Lee Hazlewood, July 9, 1929 – August 4, 2007

By Kathy G.

This summer, we’ve seen the deaths of quite a few important cultural figures, from major film artists like Bergman, Antonioni, and Ousmane Sembene to the jazz great Max Roach.

One person whose passing didn’t get nearly the attention he deserved was singer/songwriter/producer Lee Hazlewood (perhaps because, due to the similarity in their names, people have perennially confused him with this jackass). In the grand scheme of things, Hazlewood wasn’t as important as the other folks I mentioned. But his musical vision was unique and compelling, and his best work still has the power to surprise and delight.

How to describe the music of Lee Hazlewood? I came up with this rough formulation:

Lee Hazlewood = Johnny Cash + LSD + Phil Spector – The Crazy

To explain: Johnny Cash references the fact that Hazlewood’s roots were in country music, and he never traveled too far afield from there. LSD because, by the late 60s, a psychedelic turn was quite pronounced. Phil Spector for the poppy girl-group influence and his lush, complex orchestrations. But minus The Crazy, because although Hazlewood was certainly an eccentric, unlike Spector he wasn’t known for, um, imprisoning his wives or pulling guns on people.

I’m going to post some YouTube videos of some of his most interesting work. Hazlewood was best known for his work with Nancy Sinatra, so I’ll start with their biggie. This is from Sinatra’s wonderful 1967 television special, Movin’ with Nancy, of which more later. But for now, just check this out. It’s totally outrageous.

Seriously, this one must have launched a million fetish fantasies.

Hazlewood was mostly known for being the man-behind-the-scenes Svengali for Duane Eddy in the 50s and Nancy Sinatra in the 60s. But although he didn’t look or sound like anyone’s idea of a pop star – he had a big droopy moustache and a somewhat goofy baritone voice – by the late 60s he started to come out front and center and do some of his own singing. He recorded a number of duets with Sinatra, of which “Some Velvet Morning” is the most memorable – an exceedingly strange yet haunting and eerily beautiful song with some absolutely gorgeous, magisterial orchestration. Check out it below (the clip here is also from the television special):

Here’s another Lee and Nancy duet, “Summer Wine”:

And another one below, “Jackson.” Unfortunately it’s audio-only, but it’s such a great song and I love what they do with it. I think it’s even better than the Johnny Cash/June Carter version, and that’s saying a lot, because I worship Johnny Cash. Lee and Nancy did a number of excellent covers of country hits – I'm especially fond of their version of Dolly Parton’s great “Down from Dover.”

Now, about that Nancy Sinatra television special, Movin’ with Nancy. Unfortunately Netflix doesn’t seem to have it but it is available from Amazon, and I highly recommend it. If ever a television show screamed “pure 60s,” this is the one. Watching it is like being inside a frenzied, pop-psychedelic dayglo dream. Not only does it have the high-concept, music video-like segments with Nancy and Lee, but there are several delirious production numbers in which Nancy is accompanied by small army of mini-skirted dancers in go-go boots. Plus, there’s a duet between Nancy and her dad that goes beyond Freudian. I think Nancy also duets with Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. – though maybe I just dreamed that.

One of the bonuses of Movin’ with Nancy is that it includes the original commercials, which are fascinating. Here’s one of the groovy ads from the sponsor, RC Cola – “It’s a mad, mad, mad, mad cola!”: