#1: Lightning’s Girl by Nancy Sinatra

City: Lloydminster, AB
Radio Station: CKSA
Peak Month: October 1967
Peak Position in Lloydminster ~ #2
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ #17
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #24
YouTube: “Lighting’s Girl”
Lyrics: “Lightning’s Girl”

Nancy Sinatra is the daughter of crooner Frank Sinatra and was born in New Jersey in 1940. When she was 5 years old he recorded a song about her titled “Nancy, With the Laughing Face”. At the age of twenty she began her career appearing on The Frank Sinatra Timex Show: Welcome Home Elvis. This was a television special on the occasion of Elvis Presley’s discharge from the U.S. Army after being drafted to into the services in 1958. Nancy was sent by her father to meet Elvis at the airport in front of a pack of photographers. In 1960, she also got married to singer and actor, Tommy Sands.

Nancy’s father, Frank, has his own record label called Reprise. In 1961 she began making records for the label. Initially she was only a hit in Japan and Britain. In 1961, “Cuff Links and a Tie Clip” was a Top 40 seller in Italy. In 1962, “Like I Do” reached #2 in Italy, #4 in the Netherlands, #6 in Japan and #8 in South Africa. Nancy Sinatra released nine more singles between 1961 and 1965 that were commercial failures, including a cover of “To Know Him Is To Love Him” and “The Cruel War”. Her international fame was cemented with the #1 single, “These Boots Are Made For Walking,” in February 1966. Lee Hazelwood wrote the song and he went on to write numbers of Nancy Sinatra’s other hit singles. When Nancy performed “These Boots Are Made For Walking”, she appeared in a mini-skirt and go-go boots. The song reached number-one in Argentina, Australia, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, the UK and the Billboard Hot 100. ‘Boots’ was also a Top 5 hit in Finland, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and West Germany. Fans loved Nancy Sinatra’s appearance when performing “These Boots Are Made For Walking”. That style of dress became her professional outfit for the rest of the decade. In 1966 she also appeared in a number of movies, including The Wild Angels with Peter Fonda, and The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini.

Later in 1966, Nancy had a Top Ten hit with “How Does That Grab You Darlin'”.

Sinatra had three more Top Ten hits in 1967. “Summer Wine” and “Sugar Town” was a double-sided hit record. Later in 1967 she had a #1 single in a duet with her father called “Something Stupid.” It would also be a year where she was given the nod to record the theme song for that year’s James Bond film, You Only Live Twice.

Nancy Sinatra also had Lee Hazelwood, her father, brother Frank Sinatra Jr., Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. appear on a TV special called Movin’ With Nancy. During the TV show Nancy Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. had a spontaneous unplanned kiss. It was one of the first interracial kisses on TV and caused a controversy at the time. In 1968, she also starred opposite Elvis Presley in Speedway.

In 1967, Nancy Sinatra managed to chart another more singles into the Top 30 of the Billboard Hot 100. After “Something Stupid”, came “Love Eyes”, a duet with Lee Hazelwood titled “Jackson” (#9 in Australia and #11 in Norway and the UK), and “You Only Live Twice” (#10 in Australia and #11 in the UK). This was followed by “Lightning’s Girl”.

Lee Hazelwood wrote “Lightning’s Girl”. He was born in rural Oklahoma in 1929. Hazlewood’s father was an oil worker and had a sideline as a dance promoter. He studied medicine at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, and served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. He worked as a disc jockey in Coolidge, Arizona and in 1955 moved to KRUX radio in Phoenix. During that time, he was already writing songs and formed his own record label, Viv Records. Sanford Clark’s “The Fool” was the first Top Ten hit written by Lee Hazelwood. In 1958, “Rabble Rouser”, cowritten with Duane Eddy, was Hazelwood’s second big hit. He co-wrote numbers of subsequent hits for Eddy, including “Cannonball” and “Dance With the Guitar Man”. Hazelwood subsequently wrote “These Boots Are Made For Walkin'”, a number-one hit for Nancy Sinatra. As well, Nancy Sinatra had hits with Hazelwood’s songs “Sugar Town”, “Summer Wine”, “Jackson”, “Love Eyes”, “Some Velvet Morning”, and “How Does That Grab You Darlin’?” Lee Hazelwood also wrote “Houston” which was a hit for Dean Martin. Lee Hazelwood died in 2007 at age 78.

“Lightning’s Girl” is a song about a woman who is the ‘girl’ of a man nicknamed ‘Lightning.’ He doesn’t like it when any other male tries to flirt with his ‘girl.’ The lyrics warn that any guy who tries to “groove around” or “hang around” Lightning’s girl will find himself six feet under. Any guy who values his life better stay away from the part of town where Lightning and his ‘girl’ live. Given his nickname, Lightning moves fast and when he strikes out the impact can be devastating.

“Lighting’s Girl” reached #1 in Battle Creek (MI), and Yakima (WA), #2 in Lloydminster (AB), Breckinridge (MN), Grand Junction (CO), Marietta (GA), Wausau (WI), Des Moines (IA), Toledo (OH), and Vancouver (WA), #3 in Reading (PA), Kelso (WA), and Seattle, #4 in St. Louis, Louisville (KY), Waycross (GA), Eugene (OR), Santa Rosa (CA), Kansas City (MO), and Quincy (IL), #5 in Erie (PA), Salt Lake City, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Stevens Point (WI), Green Bay (WI), Wilkes-Barre (PA), Midland (TX), and Lansing (MI), #6 in Oklahoma City (OK), Little Rock (AR), Fort Atkinson (WI), Susanville (CA), Charlottesville (VA), San Francisco, Jamestown (ND), Keane (NH), and Columbus (OH), #7 in Burlington (VT), Milwaukee, (WI), Newport News (VA), Manchester (NH), and Easton (PA), #8 in London (ON), Dubuque (IA), La Crosse (WI), Bethlehem (PA), Amarillo (TX), Fort Wayne (IN), and Denver, #9 in Montpelier (VT), Winnipeg (MB), Atlanta, Tulsa (OK), Bowling Green (KY), Monterey (CA), Lancaster (MI), and Fargo (ND), and #10 in Laconia (NH).

Internationally, “Lightning’s Girl” reached #5 in Australia, and the Top 30 in both America and Canada.

Nancy Sinatra released over forty more singles between 1968 and 2017. Her duet “Some Velvet Morning” Nancy Sinatra has had members of the legendary Wrecking Crew as a backing band.

Karen Schoemer, contributor to the book, The Rolling Stone Book of Women in Rock, wrote, “Nancy’s combination of pristine innocence and vamp-o-rama sex appeal was a perfect expression for the (‘60s).” In May 1995, Nancy Sinatra was featured in a Playboy Magazine pictorial. She also re-launched her music career releasing an album. Since 2007, she has hosted a show on Sirius Satellite Radio titled Siriusly Sinatra.

February 14, 2026
Ray McGinnis

References:
References:
“Nancy Sinatra bio,” Nancy Sinatra.com
Barbara O’Dair,  The Rolling Stone Book of Women in Rock, (Rolling Stone, 1997).
Garth Cartwright, “Lee Hazelwood Obituary,” Guardian, August 6, 2007.

Border Boss Survey CKSA 1080-AM Lloydminster (AB) October 16, 1967