Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?

Album: The Woman In Me (1995)
Charted: 87
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Songfacts®:

  • In this song, Shania Twain takes a philanderer to task, telling him to cross her off his list the next time he needs some companionship. She even offers a suggestion: "Try the operator, maybe she'll be free."

    Twain wrote the song with Mutt Lange, her producer and husband at the time (they divorced in 2010).
  • "Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?" was the first single from Shania's second album, The Woman In Me. It was her first song to chart on the Hot 100, and also her first single certified Gold.

    Her first album, released two years earlier before she met Mutt Lange, didn't get much heat outside her native Canada and didn't contain any songs she wrote. With Lange, she synched creatively and was able to deliver songs that suited her personality and came off as lively and fun.

    Lange had a track record writing and producing hits for rock and pop artists like Def Leppard and Bryan Adams. He famously produced AC/DC's landmark album Back In Black. His work on The Woman In Me proved that he could spin gold in country music as well. The next single, "Any Man Of Mine" was Twain's first #1 on the Country chart.

    Twain really blew up with her next album, Come On Over, released in 1997. Another collaboration with Lange, it sold a staggering 20 million copies in America and included the hits "That Don't Impress Me Much" and "You're Still the One."
  • This is far from the most famous song with boots. That honor would go to Nancy Sinatra, who had a huge hit in 1966 with "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'." Twain gave that song a shout-out on "Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?" when she says, "C'mon boots!" which Sintra did on her song. These kind of interjections became a hallmark of Twain's songs.
  • The music video takes place in a diner where Twain cajoles the (male) patrons, who don't notice her at all, even when she plays with their beards and eats their eggs.

    For many, the video was their first look at the strikingly beautiful Twain. According to the Robin Eggar biography of Shania, the first version of the video featured a pair of animated boots and was "too clever by half." The decision was made to junk it, and Twain's manager, Mary Bailey, convinced her label, Mercury, to employ the services of a man who knew how to bring out the best in beautiful women. This man was John Derek, who at various times both worked with and was married to Ursula Andress, Linda Evans and Bo Derek. He also directed her video for "Any Man of Mine."
  • This won the SOCAN Song of the Year award at the Canadian Country Music Awards in 1995.
  • "Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?" was never a huge hit but endured as a live favorite for Shania Twain, who sings it at almost all her concerts, including her Las Vegas shows.
  • Shania Twain wrote songs like "Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?" with tongue firmly in cheek. She deliberately used wit and irony to approach feminist themes, believing humor disarmed resistance better than confrontation, especially in country music.

Comments: 1

  • Dd from Temple, TxWho sang the male harmony in this song? Mutt Lange?
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