RIP Lee Hazlewood

Magz Hall

Active member
Sad news to hear this great songwriter has died

LEE HAZLEWOOD:
9 July 1929 – 4 August 2007

Kiss all the pretty ones goodbye
Give everyone a penny that cry
You can throw all my tranquil' pills away
Let my blood pressure go on its way
For my autumn's done come
My autumn’s done come.

Lee Hazlewood, My Autumn’s Done Come

LEE HAZLEWOOD has died peacefully at his home outside Las Vegas, USA, after a three year struggle with cancer. He celebrated his 78th birthday earlier this month surrounded by family and friends from around the world. He passed away on August 4th, 2007, in Henderson, Nevada, and is survived by his son Mark, his daughters Debbie and Samantha, and his devoted wife Jeane.

For over half a century, LEE HAZLEWOOD proved himself to be one of the most ingenious, inspired and impressively stubborn sons-of-a-bitch the music industry ever saw. His career – a word that HAZLEWOOD himself scorned – saw him take on almost every aspect of the music industry – a word that HAZLEWOOD himself was equally dismissive of – and come out on top every time. Most famous for his work with Nancy Sinatra – he wrote and produced many of her biggest hits, including These Boots Were Made For Walking, Sugartown and the unforgettable Some Velvet Morning – HAZLEWOOD in fact started his musical career as a DJ in Coolidge, Arizona. It was here he first met Duane Eddy, with whom he began to flesh out and record some of his songs. In 1955 he set up Viv Records and in 1956 hit paydirt with Sanford Clark’s legendary The Fool, and the following year he gave up DJing to focus on production and writing. In the early 1960s he established the LHI label (which is best known for having released the debut album by Gram Parson’s first group, The International Submarine Band) and began releasing his own solo albums, including the extraordinary "Trouble Is A Lonesome Town".

In the mid sixties, in the face of The British Invasion (led by the likes of The Beatles), HAZLEWOOD retired to the shadows (where he was always most comfortable) only to be reluctantly dragged out to work with Nancy Sinatra. Their work together – including the iconic Boots – was an overnight success and saw her become a star in her own right worldwide, but she also insisted that HAZLEWOOD step out in front of the microphone himself, leading to the release of three "Nancy & Lee" albums.

In the early 1970s HAZLEWOOD moved to Sweden to ensure his son was not drafted by the US military. He recorded a series of solo albums there as well as collaborating with film director Torbjörn Axelman, but then ‘retired’ again, working only occasionally over the next two decades. Instead he began to follow an itinerant lifestyle which he pursued until very recently, living in Ireland, Germany, Spain and of course America. However it was the rediscovery of this work two decades later by a new generation of musicians – including the likes of Sonic Youth, whose drummer Steve Shelley tracked HAZLEWOOD down and reissued a number of his solo albums on his Smells Like Records imprint – that led to a resurgence of interest in his work as a performer. In the late 90s he returned to the studio to record the typically cryptically titled standards album "Farmisht, Flatulence, Origami, ARF!!! and Me", and in 1999 he returned to the stage at the invitation of Nick Cave who was curating that year’s Meltdown Festival in London. Following a sold out show at the Royal Festival Hall he sanctioned the release of two albums of unreleased material, most notably "For Every Solution There’s A Problem", toured Europe, and then returned to the studio to record his final album, "Cake Or Death", which was released to worldwide acclaim in 2006.

HAZLEWOOD’s music has always been a staple of movie soundtracks, but it has continued to become more and more fashionable, regularly turning up in films as diverse as The Dukes Of Hazzard – which saw Jessica Simpson perform These Boots Were Made For Walking for the title track – and the arthouse flick Morvern Callar – which used Some Velvet Morning to great effect.

The family have requested that those wishing to honour LEE HAZLEWOOD should make donations to the Salvation Army
 

Gabba Flamenco Crossover

High Sierra Skullfuck
Aw, this is a bad one. The deepest voice in pop, one of the greatest moustaches, and a seriously good songwriter who never took himself too seriously. Lee Hazlewood, one of the coolest men who ever lived. RIP mate.
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
RIP, he was a genius. Just listening to 'Some Velvet Morning' alone confirms that. If there was justice, he'd have similar cachet to Scott Walker.
 

crackerjack

Well-known member
RIP, he was a genius. Just listening to 'Some Velvet Morning' alone confirms that. If there was justice, he'd have similar cachet to Scott Walker.

He does, doesn't he? At least in my mind, if not the pages of Mojo et al. Went to see him at Royal Festival Hall a couple of years back. He said "you'll probably want your money back if i don't play these", and then condensed all the hits (Velvet, Boots, Sand etc) into one 3 minute medley. Which I thought was kinda cute.

