3 Songs for People Who Say They Don’t Like Nancy Sinatra

It can be hard to be the child of a star. In some ways, it can help you get your foot in the door of whatever profession you want to partake in, especially if it’s the same as your famous parent. But in another, you’re always going to be compared to them and, likely pooh-poohed—even if you have skill and ability in spades.

For the Jersey City, New Jersey-born Nancy Sinatra, life has had many great successes and many rocky parts. As a girl, she began singing on her father’s ABC television show The Frank Sinatra Show in 1957. She was signed to Frank’s music label in 1961. In the 1960s, she boasted more than a dozen songs that landed on the Billboard charts. Yet, the 84-year-old has always endured criticism due to her family tree.

Here below, we wanted to explore three of Sinatra’s most iconic songs. A trio of tunes that have stood the test of time and are perfect to share with a person bent on deriding the sultry singer. Indeed, these are three songs for people who say they don’t like Nancy Sinatra.

[RELATED: Behind the History and Meaning of “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’” by Nancy Sinatra]

“Somethin’ Stupid” from The World We Knew (1967)

A love song recorded by father Frank and daughter Nancy. Beyond the controversial and strange combination, if you just listen to the lyrics and performances and forget who is delivering them for a moment, this is one terrific tune. Technically, the track was released on one of Frank’s albums, his 1967 The World We Knew, but it is just as famous for Nancy’s involvement and performance. Written by C. Carson Parks, the Sinatras’ version hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. And on the song they sing,

I know I stand in line
Until you think you have the time
To spend an evening with me
And if we go some place to dance
I know that there’s a chance
You won’t be leaving with me

Then afterwards we drop into a quiet little place
And have a drink or two
And then I go and spoil it all
By saying somethin’ stupid like, “I love you”

“These Boots Are Made for Walkin’” from Boots (1966)

Nancy Sinatra’s most famous song, this track features an alluring descending acoustic guitar riff and biting lyrics about trampling a cheating man’s no-good hide. Written by Lee Hazlewood, who was inspired by a line spoken by Frank Sinatra in the western 4 for Texas: “They tell me them boots ain’t built for walkin’.” But it was Nancy who made the song a giant hit that has since stood the test of time. Beyoncé used it for her latest LP Cowboy Carter, and it was featured in the 1997 comedy Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. That’s range! On it, Nancy sings,

You keep sayin’ you’ve got somethin’ for me
Somethin’ you call love but confess
You’ve been a’messin’ where you shouldn’t ‘ve been a’messin’
And now someone else is getting all your best

These boots are made for walkin’
And that’s just what they’ll do
One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you

“Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)” from How Does that Grab You? (1966)

Originally recorded and performed by Cher for her 1966 LP The Sonny Side of Chér, this song written by Sonny Bono has since become synonymous with Nancy, thanks largely to the track’s incorporation on the soundtrack for the hit 2003 movie Kill Bill Volume 1. Nancy’s version features ear-grabbing tremolo guitar and on it she whisper-sings. The song is about romance and the playful and literal violence that often goes hand-in-hand. She sings,

I was five and he was six
We rode on horses made of sticks
He wore black and I wore white
He would always win the fight

Bang bang, he shot me down
Bang bang, I hit the ground
Bang bang, that awful sound
Bang bang, my baby shot me down

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Photo by Ron Joy/ Copyright Boots Enterprises Inc/Courtesy of Chummy Press