Nancy Sinatra Made The Beatles’ ‘Day Tripper’ ‘Girly’
While many covers of The Beatles‘ songs are bland regurgitations, Nancy Sinatra’s version of The Beatles’ “Day Tripper” is almost thought-provoking. Sinatra revealed she wanted her rendition of the tune to sound “girly.” Her cover was part of a larger trend on her debut album.
Nancy Sinatra covered The Beatles’ ‘Day Tripper’ and ‘Run for Your Life’ for her debut
The Beatles’ “Day Tripper” is a song where the Fab Four gleefully take down a girl for being a tease. It’s a bit on the misogynistic side, though it’s far from the most offensive song from The Beatles or their contemporaries. Sinatra covered “Day Tripper” and flipped the genders so she’s taking a man down. It’s a cheeky, empowering song that listeners might expect from the singer behind such hits as “These Boots Are Made for Walkin'” and “How Does That Grab You, Darlin’?”
During a 2013 interview with Vice, Sinatra was asked if she ever covered songs to improve the originals. “I don’t know that I had that in mind, but I think sometimes I did do it better than the original,” she said. “Like ‘Bang Bang.’ And no offense to Cher, because her record is great and it sold millions of copies. But I like turning a song around and really hearing what the lyric says.” For context, Sinatra’s “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)” highlights the tragedy of the original song.
Sinatra discussed some of her Beatles covers. “Another thing I like to do is take guy songs and make them girly,” she said. “Like ‘Day Tripper’ and some of the Beatles things. ‘Run for your life, little boy.'” Sinatra covered both “Day Tripper” and “Run for Your Life” for her debut album, Boots.
The singer felt her version of The Beatles’ ‘Day Tripper’ was ‘naughty’
During a 2021 interview with The Independent, Sinatra noted that most of the cover songs on Boots — such as versions of The Kickerbockers’ “Lies” and Bob Dylan’s “It Ain’t Me Babe” — were originally performed by men. Sinatra thought there was some of her decisions at the time were “pretty naughty.”
Sinatra’s cover of “Day Tripper” and most of her early material was produced by country singer and songwriter Lee Hazlewood. Sinatra discussed her feelings about Hazlewood. “He made it possible for me to have a huge career,” she opined. “I owe him that. And he had a lot of good material to work with. I mean, we did break a lot of ground. Not the glass ceiling, but close to it.”
Nancy Sinatra said she was ‘1 of the first women’s libbers’ but that wasn’t her intent
Sinatra considers herself “one of the first women’s libbers” by accident. She wasn’t even aware of the term “glass ceiling” when she released feminist music in the 1960s. Notably, her music appeared in one of the most famous feminist films of the 2000s: Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill Volume 1.
Sinatra’s cover of The Beatles’ “Day Tripper” is one of her most memorable tunes and it encapsulates her as an artist.
