#21: Jackson by Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazelwood

City: Saskatoon, SK
Radio Station: CKOM
Peak Month: August 1967
Peak Position in Saskatoon ~ #2
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ #10
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #14
YouTube: “Jackson”
Lyrics: “Jackson”

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.

Lee Hazelwood 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.

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.

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”.

“Jackson” was co-written by Billy Edd Wheeler and Gaby Rogers. It was first released by Johnny Cash and June Carter in February 1967 and reached number-two on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart. In 1968, it won a the duo a Grammy Award for Best Country & Western Performance Duet, Trio or Group. It was previously recorded in 1963 by composer Billy Edd Wheeler, and also that year by the Kingston Trio on their thirteenth studio album Sunny Side!

Billy Edd Wheeler was born in 1932 in the coal town of Whitesville, West Virginia. In 1961, he co-wrote a song with Jerry Lee Lewis titled “Song For The Lonely” recorded by The Platters. His first charting hit was in 1962 when Mike Clifford’s recording of “What to do With Laurie” reached #68 on the Billboard Hot 100. However, it was in 1963 when the Kingston Trio recorded “Reverend Mr. Black” that Wheeler started to get people’s attention. The single reached #8 on the pop charts and #15 on the R&B chart. Another tune for the Kingston Trio, “Desert Pete”, was a Top 40 hit later that year. And Hank Snow had a Top Ten country hit that year with “The Man Who Robbed the Bank at Santa Fe”. In 1964, Billy Edd Wheeler had a Top 50 pop hit and #3 country hit with “Ode to the Little Brown Shack Out Back”. In 1969, Johnny Cash had a #4 country hit with “Blistered”. However, Billy Edd Wheeler’s biggest commercial success was with Kenny Rogers’ “Coward of the County” in 1979. The single reached number-one on the US country chart and the UK pop singles chart.

Wheeler has authored six books of humor, four with Loyal Jones of Berea, Kentucky: Laughter in Appalachia, Hometown Humor USA, Curing the Cross-Eyed Mule, and More Laughter in Appalachia, and two as sole author: Outhouse Humor, and Real Country Humor / Jokes from Country Music Personalities. His first novel, Star of Appalachia, was published in January 2004, and his second, co-written with Ewel Cornett, Kudzu Covers Manhattan, in 2005. Song of a Woods Colt, a book of poetry, was published in 1969. Travis and Other Poems of the Swannanoa Valley (With Some Poems and Prayers by Dr. Henry W. Jensen) was published in 1977. In 2018, Wheeler published a book of memoirs entitled Hotter Than A Pepper Sprout, a Hillybilly poet’s journey from Appalachia to Yale to writing hits for Elvis, Johnny Cash & More.

Gaby Rogers was a pen name used by Jerry Leiber. Born on Atlantic coast to a Jewish family in 1933, the year Adolph Hitler came to power in Germany, Leiber left Baltimore and moved to Los Angeles. In 1950, when he was seventeen years old he met Michael Stoller. The duo wrote over 70 songs that made the pop charts across three decades. Their first song was in 1952, “Hard Times,” Charles Brown’s final Top Ten R&B hit. Lieber and Stoller’s last hit record was “I Keep Forgettin’” recorded by Michael McDonald in 1982. In between they collaborated with Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil to compose “On Broadway” for The Drifters. They also co-wrote “There Goes My Baby” for The Drifters with Ben. E. King as lead singer. When Ben E. King went solo, Lieber and Stoller co-wrote “Stand By Me”. Leiber and Stoller had a string of successes when The Coasters recorded the duo’s “Searchin’” (1957) “Yakety-Yak,” (1958) “Charlie Brown”, (1959) “Love Potion No. 9” (1959) and “Poison Ivy” (1959) among others.

Leiber and Stoller struck gold writing songs that are now part of Elvis Presley’s most memorable tunes. These include “Hound Dog,” (1956) “Jailhouse Rock,” (1957) “Don’t,” (1958) “King Creole”, (1958) “You’re So Square (Baby I Don’t Care)” (1958) and “She’s Not You” (1962). They also wrote “Trouble” for Elvis from the 1958 film King Creole. Other notable hits they wrote include “Kansas City”, a hit for Wilbert Harrison (1959); “Black Denim Trousers And Motor Cycle Boots” for The Cheers (1955); And “The Rev. Mr. Black” for The Kingston Trio (1963). In addition to being a successful songwriting team, Leiber and Stoller founded  Red Bird Records in 1963. The label released “The Leader Of The Pack” and “Remember Walking In The Sand” for The Shangri-Las, “Chapel Of Love” for The Dixie Cups and “I Wanna Love Him So Bad” by The Jelly Beans.

