The music scene in the mid-60s was as competitive as it gets when it comes to artists trying to muscle their way onto the pop charts. It proved especially tricky if you didn’t belong to a rock band, which was all the rage at the time.
A few female solo acts weren’t bothered at all by the challenge. This quartet of songs from 1966 not only stood out then, but they still hold their luster today.
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“These Boots Are Made For Walkin’” by Nancy Sinatra
Nancy Sinatra started out her singing career as a lightweight pop act in the early 60s. Things changed for her when she connected with songwriter/producer Lee Hazelwood, who provided her with material that possessed more fangs. Hazelwood originally thought that he might record “These Boots Are Made For Walkin’”, which originated with a phrase that Nancy’s father Frank once uttered in a movie. Nancy convinced him that it was the right vehicle for her, and she was certainly right about that. The second single from her album Boots, the song made it all the way to the top of the charts. Her only other chart-topper turned out to be “Somethin’ Stupid”, a duet with her dad.
“You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me” by Dusty Springfield
In 1965, Dusty Springfield heard a gorgeously melodic song from a pair of Italian composers named Pino Donaggio and Vito Pallancini. She filed it away and then took it into a studio in London so that an instrumental track could be concocted. But she still needed lyrics that she could sing in English. Vicki Wickham and Simon Napier-Bell took care of that in a matter of minutes once they stumbled on the title phrase, which perfectly fit the meter of the music. From there, it was Springfield who imbued the lyrics with astonishing levels of wounded pride. “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me” hit No. 4 on the US charts in 1966, and still stands as one of the all-time weepers in music history.
“My Love” by Petula Clark
Petula Clark had already thrived with several songs written and produced by collaborator Tony Hatch when she recorded “My Love”. Yet she doubted the quality of the song when she heard it. Even after recording it, she told her A&R man that the song shouldn’t be considered as a single. Luckily, he ignored her. Hatch had initially written another song in a similar vein for Clark to sing. But while on a plane to the US, he was told by another passenger that the references in the lyrics to that track would be lost on American audiences. Thus, he pivoted to “My Love”. As it turned out, this song that almost wasn’t written and wasn’t particularly liked by the artist hit the top of the US pop charts.
“Message To Michael” by Dionne Warwick
In a kind of flipped script from our previous song, the writers and producers of this track didn’t want the artist to record it. Hal David and Burt Bacharach penned this song with a male singer in mind. In that version, the narrator was male and using a bluebird to try and get a “Message To Martha”. Dionne Warwick started circling the song a few years after her longtime collaborators wrote it. When she told Hal David about it, he said that the only way that the song would work for a female artist was if the title was changed to “Message To Michael”. But even then, David thought that the title didn’t cut it. Warwick ignored those objections and cut the song. The two men later admitted that she was right, and the public agreed, taking the song to No. 8.
(Photo by Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)