Barton Lee Hazlewood was born in Mannford, Oklahoma on July 9, 1929. The son of an oil worker father, Hazlewood spent most of his youth living between Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, and Louisiana. His paternal grandmother was Native American. He grew up listening to pop and bluegrass music. Lee spent his teenage years in Port Neches, Texas, where he was exposed to a rich Gulf Coast music tradition. He studied for a medical degree at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. He served with the United States Army during the Korean War.
Hazlewood was initially known as a producer and songwriter, for artists including Duane Eddy, Dean Martin, and Dino, Desi & Billy. Following discharge from the military in 1953, Hazlewood worked as a disc jockey in Coolidge, Arizona and two years later, moved to KRUX radio in Phoenix. During that time, he was already writing songs and formed his own record label, Viv. His first hit single as a producer and songwriter was "The Fool", recorded by rockabilly artist Sanford Clark in 1956. He partnered with pioneering rock guitarist Duane Eddy, producing and co-writing a string of hit instrumental records. "Rebel Rouser", released in 1958 was a hit in the US and in the UK; Eddy would eventually have another 14 US hits, including "Peter Gunn", "Boss Guitar", "Forty Miles of Bad Road", "Shazam!" and "(Dance With The) Guitar Man".
Hazlewood is perhaps best known for having written and produced the 1966 Nancy Sinatra U.S./UK No. 1 hit, "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" and "Summer Wine", the latter first recorded with Suzi Jane Hokom in 1966. His collaboration with Nancy Sinatra began when Frank Sinatra asked Lee to help boost his daughter's career. When recording These Boots are Made for Walkin', Hazlewood is said to have made this suggestion to Nancy, "You can’t sing like Nancy Nice Lady any more. You have to sing for the truckers". She later described him as "part Henry Higgins and part Sigmund Freud".
Hazlewood also wrote "How Does That Grab Ya, Darlin'", "Friday's Child", "So Long, Babe, "Sugar Town" and many others for Sinatra. Among his most well-known vocal performances is "Some Velvet Morning", a 1967 duet with Nancy Sinatra. He performed that song along with "Jackson" on her 1967 television special Movin' With Nancy. Early in 1967, Lee also produced the number 1 hit song for Frank & Nancy Sinatra "Somethin' Stupid". The pair became the only father-daughter duo to top the Hot 100 with what DJs dubbed 'the incest song' because it performed as if sung by two lovers. The record earned a Grammy Award nomination for Record of the Year and remains the only father-daughter duet to hit No. 1 in the U.S. Jimmy Bowen was listed as co-producer on that record but wasn't there at the time. Hazlewood just gave him credit as per a previous agreement with Jimmy.
Hazlewood also wrote the theme song "The Last of the Secret Agents", the theme song of the 1966 spy-spoof film of the same title. Nancy Sinatra, who had a role in the film, recorded the song for the soundtrack. For Frank Sinatra's 1967 detective movie, Tony Rome, Hazlewood also wrote the theme song which was performed by Nancy. He wrote "Houston", a 1965 US hit recorded by Dean Martin. He also produced several singles for Martin's daughter, Deana Martin, including her country hit, "Girl of the Month Club," while Deana was still a teenager. Other tunes on that project were "When He Remembers Me," "Baby I See You" and "The Bottom of My Mind," all recorded during the 1960s. Hazlewood also wrote "This Town", a song that was recorded by Frank Sinatra that appeared on his 1968 album Greatest Hits and is the basis for Paul Shaffer's "Small Town News" segment theme on the Late Show with David Letterman.
In 1967, Hazlewood started his own record label, LHI Records (Lee Hazlewood Industries). Though it did not receive much attention at the time, the International Submarine Band, led by a then-unknown Gram Parsons, signed with LHI in 1967 and released their one and only album, Safe at Home. Shortly after the album was recorded, Parsons left the band to join The Byrds, contributing several songs to their 1968 album Sweetheart of the Rodeo. The contract Parsons had signed with Hazlewood's LHI caused a great deal of trouble for himself and The Byrds, and in the court settlement most of Parsons' material on Sweetheart of the Rodeo had the vocals removed and re-recorded by Roger McGuinn. This situation led to Parsons' departure from the Byrds not long after the album's release. As LHI producer and Hazlewood's ex-girlfriend Suzi Jane Hokom later noted, Hazlewood was a performer and not a businessman, and his lack of business acumen figured greatly in the label's 1971 demise.
In the 1970s Hazlewood moved to Stockholm, Sweden, where he wrote and produced the one-hour television show Cowboy in Sweden together with friend and Director Torbjörn Axelman, which also later emerged as an album. During ten years in Sweden he made records and films with Axelman. According to a retrospective of his career, the move to Europe was motivated by his "tax problems", concern that his son might be drafted for the Vietnam war and the fact that his record label "LHI was dying anyway", so Sweden looked like the perfect escape route. Decades later, his friend Suzi Jane Hokom made this comment about the years in Europe. "I think he knew he'd burned his bridges in LA and here was a brand new world where he had a built-in fanclub ... He really needed a new start".
