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.
No Train to Stockholm
Lee Hazlewood Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
On a northbound train from Nashville, Tennessee
Taught me all the letters, him alone
Saying freedom is where you think it is
But there ain't no train to Stockholm
Received your invitation to the war
I sent it back, so please don't send no more
Saying freedom is where you think it is
But there ain't no train to Stockholm
If I have to ride this train a hundred years
And all I have to drink is my own tears
I'll not kill for you or on my own
Singing freedom is where you think it is
But there ain't no train to Stockholm
Governments and politicians too
There's lots of people feel the way we do
A hundred million of us can't be wrong
Singing freedom is where you think it is
But there ain't no train to Stockholm
The opening line of Lee Hazlewood's "No Train to Stockholm" sets the stage for the rest of what is a deeply cynical and critical song towards authority, government, war, and the illusions of freedom. The story begins with a chance encounter with Johnny, who shares his wisdom with Hazlewood, that "freedom is where you think it is/But there ain't no train to Stockholm." This phrase is repeated throughout the song and implies that freedom is something that is always out of reach, and those in power and authority use the illusion of freedom to manipulate and control others.
The second verse is a direct challenge to the establishment and those in power with Hazlewood's refusal to participate in the war, even if he's thrown in jail for his beliefs. Hazlewood rejects the notion that joining the military and fighting for one's country is synonymous with freedom. He refuses to be part of a system that perpetuates violence and harm towards others.
The final verse expands on this theme of rejecting authority and questioning the legitimacy of government and politicians. Here, Hazlewood delivers a call to action, saying that he's not alone in his beliefs, and that there are many others who feel the same way. The closing line of the song, "But there ain't no train to Stockholm," is a reminder that true freedom is not something that can be granted or given by others. Rather, it's something that comes from within and is up to individuals to seek out and find for themselves.
Line by Line Meaning
One night Johnny sang the truth to me
Johnny, on a train from Nashville, taught me that freedom is a personal belief.
Taught me all the letters, him alone
Johnny taught me everything I needed to know about freedom.
Saying freedom is where you think it is
Johnny emphasized that freedom is subjective and varies from person to person.
But there ain't no train to Stockholm
Despite the search for freedom, there is no definitive answer or solution.
Received your invitation to the war
I received a call to arms, but I refuse.
I sent it back, so please don't send no more
I want nothing to do with war and will not participate.
I'd rather rot in some jail all alone
I would rather face imprisonment than betray my beliefs.
If I have to ride this train a hundred years
Regardless of the duration, I will not compromise my stance on freedom.
And all I have to drink is my own tears
Even in the face of adversity and emotional turmoil, I remain resolute.
I'll not kill for you or on my own
I will not take another life, nor will I risk my own.
Governments and politicians too
People, including leaders, also seek freedom.
There's lots of people feel the way we do
People share my sentiments and beliefs.
A hundred million of us can't be wrong
Many people share this belief, and it cannot be dismissed.
Singing freedom is where you think it is
Reiterating the idea that freedom is subjective and unique to each individual.
But there ain't no train to Stockholm
Despite the search for freedom, there is no definitive answer or solution.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: LEE HAZLEWOOD
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind