Why there are three different versions of MEGADETH's 'These Boots Are Made For Walkin''
12-01-2024
During an appearance on last week’s (Thursday, January 11) episode of SiriusXM‘s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk”, former MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson spoke about the various versions of the band’s cover of Nancy Sinatra‘s 1960s song “These Boots Are Made For Walkin'”, which was originally written by singer, songwriter and producer Lee Hazlewood. He said: “We did the original version on (MEGADETH‘s debut album) ‘Killing Is My Business(… And Business Is Good!)’ back in — recorded it in ’84 came out in ’85. And Dave (Mustaine, MEGADETH guitarist/vocalist) had — tongue in cheek — kind of put in his own inflection and maybe a bit of a rewrite on some of the spin on the lyrics. And it went largely unnoticed for many, many years. But the author of the song, Lee Hazlewood, he then raised an issue. And here’s what I’ve learned about this, ’cause I’ve actually sat on some symposiums and some committees about this stuff with legal people. And, of course, the name that comes up is ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic (the American musician best known for his parodies of songs and music videos by other musicians) How did he get away with rewriting these songs? And apparently he went to everybody and asked their permission. And as I’m told, the one person who said no to him was Prince, of all people; he would not let him sort of make a parody.”
Ellefson continued: “So what I learned about this, ’cause, again, this song of MEGADETH that I was a part of, it became one of these songs that… Apparently, if you change the lyrics without the author’s permission, it’s an issue. And specifically, you can’t make a parody or any sort of kind of ribbing of the lyrics without the author’s permission or else it’s a cease-and-desist. So he did come to us, Lee Hazlewood did come to us and say, ‘Hey, cease and desist.’ And so to get around it was… I guess we could sort of mute the parts where the lyrics were changed… I think ‘Killing Is My Business’ is the first reissue we did back in 2001, and it’s unlistenable. Even me, when I’m listening to it, I’m, like, ‘My god. Stop this, please.’ And so finally when we did the third version, ‘Killing Is My Business(… And Business Is Good) – The Final Kill’ (in 2018), Dave went in and actually re-sang the lyrics in its original format so as not to have any problems. So there’s, I guess, technically three versions out there of that song from us.”
Back in 2018, Mustaine spoke to Billboard about his decision recut the vocal for MEGADETH‘s cover of “These Boots Are Made For Walkin'” for “Killing Is My Business… And Business Is Good – The Final Kill”. He said: “We originally put the song out with a combination of my lyrics and Lee‘s lyrics, and his camp cashed a check for 10 years. Then, all of a sudden, they said, ‘You need to take the song off the record because you’ve made this vile and offensive version.’ And I said, ‘You know what’s vile and offensive? That you guys cashed the check for 10 years before you said anything.’ They wanted to have the song come off the record, but rather than do that, we just went in and beeped out all of my words and left his words in there. Now we’ve got this third version that has the original lyrics that Nancy sang. As much as we wanted to send a message to Lee Hazlewood‘s camp, we didn’t want to send that kind of misogynistic message to our fans. So when we had the opportunity to go back and fix it, I figured, ‘Yeah, let’s go in and do that.'”
”Killing Is My Business…And Business Is Good!” was originally released in 1985 by Combat Records. The album was remastered and re-released in 2002 via LOUD Records with the band’s preferred cover art.
“Killing Is My Business… And Business Is Good – The Final Kill” was completely restored to Mustaine‘s intended vision. Remixed by veteran metal mixer Mark Lewis (WHITECHAPEL) and remastered by Ted Jensen for an optimal listening experience, the 2018 version revealed unheard parts and performances throughout the record.
“The Final Kill” was described as “the complete vision of Mustaine,” who contributed liner notes delving into the struggles during that time period as well as some of the surprising moments during the remixing sessions.
Ellefson was fired from MEGADETH in May 2021, days after sexually tinged messages and explicit video footage involving the bassist were posted on Twitter.
In September 2022, MEGADETH‘s latest album, “The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!”, debuted at the top of the charts during its first week of sales, taking the No. 3 spot on the Billboard 200 as well as number ones on Top Album Sales, Top Current Albums Sales, Top Rock & Alternative Albums, Top Rock Albums and Top Hard Rock Albums. “The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!” was the highest-charting MEGADETH album of all time around the world, notching No. 1 In Finland, No. 2 in Australia, Poland, Switzerland, and Scotland, No. 3 in the U.K., and more.
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