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 canβt 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 TorbjΓΆrn 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, EinstΓΌrzende 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.
Some Velvet Morning
Lee Hazlewood Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Some velvet mornin' when I'm straight
I'm gonna open up your gate
And maybe tell you 'bout Phaedra
And how she gave me life
And how she made it end
Some velvet mornin' when I'm straight
Flowers growing on a hill, dragonflies and daffodils
Learn from us very much, look at us but do not touch
Phaedra is my name
Some velvet mornin' when I'm straight
I'm gonna open up your gate
And maybe tell you 'bout Phaedra
And how she gave me life
And how she made it end
Some velvet mornin' when I'm straight
Flowers are the things we know, secrets are the things we grow
Learn from us very much, look at us but do not touch
Phaedra is my name
FADE
The lyrics of Lee Hazlewood's Some Velvet Morning are poetic and elusive, leaving room for multiple interpretations. The song is a duet between Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra, and both take turns in singing from different perspectives. The lyrics create a dreamlike atmosphere, full of surreal imagery and cryptic references. The repeated phrase "some velvet morning when I'm straight" suggests that the singer is waiting for a moment of clarity or enlightenment. The opening line, "I'm gonna open up your gate," can be seen as a metaphor for accessing new knowledge or intimacy.
Hazlewood's verses are a tribute to a woman named Phaedra who apparently had a profound impact on his life. He sings about her in vague terms, saying that she both gave him life and made it end. Phaedra could be a real person, a fictional character, or a symbol for something else entirely. In any case, Hazlewood's lyrics are full of allusions to Greek mythology, symbolism, and mysticism, making it difficult to decipher their meaning. Meanwhile, Sinatra's verses are equally elusive, talking about flowers, dragonflies, and secrets. The combination of the two singers creates a hypnotic effect, leaving the listener mesmerized by their enigmatic words.
Line by Line Meaning
Some velvet mornin' when I'm straight
Lee is planning to open the listener's gate and talk about Phaedra when sober
I'm gonna open up your gate
Lee plans to enter the listener's life fully
And maybe tell you 'bout Phaedra
Lee wants to share with the listener about his relationship with Phaedra
And how she gave me life
Lee believes Phaedra brought a new spark to his existence
And how she made it end
Lee believes that Phaedra also brought an end to his life, in a sense
Flowers growing on a hill
Nancy describes the beauty of nature that surrounds the singer and the listener
dragonflies and daffodils
Further description of the natural environment around them
Learn from us very much, look at us but do not touch
Nancy advises the listener not to interfere but instead take guidance from their experiences
Phaedra is my name
Nancy identifies herself with Phaedra, perhaps embodying her traits and experiences
Flowers are the things we know, secrets are the things we grow
Nancy comments on the profound knowledge and growth that can come from observing and experiencing nature
Lyrics Β© BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: LEE HAZLEWOOD
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@user-ip9yu7lp1q
Some velvet morning when I'm straight
I'm gonna open up your gate
And maybe tell you 'bout Phaedra
And how she gave me life
And how she made it in
Some velvet morning when I'm straight
Flowers growing on the hill
Dragonflies and daffodils
Learn from us very much
Look at us but do not touch
Phaedra is my name
Flowers are the things we knew
Secrets are the things we grew
@-moonlight606
Some Velvet morning
Some velvet mornin' when I'm straight
I'm gonna open up your gate
And maybe tell you 'bout Phaedra
And how she gave me life
And how she made it end
Some velvet mornin' when I'm straight
Flowers growing on a hill, dragonflies and daffodils
Learn from us very much, look at us but do not touch
Phaedra is my name
Some velvet mornin' when I'm straight
I'm gonna open up your gate
And maybe tell you 'bout Phaedra
And how she gave me life
And how she made it end
Some velvet mornin' when I'm straight
Flowers are the things we know, secrets are the things we grow
Learn from us very much, look at us but do not touch
Phaedra is my name
Some velvet mornin' when I'm straight
Flowers growing on a hill
I'm gonna open up your gate
dragonflies and daffodils
And maybe tell you 'bout Phaedra
Learn from us very much
And how she gave me life
look at us but do not touch
Fade
And how she made it end
Uma Suave ManhΓ£
Uma suave manhΓ£ quando eu estou na linha
Vou abrir seu portΓ£o
E talvez te falar sobre Phaedra
E como ela me deu vida
E como ela fez isso acabar
Uma suave manhΓ£ quando eu estou na linha
Flores crescem numa ladeira, libΓ©lulas e narcisos amarelos
Aprenda muito conosco, nos olhe mas nΓ£o nos toque
Phaedra Γ© meu nome
Uma suave manhΓ£ quando eu estou na linha
Vou abrir seu portΓ£o
E talvez te falar sobre Phaedra
E como ela me deu vida
E como ela fez isso acabar
Uma suave manhΓ£ quando eu estou na linha
Flores sΓ£o as coisas que sabemos, segredos sΓ£o as coisas que criamos
Aprenda muito conosco, nos olhe mas nΓ£o nos toque
Phaedra Γ© meu nome
Uma suave manhΓ£ quando eu estou na linha
Flores crescem numa ladeira
Vou abrir seu portΓ£o
libΓ©lulas e narcisos amarelos
E talvez te falar sobre Phaedra
Aprenda muito conosco
E como ela me deu vida
Nos olhe, mas nΓ£o nos toque
Desvanecer
E como ela fez isso acabar
@davidewing5605
This song was a shocker when it came out. Anything with Nancy S. could not be good. We were all wrong. This is an amazing song, Lee and Nancy. It seemed like a good singing partnership. It is strange, spooky, and had all the right elements to be a top song, which it was. Also, this song about 10 years ago, was in a mini series called Mr Robert. They played the whole song. I was shocked. Dave in Sierra Vista AZ
@user-wy1xz9cz2e
I first heard this song in 2016, the day after my sweetheart died. I don't know why it resonated, but during the parts Nancy sang, I pictured Karin singing. The image of her was faerie-like, complete with wings. Of course, I cried...the song still, to this day, makes me tear up. I know many people, family and friends included, don't understand my relationship with this woman. That's okay. I love her anyway, miss her, and even though a lot's happened, and I am married again, to a wonderful woman, not a day goes by that something doesn't remind me of Karin. Maybe someday I will understand why things happened the way they did. Thanks for reading this far.
@TROTHofficial
Brings back so many sweet childhood memories and other pleasant recollections...
This Nancy & Lee LP was, amongst others, an inspiration to create my own music.π»π
@adityaorenji
Lately Iβve been exploring the culture of the 60s because of rosemaryβs baby movie. When I dive into 60s music and this is one that is special for me. So gorgeous. Even if this song was released in 2023 as an alternative genre, this is very successful.
@arnoldblashak171
Yup
@cliff9685
Rosemaryβs Baby is a fabulous movie!
@macropsychoanalysisorg
Cristo Redentor Helios "Boys From Brazil"
@user-bb7pe8ji6r
We need more undiscovered Nancy Sinatra hits!
@PsyVen
The greatest male-female duet of all time.
@AndrewParker1230
All of their songs together are