Lee was semi-retired from the music business from the late 1970s and all through the 1980s. However, his own output also achieved a cult status in the underground rock scene, with songs recorded by artists such as Rowland S. Howard, Kim Salmon and the Surrealists, Miles Kane, Vanilla Fudge, Spell, Lydia Lunch, Primal Scream, Entombed, Einstürzende Neubauten, Nick Cave, the Jesus and Mary Chain, Hooverphonic, KMFDM, Anita Lane, Megadeth, The Ukiah Drag, Beck, Baustelle, the Tubes, Thin White Rope, Yonatan Gat, Zeena Schreck/Radio Werewolf and Slowdive.
In 2006, Hazlewood sang on Bela B.'s first solo album, Bingo, on the song "Lee Hazlewood und das erste Lied des Tages" ("Lee Hazlewood and the first song of the day"). He said that he loved producing and writing albums.
In 2007, Reprise/Rhino Handmade Records posthumously released 'STRUNG OUT ON SOMETHING NEW: THE REPRISE RECORDINGS', a set of his work at Reprise from 1964-1968 (excluding the Nancy Sinatra recordings). The 2 CD collection, totaling 55 tracks, covers three of his solo albums as well as production work for other artists, such as Duane Eddy, Sanford Clark, Jack Nitzche and Dino, Desi & Billy.
Since 2012, the Light in the Attic record label reissued many Hazlewood albums, including 400 Miles From LA: 1955-1956, which became available in September 2019.
Hazlewood died of renal cancer in Henderson, Nevada, on August 4, 2007, survived by his wife Jeane, son Mark and daughters Debbie and Samantha.
I Move Around
Lee Hazlewood Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I've seen the Empire State and walked down ol' Broadway
I've seen the northern lights in some Alaskan town
Since I saw you with him I move I move around
I've seen a movie star at Hollywood and Vine
I've seen the Zanzibar and heard the Big Ben chime
I've seen the Eiffel and I'd been in New Cape Town
[ strings ]
I've seen a Matador in Barcelona cry
I've seen old Singapore the bridge on River Kwai
I've seen the Marty Gras and been in one horse town
Since I saw you with him I move I move around
I move around I move around
The song "I Move Around" by Lee Hazlewood opens with the singer stating all the amazing sights he has seen in different parts of the world. He talks about visiting cities like San Francisco and New York and witnessing landmarks like the Golden Gate and the Empire State. He mentions seeing northern lights in Alaskan towns and visiting Hollywood and Vine to see a movie star. He even speaks about being in exotic locations like Zanzibar, and hearing the Big Ben chime.
However, despite seeing all of these incredible places, the singer still feels restless and unfulfilled. He reveals the reason for his restlessness in the chorus - after seeing the person he loves with someone else, he cannot remain still, and he moves around trying to find some sort of solace from his pain.
Through his lyrics and vocals, Hazlewood captures the theme of heartache and how it can make someone feel lost and aimlessly wander around. The words “I move around” become a mantra that repeats throughout the song, conveying the continuous cycle of the singer's emotional struggles.
Overall, "I Move Around" is a bittersweet reminder that even while we see the wonders of the world and experience exciting adventures, matters of the heart can still deeply affect us and leave us feeling adrift.
Line by Line Meaning
I've seen the Golden Gate in San Francisco Bay
I have witnessed the famous Golden Gate Bridge located in the San Francisco Bay area.
I've seen the Empire State and walked down ol' Broadway
I have visited New York City, seen the Empire State Building, and strolled down the well-known Broadway street.
I've seen the northern lights in some Alaskan town
I have gazed at the stunning natural phenomenon known as the northern lights in a town located in Alaska.
Since I saw you with him I move I move around
Ever since I saw you with another man, I cannot stay in one place and constantly travel around.
I've seen a movie star at Hollywood and Vine
I have encountered a famous movie star at the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street in Los Angeles, California.
I've seen the Zanzibar and heard the Big Ben chime
I have been to the Zanzibar nightclub and heard the well-known chimes of the Big Ben clock tower in London, England.
I've seen the Eiffel and I'd been in New Cape Town
I have visited the iconic Eiffel Tower in Paris, France and also traveled to Cape Town, South Africa.
I move around I move around
I continue to travel and move from place to place.
I've seen a Matador in Barcelona cry
I have witnessed a bullfighter, also known as a Matador, shed tears in Barcelona, Spain.
I've seen old Singapore the bridge on River Kwai
I have explored the historic city of Singapore and crossed the bridge located on the River Kwai in Thailand.
I've seen the Marty Gras and been in one horse town
I have attended the famous Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans, Louisiana and experienced life in a small, rural town.
Since I saw you with him I move I move around
Since the moment I caught sight of you with another man, I cannot seem to stay in one place and constantly travel around.
Contributed by Lucas Y. Suggest a correction in the comments below.