwood in Brief: Remembering Lee Harwood: An Overview of His Life and Poetry -broledgefacts

Lee Harwood Reading:  LEE HARWOOD | 8 June 2012

Angel Hair for Sale:  Granary Books

— Lou Waxman