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.
We All Make the Flowers Grow
Lee Hazlewood Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Listen my friends
If you have money
Or nothing to spend
It'll make no difference
In a hundred years or so
Sooner or later
We all make the little flowers grow
Wise men and fools
Two 'll get you five
You'll never get
Out of this world alive
Don't run and hide
It's no use I know
Sooner or later
We all make the little flowers grow
[acoustic guitar]
Short men and tall men
And all the rest
Please don't blame me
I didn't start this mess
Some of us stay
Some of us go
Sooner or later
We all make the little flowers grow
In "We All Make the Flowers Grow," Lee Hazlewood reflects on the inevitability of death and the fleeting nature of life. He calls on both cowards and heroes to listen, conveying the idea that despite differences in socioeconomic status, mortality is democratic - it comes for everyone. Hazlewood stresses that ultimately, a personβs wealth or poverty has nothing to do with the fact that one day they will die. The line "Sooner or later, we all make the little flowers grow" is repeated throughout the song as a reminder that death is a natural and cyclical part of life.
Hazlewood addresses both wise men and fools, pointing out the futility of trying to outwit death. He notes that regardless of intelligence, no one can escape the inevitability of death. Hazlewood urges listeners not to run and hide because there is no use trying to avoid death. It's something we all must face, eventually.
In the final stanza, Hazlewood mentions "short men and tall men and all the rest," emphasizing that death is an equalizer that does not discriminate. Nobody can avoid the moment when their time has come. "We All Make the Flowers Grow" is a poignant reminder of life's transience and the universal experience of mortality.
Line by Line Meaning
Cowards and heroes
Regardless of our perceived bravery or fearfulness
Listen my friends
Pay attention to my words
If you have money or nothing to spend
Regardless of one's financial situation
It'll make no difference in a hundred years or so
It is insignificant in the grand scheme of time
Sooner or later we all make the little flowers grow
We all contribute to life and creation
Wise men and fools
Regardless of our intelligence or foolishness
Two 'll get you five
A saying of dubious certainty
You'll never get out of this world alive
We all will eventually die
Don't run and hide, it's no use I know
We cannot avoid our fate
Sooner or later we all make the little flowers grow
We all contribute to life and creation
Short men and tall men and all the rest
Regardless of our physical differences
Please don't blame me, I didn't start this mess
I am not responsible for the state of the world
Some of us stay, some of us go
We all have different life paths and outcomes
Sooner or later we all make the little flowers grow
We all contribute to life and creation
Contributed by Lauren H. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@slint69
Cowards and heroes listen my friends
If you have money or nothing to spend
It'll make no difference in a hundred years or so
Sooner or later we'll all make the little flowers grow
Or later we'll all make the little flowers grow
Wise men and fools who get your fight
You'll never get out of this world alive
Don't run and hide it's no use I know
Sooner or later we'll all make the little flowers grow
Or later we'll all make the little flowers grow
Short men and tall men and all the rest
Please don't blame me I didn't start this mess
Some of us stay and some of us go
Sooner or later we'll all make the little flowers grow
Or later we'll all make the little flowers grow
@iamjoshl
[Verse 1:]
Cowards and heroes listen my friends
If you have money or nothing to spend
It'll make no difference in a hundred years or so
[Chorus:]
Sooner or later we'll all make the little flowers grow
Or later we'll all make the little flowers grow
[Verse 2:]
Wise men and fools who get your fight
You'll never get out of this world alive
Don't run and hide it's no use I know
[Chorus]
[Verse 3:]
Short men and tall men and all the rest
Please don't blame me I didn't start this mess
Some of us stay and some of us go
[Chorus]
[Outro:]
(Course I wouldn't want you to think that everybody born in Trouble was born bad
And they either had to get good or stay bad
But some of 'em born on the other side of that railroad track
Just never could find the time or a good enough teacher to learn about bein' good)
@lisasmith1850
Great song and so timeless. I never would have heard this if you hadn't shared this. Thank you.
@slint69
Cowards and heroes listen my friends
If you have money or nothing to spend
It'll make no difference in a hundred years or so
Sooner or later we'll all make the little flowers grow
Or later we'll all make the little flowers grow
Wise men and fools who get your fight
You'll never get out of this world alive
Don't run and hide it's no use I know
Sooner or later we'll all make the little flowers grow
Or later we'll all make the little flowers grow
Short men and tall men and all the rest
Please don't blame me I didn't start this mess
Some of us stay and some of us go
Sooner or later we'll all make the little flowers grow
Or later we'll all make the little flowers grow
@stephenbingham5935
Have wanted to hear this song again for nearly 30 years. It is so simple cool and beautiful.
@paulwhitby4752
It's like into your first love on the street, isn't it? I know that feeling.
@paulwhitby4752
Yes, it's floats on the air, doesn't?
@sidDkid87
timeless
@sifunagerrah4791
I heard this song in the movie Bad Sisters it's so beautiful β€. I love it.
@earsoreland78
Wow what a sweet haunting song - I am a Big Lee Fan too.
@gooddogcab
Effin' awesome!!! - A Lee H classic paired with very apposite found footage...great Β job, bravo!
@iamjoshl
[Verse 1:]
Cowards and heroes listen my friends
If you have money or nothing to spend
It'll make no difference in a hundred years or so
[Chorus:]
Sooner or later we'll all make the little flowers grow
Or later we'll all make the little flowers grow
[Verse 2:]
Wise men and fools who get your fight
You'll never get out of this world alive
Don't run and hide it's no use I know
[Chorus]
[Verse 3:]
Short men and tall men and all the rest
Please don't blame me I didn't start this mess
Some of us stay and some of us go
[Chorus]
[Outro:]
(Course I wouldn't want you to think that everybody born in Trouble was born bad
And they either had to get good or stay bad
But some of 'em born on the other side of that railroad track
Just never could find the time or a good enough teacher to learn about bein' good)