I was more gutted he played nothing from the Cowboy In Sweden album, esp Pray Them Bars Away.
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
He does, doesn't he? At least in my mind, if not the pages of Mojo et al. Went to see him at Royal Festival Hall a couple of years back. He said "you'll probably want your money back if i don't play these", and then condensed all the hits (Velvet, Boots, Sand etc) into one 3 minute medley. Which I thought was kinda cute.

I was more gutted he played nothing from the Cowboy In Sweden album, esp Pray Them Bars Away.

Yeah, he's just not known well enough, perhaps.

Cowboy in Sweden is an absolute classic. Also, his version of 'Dark End of the Street' (from the Cowboy and the Lady) with Ann-Margret is one of the finest things I've ever heard. In no small part, it must be said, to her vocal performance.

Bizarre Eddie Izzard nod on the title of his last album, too.
 

polystyle

Well-known member
'They call me sand'

RIP Lee
What a life , what great songs and yeah we knew he was sic and end was coming , sadly.

If you haven't heard Einsturzende Neubauten cover "Sand" ,
you've missed something a bit incredible (cheers Blixa on the vocal).

'Young woman share your fire with me ...'

The Rowland Howard -Lydia Lunch version of "Some Velvet Morning" was pretty great too.
obv, the Lydia Lunch - Nick Cave -ENB crew took a real liking to the man's work ,
carried through by The Smells Like' rereleases.
Maybe they all turned on to Lee together

There was a good interview with him not so long ago in the NY Times where he laid out his eased back life & style .

Rest easy Lee
 

Magz Hall

Active member
Lee Hazlewood is one of my all time idols, I was totally thrilled when we managed to get him to do a live interview, thanks to guitarist Pete Aves, on the You Are Hear show back in July 2004. It was certainly an auspicious occasion. I was slightly terrified of him being a huge fan anyhow having riled Lee a little by not allowing him to smoke in the tiny and too hot studio we did offer him a bottle of vintage single malt he stuck to cola though, anyhow Lee stuck around for nearly an our hour sharing his fascinating life stories choosing all the tracks we played from our record collections before running off for a fag.
I have passed on a copy of that archive hour long interview to be put up on our you are hear show on www.totallyradio.com up from Friday afternoon ( its available for free for anyone to hear for 2 weeks from then and then for playback to subcribers. I can't podcast it whole thing with the music so this is a good way of hearing it unedited as a stream.

http://www.youarehear.co.uk
 
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henry s

Street Fighting Man
If you haven't heard Einsturzende Neubauten cover "Sand" ,
you've missed something a bit incredible (cheers Blixa on the vocal).

not meaning to get off topic, but EN's version of "Sand" was a huge influence on Kevin Shields, or so he says...

RIP, Lee...Poet, Fool and Bum...nobody could combine the ridiculous and the sublime like you could, man...
 

Alfons

Way of the future
Lee Hazlewood is one of my all time idols, I was totally thrilled when we managed to get him to do a live interview, thanks to guitarist Pete Aves, on the You Are Hear show back in July 2004. It was certainly an auspicious occasion. I was slightly terrified of him being a huge fan anyhow having riled Lee a little by not allowing him to smoke in the tiny and too hot studio we did offer him a bottle of vintage single malt he stuck to cola though, anyhow Lee stuck around for nearly an our hour sharing his fascinating life stories choosing all the tracks we played from our record collections before running off for a fag.
I have passed on a copy of that archive hour long interview to be put up on our you are hear show on www.totallyradio.com up from Friday afternoon ( its available for free for anyone to hear for 2 weeks from then and then for playback to subcribers. I can't podcast it whole thing with the music so this is a good way of hearing it unedited as a stream.

http://www.youarehear.co.uk

Sounds cool, will check it out.

I love his stuff although I only have the Lee and Nancy album and Trouble is a Lonesome town thing. Love the way their voices play off each other and the stories he tells on Trouble is... Any recommendations on other albums worth checking out?

Oh and speaking of covers of his songs, I wrote a small peace about him today in a local paper and came across this http://www.discogs.com/release/638392 when I was googling him. Anyone have it? Is it any good?

Gatefold sleeve with liner notes containing Hazlewood's own initial reactions to the covers

Sounds interresting...
 

crackerjack

Well-known member
love his stuff although I only have the Lee and Nancy album and Trouble is a Lonesome town thing. Love the way their voices play off each other and the stories he tells on Trouble is... Any recommendations on other albums worth checking out?

Trouble Is...was pretty disappointing I thought.

Cowboy In Sweden (mentioned above) is definitely the best I've heard.

Requiem For An Almost Lady is good, and has I'd Rather Be Your Enemy Than Hear You Call Me Friend, which is every bit as ace as its title.
 
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