NANCY SINATRA at 80 - Send her “FLOWERS.” Will she thank you? No, “SHE WON’T.”

You might well ask, what IS Nancy Sinatra doing on the “blog of less renown?” And the answer is…aside from “These Boots are Made for Walkin’” and perhaps “How Does That Grab You, Darlin’ and a few duets with Lee Hazlewood,  her music is as obscure as too many others youc can find here. Most have not heard the two offerings below.

The first lost gem, “She Won’t” marked a final meeting between the lustful (but un-consummated) duo of Nancy and Lee. They teamed for two hits in 1968: “Summer Wine” (by Hazlewood) and “Jackson” (by the team of Rogers-Wheeler). They didn’t ignite much interest with “Nancy and Lee Again” in 1972. Over 30 years later, “Nancy & Lee 3” from 2004 hardly got a real release. Most hunted for it via import. “She Won’t” (written by Duane Eddy and Billy Falcon) is sort of a mutual re-telling of “By the Time I Get to Phoenix.”

You'll remember that in that Jimmy Webb song, the male narrator expresses his grief, cynicism, resolve and regret in walking out on a good woman. Here, let’s double down: BOTH parties meditate on the break-up and the lingering pain it will cause. Some question if Nancy could sing? Listen to her here: 

In honor of her 80th birthday yesterday (she was born June 8, 1940) you get another lost gem: “Flowers.” It was written by Bobby Cole.

Frank Sinatra was a fan and friend to Bobby. He'd drop into “Ali Baba” or Jilly's or whatever club Bobby was playing in, and often stay for hours. These two Italian tough guys had a lot in common. Frank nearly got Bobby signed to Capitol Records, but…you can figure out how the headstrong and volatile Mr. Cole might’ve sabotaged it. Besides, at the time he was fielding a lot of offers…from Vegas, from Judy Garland, perhaps even from Columbia asking for another album. I’m hazy on this, as I was Bobby’s friend, not his biographer, so I wasn’t taking notes. When he’d spontaneously offer anecdotes about his life and the famous people he knew, he'd clam up if I asked an innocent follow-up question. 

The one time I met and spoke with Nancy Sinatra, I should’ve asked her how she came to record “Flowers,” and how often she saw Bobby perform. But...we were talking mostly about her newest album, and I was wondering about an earlier one, “Nancy,” which still hadn’t appeared on CD. I thought it was one of her best, with a knock-out album cover and a sultry take on “Son of a Preacher Man” among others.

As I recall, Bobby wasn’t all that thrilled with “Flowers.” I’m not sure if the problem was that Nancy wasn’t a “Broadway” singer who could express mercurial mood changes in a theatrical way, or if the arrangement just didn’t send him. I’ll choose the latter.

Being an expert arranger, I’m sure he felt he could’ve done a better job on this rather complex and ambitious and arty pop tune. By the time it was recorded (1973), a variety of complicated tunes had come and gone. These included items that were well over the 3 minute mark, including Webb’s “Macarthur Park” and Orbison’s “Southbound Jericho Parkway.” There were also the somewhat ambitious/pretentious offerings of Dory Previn, Sondheim and many others. Here's  Bobby’s artful jazz ballad of many moods:

Fans all over the world have wished "Happy Birthday" to Nancy Sinatra. OK, she wasn't Frank, but neither was Frank Sinatra Jr., and that was more of a problem. Why expect a woman to sing like her father? Nancy didn't. Know what? She sang like Nancy Sinatra, and to use a favorite Bobby Cole word, that's "UNIQUE."