I’m still very sad about the passing of the great musician Billy Strange. Not was he only a wonderful guitarist, producer and arranger, he was also a great friend. A unique man: thoughtful, funny, clever, heardheaded and supportive. He had the greatness to let others shine on stage and on records.
Over the years I’ve met Billy several times. And the more I learned about his life and career, the more in awe I was. That’s why I started writing about him on this blog. Later I interviewed Billy on video. Two parts of this video interview were published by Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger (English with German subtitles):
Vom grossartigen Song «These Boots Are Made For Walkin’», den Nancy Sinatra unsterblich machte, gibt es unzählige Versionen in unzähligen Sprachen. Her einige aus den 1960er Jahren.
Yvonne Přenosilová – Boty proti lásce
Tschechisch im Doppelpack, zwei herrliche Videos des Songs.
Eileen – Die Stiefel sind zum Wandern
Deutsch mit charmantem Akzent.
Eileen – Questi stivali sono fatti per camminare
Neben der deutschen und italienischen Version sang Eileen übrigens auch noch eine französische.
Dalida – Stivaletti Rossi (1967)
Hier sind die Stiefel rot und die Rotzigkeit des Originals fehlt.
Annet Hesterman – Draag Schoenen Om Te Lopen
Holländisch, aber ansonsten ziemlich nah am Original.
Dominique Michel – Ces bottes sont faites pour marcher
Görenhafte Version mit Einsatz von Geigen.
Muguette – Ces bottes sont faites pour marcher
Die wütende Lässigkeit des Originals erreicht auch diese französische Version nicht.
Gloria Benavides – Estas Botas Son Para Caminar
Bei dieser Version konnten sich die Musiker nicht auf den Groove einigen.
Los IN – These Boots Are Made for Walkin’(1966)
Version im Stil der Beatles, gespielt von einer argentinischen Gruppe, gesungen auf englisch.
Nancy Sinatra – These Boots Are Made for Walkin’
Unschlagbar, das Original von Nancy Sinatra. Produziert von Lee Hazlewood, arrangiert von Billy Strange, der die Idee zum Bass-Intro hatte (das Chuck Berghofer spielte).
Nancy Sinatra, Billy Strange (middle) and Lee Hazlewood in 2003.
Today Billy Strange celebrates his 80th birthday in Nashville, TN. Here’s a video interview with Billy Strange I did. He talks about working with The Beach Boys, Nat King Cole, Phil Spector and Nancy Sinatra.
Billy Strange helped the Beach Boys, Elvis, Frank and Nancy Sinatra and many others to make hits.
He was a number one studio guitarist in the music studios of Hollywood in the 1950s and 1960s. You can hear his guitar on songs like “Surfin’ U.S.A.”, “Sloop John B.” and countless other Beach Boys and surf songs. He’s also famous for playing the haunting guitar on “Bang Bang”, the song that was used by Quentin Tarantino in “Kill Bill”. His arranging skills made songs like “These Boots Are Made For Walkin’”, “Some Velvet Morning” and “Something Stupid” immortal.
You could spend your whole life listening to cover versions of Cher’s song “Bang, Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)” on YouTube – or at least one evening. Over the years Cher’s original was overtaken by Nancy Sinatra’s version with the haunting guitar played by Billy Strange, which made the song immortal. Besides Nancy Sinatra’s version of “Bang, Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)” and countless other versions, there were also many covers sung in foreign languages.
From all the non-English versions I stumbled upon, I’ve chosen three sung by European singers, who share several things: they all have pseudonyms ending on the same letter, sing in several languages, acted in movies and had very successful and long careers. I’m speaking of Sheila, Dalida and Mina.
Dalida’s and Mina’s versions are sung in Italian, Sheila’s in French. The videos were probably shot for TV shows, they’re all playbacks. Sheila’s and Dalida’s videos interestingly use the same footage of a girl and a boy who has a toy gun. Listen in Mina’s video to how different her voice sounds when she sings “bang, bang”, there’s much more reverb. And here’s the question of the day: How many guitar players can you count in Mina’s version? Have fun.
Sheila (1966)
French singer Sheila was born in 1945. Her real name is Annie Chancel. She was very popular in France and many other European countries during the nineteen-sixties and nineteen-seventies. Her popularity was so huge, that her name was used for a chain of clothing shops and for beauty products. She sang in several languages and was successful all over Europe. In the late seventies she became a disco star. Her disco hit “Spacer” was produced by Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of the US funk group Chic. Sheila is still performing and recording.
Dalida (1966)
Dalida (1933-1987), real name Yolanda Christina Gigliotti, was a French singer of Italian ancestry who grew up in Egypt. She sang not only in French but also in Arabian, Italian, German and English. She started her career in 1956 at a singing contest in Paris, where she was discovered. From her first record release on she had an endless string of hit records in different styles of music all over the World. Her success in the music business was overshadowed by many private tragedies. She killed herself with an overdose of sleeping pills.
Mina (1967)
Mina, born in 1940, real name Anna Maria Mazzini, is an Italian singer. She sings in French, Spanish, Turkish, German and Japanese. She was discovered at a singing contest in 1958. During the nineteen-sixties and nineteen-seventies she was very successful in Italy and other European countries. Her regular performances on Italian television very much added to her huge success. In 1978 she stopped performing live, but kept on recording.
Posted by Jan Derrer 
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