These Boots Are Made for Walkin'
original song written and composed by Lee Hazlewood
"These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" is a hit song written by Lee Hazlewood and recorded by American singer Nancy Sinatra. It charted on January 22, 1966, and reached No. 1 both in the United States Billboard Hot 100 and in the UK singles chart.
Subsequently, many cover versions of the song have been released in a range of styles: metal, pop, rock, punk rock, country, dance, and industrial. Among the more notable versions are the singles released by Megadeth, Billy Ray Cyrus and Jessica Simpson.
Nancy Sinatra version
The song was written by Lee Hazlewood; it was inspired by a line spoken by Frank Sinatra in the comedy-western film 4 for Texas (1963): "They tell me them boots ain't built for walkin'."
Nancy Sinatra's version of the song was released as a single in December 1965, as the second song to be taken from her debut album, Boots (1966), and was a follow-up to the minor hit "So Long, Babe". The song became an instant success and, in late February 1966, it topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart, a move it replicated in similar charts across the world.
Billboard described the song as "fine folk-rock material" and praised Sinatra's vocal performance and "the Billy Strange driving dance beat." Cash Box described it as a "funky, slow-shufflin' folk-rocker about a gal who serves notice on her boyfriend that she can't be pushed around."
In 2020, the 1965 recording of the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Recording
Lee Hazlewood intended to record the song himself, saying that "it's not really a girl's song", but Sinatra talked him out of it, saying that "coming from a guy it was harsh and abusive, but was perfect for a little girl to sing". Hazlewood agreed.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “These Boots Are Made for Walkin'” is original song written and composed by Lee Hazlewood. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through These, Boots and Made, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “original song written and composed by Lee Hazlewood” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1535296. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1966, 1963, 1965 and 2020.
Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
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The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “These Boots Are Made for Walkin'”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow These Boots Are Made for Walkin' primary sources, These Boots Are Made for Walkin' archive and These research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “These Boots Are Made for Walkin'” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.