Sugar Town


"Sugar Town" is a song written by songwriter-producer Lee Hazlewood and first recorded by American singer Nancy Sinatra in 1966. As a single released under the Reprise label, it peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in December 1966, while reaching number one on the Easy Listening chart in January 1967. It became a gold record. The song was included on Nancy Sinatra's LP, Sugar, also released in 1966, and was featured in her 1967 TV special Movin' with Nancy, released on home video in 2000.

Background

The song is an allusion to sugar cubes laced with lysergic acid diethylamide although, like other songs Hazlewood wrote, "Sugar Town" was equivocal, speaking to a young audience able to recognize its allusion, yet outwardly tame enough to receive radio play. Hazlewood denied that he had ever used LSD, or regularly partaken in drugs in general. He explained:
The B-side to "Sugar Town" was "Summer Wine", a popular duet also written by Hazlewood, and featuring Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra.

Personnel

According to the AFM contract sheet, the following musicians played on the track.
  • Billy Strange – listed as session leader
  • Don Lanier – listed as session conductor
  • Roy Caton
  • Ollie Mitchell
  • Don Randi
  • Carol Kaye
  • Don Bagley
  • Lou Morell
  • Al Casey
  • Glen Campbell
  • Gary Coleman
  • Hal Blaine

    Cover versions

artist Nancy Sit covered the song, released as a single by Crane Brand Records in 1967.
Zooey Deschanel covered the song in the 2009 film 500 Days of Summer.
Swedish band Shitkid covered the song on the 2017 album Fish.
In 2022, Mariano Garcia released an adaptation of this song as a single with the name "Tucumán". The lyrics allude to the province of Tucumán, Argentina, where the music video was shot.