Boots

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"Boots", written by Lee Hazlewood as "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" and most famously performed by Nancy Sinatra, is the opening track from The Residents' debut album Meet The Residents, released in 1974 on Ralph Records.

Apparently born from a desire to see how the original song would be orchestrated by avant-garde composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, "Boots" is the first publicly released example of The Residents' tendency to deconstruct and re-interpret popular music.

History

On the original 1974 release of Meet The Residents, "Boots" has a duration of 1:38 and segues into the following track, "Numb Erone", but is heavily edited on the 1977 remixed version and loses most of the segue.

The Residents' lead composer Charles Bobuck produced a sketch of the song around 2014 for a proposed (yet unrealized) 40th Anniversary remake of Meet The Residents. The sketch can be heard on the 2017 EP Clank Clank Clank.

Another version of the track, "Boots Again", is found on the 2018 pREServed edition of Meet The Residents. It is implied to be taken from the 1973 album sessions, however it is not found in any other collections of material from that era, and is rumored by fans to have been recorded much later.

Lyrics

Original lyrics

Nancy Sinatra (in her boots)

You keep saying you got something for me
Something you call love, but confess
You've been messing where you shouldn't have been messing
And now someone else is getting all your best

These boots are made for walking
And that's just what they'll do
One of these days these boots
Are gonna walk all over you
Yeah

You keep lying when you ought to be truthing
You keep losing when you ought to not bet
You keep saming when you ought to be changing
Now what's right is right, but you ain't been right yet

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

You keep playing where you shouldn't be playing
And you keep thinking that you'll never get burnt, hah
Well, I've just found me a brand new box of matches, yeah
And what he knows, you ain't had time to learn

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

Are you ready, boots?
Start walking!  

The Residents' version

Boots were meant for walkin'
That's just what they'll do.
One of these days
These boots are gonna
Walk all over you
Walk all over you
Walk all over you
Walk all over you
Walk all over you
Walk all over you
Walk all over you
Walk all over you
Walk all over you
Walk all over you
Walk all over you
Walk all over you
Walk all over you
Walk all over you
Walk all over you
Walk all over you
Walk all over you
Walk all over you
Walk all over you

Credits

• Written By: Lee Hazelwood

List of releases

• Meet The Residents (1974)
• Meet The Residents stereo remix (1977)
• Uncle Willie's Highly Opinionated Guide To The Residents (1993)
• The Sycamore Street Studio (1974-77 Embracing Obscurity) (2014)
• Walk Over (2015)
• 80 Aching Orphans (2017)
• Clank Clank Clank EP by Charles Bobuck (2017)
• Meet The Residents pREServed CD edition (2018)
• Meet The Residents pREServed vinyl edition (2023)

Buy Or Die!

Listen online

• "Boots" (original mono version) on Spotify
• "Boots" (original mono version) on Apple Music
• "Boots" (pREServed mono version) on Spotify
• "Boots" (pREServed mono version) on Apple Music
• "Boots" (pREServed stereo version) on Spotify
• "Boots" (pREServed stereo version) on Apple Music
• "Boots Again" on Spotify
• "Boots Again" on Apple Music

External links and references

• Meet The Residents at The Residents Historical
• "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" at Wikipedia
• "These Boots Are Made for Walkin' at Genius

Meet The Residents (1974) Side A "Boots" · "Numb Erone" · "Guylum Bardot" · "Breath and Length" · "Consuelo's Departure" · "Smelly Tongues" · "Rest Aria" · "Skratz" · "Spotted Pinto Bean" Side B "Infant Tango" · "Seasoned Greetings" · "N-ER-GEE (Crisis Blues)" Personnel The Residents · Ruth Essex · Barry "Wool" Eiland · Pamela Zeibak · Philip Friehofner · Jim Whitaker · Bob Tangney · James Aaron Related works "Russian Love Song" · 1-10 (With A Touch of 11) · "7733 Variations" · Tuesday tapes ("Sokurha") · "Overday" · "Inka Don't Dry" · "Horny Song" · "George's Horn" · "The Ralph Records Guided Tour" · Meet The Residents Sampler · "Saint Nix" · Clank Clank Clank · "Poisoned Popcorn" Related articles N. Senada (Theory of Phonetic Organization) · Residents, Uninc. · Sycamore St. studio · Santa Dog · Ralph Records · Porno/Graphics · Vileness Fats · "Nobody But Me" · The Beatles Resources Image gallery