In 1995, when Sundazed Records decided to reissue Nancy Sinatra's first four albums, it took me a few hours to search for my eyeballs, which had fallen out of my sockets in amazement. After all, I only had The Hit Years, which I somehow felt didn't do her justice. My assessment turned out accurate when I bought those first four albums. Of the four, Boots wins first place, though two others come very close. Maybe it's because Boots is more pop before she veered off into the easy listening direction with Nancy In London and Sugar, not that I minded that. The inner liner notes and the pictures of her on the CDs were added bonuses.
She's quite the vagabond in "I Move Around," having moved to California, New York, and other places. And her classic signature tune, "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'" is included twice in here, once in a stereo version, the other in the original mono single version. This is definitely on my Top 100 songs list. Besides, with this song being covered by the likes of Geri Halliwell, KMFDM, Megadeth, and Sam Phillips, I can't be wrong on how classic this is.
I find her covering more than just one cover song per album reminiscent to what Bonnie Tyler did on her early albums, and I didn't mind that. She covers two Beatles songs: "Day Tripper" and "Run For Your Life," Bob Dylan's "It Ain't Me Babe" from Another Side, The Statler Brothers' "Flowers On The Wall," and the Rolling Stones' "As Tears Go By." All are done admirably, especially the Stones song.
"Flowers On The Wall" is a cocooners' delight. In addition to the counting flowers, she plays solitaire with 51 cards, smokes cigarettes and watches Captain Kangaroo. I can dig it--if I had my way, I wouldn't want to go outside anyway.
"If He'd Love Me" shows how well Nancy can sing a ballad as well as upbeat pop. "Leave My Dog Alone" is an open statement against narrow-minded people who believe in conformity in the community or society. The people got to her by harassing her pets. First her dog: "All he ever did was wag his tail, people, why did you have to throw my dog in jail." Then her cat: "He never said not a bad word, no not him. Why'd you throw him in the river, you know he can't swim." The bottom message to the people is: "Let me be the way I wanna be." You tell'em, Nance!
OK, what else? "In Our Time" is a time capsule update of what's hip and what wasn't hip anymore. Girls became smokers "Some take trips but never move" is clearly a reference to the drug culture. The line I like was "Mickey Mouse ain't no kid/since he read the wizard of id/He's trying to figure out what it did." "If you're 20, then you're old." 20? Yeesh!
I enjoy her stuff, so I don't have to worry about those boots walking all over me.