Billy Edd Wheeler told Spectropop about the evolution of “Jackson”.

“Jackson” came to me when I read the script for Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (I was too broke to see the play on Broadway) … When I played it for Jerry [Leiber], he said “Your first verses suck”, or words to that effect. “Throw them away and start the song with your last verse, ‘We got married in a fever, hotter than a pepper sprout.'” When I protested to Jerry that I couldn’t start the song with the climax, he said, “Oh, yes you can.” So I rewrote the song and thanks to Jerry’s editing and help, it worked. I recorded the song on my first Kapp album, with Joan Sommer, an old friend from Berea, Kentucky, singing the woman’s part. Johnny Cash learned the song from that album, A New Bag of Songs, produced by Jerry and Mike (Stoller).”

“Jackson” is about a married couple who find that the “fire” has gone out of their relationship. It relates the desire of both partners to travel to “Jackson” where the husband believes he will be turned loose, be with many women and be practically worshipped as he has his wild time. The wife says he is going to achieve nothing but the damaging of his health and that people are going to see him as a fool. She says she will be there waiting, having her own fun laughing at him.

Billy Edd Wheeler states that he didn’t have any particular Jackson in mind. There are twenty-six states with a city or town with the name Jackson. However, it is clear that the “Jackson” the song lyrics depict is a place where someone could have a fun night out on the town. Too many of the places named Jackson wouldn’t fit the bill. However, Jackson, Tennessee, had nearly 40,000 residents in the late sixties. So, it could have been an inspiration for the song. The other leading candidate is Jackson, Mississippi. It is the state capital, with a population in the late sixties around 150,000.

“Jackson” reached #1 in Greensboro (NC), Nashville, Lubbock (TX), Harrisburg (PA), and Akron (OH), #2 in Saskatoon (SK), Rochester (NY), Springfield (MA), Vancouver (WA), Wichita Falls (TX), Buffalo, Toledo (OH), and Spartanburg (SC), #3 in Davenport (IA), Sandusky (OH), Richland (WA), Kalamazoo (MI), Oklahoma City, New Haven (CT), and Great Falls (MT), #4 in Augusta (GA), Carlsbad (NM), Miami, Indianapolis (IN), Lancaster (MI), La Crosse (WI), and Denver, #5 in Salt Lake City, Hartford (CT), Evansville (IN), Columbus (OH), Manitowoc (WI), Greenville (TN), and Las Vegas, #6 in Kitchener (ON), Cincinnati (OH), Marshfield (WI), Milwaukee (WI), Port Arthur (TX), Wilmington (DL), and Sioux Falls (SD), #7 in Edmonton (AB), Latrobe (PA), Erie (PA), Ann Arbor (MI), Battle Creek (MI), Burlington (VT), Memphis, Beaumont (TX), San Diego, Phoenix, and Lynchburg (VA), #8 in Windsor (ON), Lowell (MA), Easton (PA), Sacramento (CA), Pendleton (OR), Louisville (KY), and Regina (SK), #9 in Toronto, Elmira (NY), Minneapolis/St. Paul, and Hamilton (ON), #10 in Vancouver (BC), Atlanta, Detroit, New Bern (NC), and Cleveland.

Internationally, “Jackson” climbed to #2 in Belgium, #4 in Austria, Norway, and South Africa, #8 in West Germany, #9 in Australia and the Netherlands, and #11 in Norway and the UK, #14 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #49 in Italy. She also released “You Only Live Twice” which reached #10 in Australia and #11 in the UK.

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.

This was followed by Nancy Sinatra’s “Lightning’s Girl”. In 1968, she also starred opposite Elvis Presley in Speedway. 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.

Lee Hazelwood died in 2007 at age 78. Jerry Leiber died at the age of 78 in 2011. Billy Edd Wheeler died at the age of 91 in 2024. Nancy Sinatra recently celebrated her 86th birthday on June 8, 2026.

June 29, 2026
Ray McGinnis

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.
William Grimes, “Jerry Leiber, Rock ‘n’ Roll Lyricist, Dies at 78,” New York Times, August 22, 2011.
David Fricke,”Leiber and Stoller: Rolling Stone’s 1990 Interview With the Songwriting Legends,” Rolling Stone, August 22, 2011.
“Billy Edd Wheeler: Obituary,” Asheville Citizen-Times, Asheville (NC), September 17, 2024.
Johnny Cash and June Carter, “Jackson“, Columbia Records, 1967.
Kingston Trio, “Jackson“, Capitol Records, 1963.

Fabulous Fifty – CKOM 1250-AM Saskatoon (SK) | August 13, 1967