Thunderball (soundtrack)
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| Thunderball | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Soundtrack by John Barry | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Released | 1965 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Recorded | October 1965 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Length | 39:11 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Label | Capitol Records | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Producer | Frank Collura (Reissue) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Professional reviews | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| John Barry chronology | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Thunderball is the soundtrack for the 4th James Bond film of the same name.
The soundtrack was released by United Artists Records in 1965. The music was composed and conducted by John Barry, and performed by the John Barry Orchestra. This was Barry's third soundtrack for the series. The soundtrack was not finished by the time the film was released in theaters and only featured twelve tracks, roughly only the first half of the film; the last seven tracks were released for the first time when the soundtrack was issued on compact disc on February 25, 2003. Additionally, the music in the film was unfinished days before the release of the film in theaters due to a late change by EON Productions to use a title song with the same name as the film.
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[edit] Title theme change
The original main title theme to Thunderball was entitled "Mr. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang," which was written by John Barry and Leslie Bricusse. The title was taken from an Italian journalist who in 1962 dubbed agent 007 as Mr. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang. Barry had thought he couldn't write a song about a vague "Thunderball" term or the story of the film, so his song was a description of the character of James Bond.[1]
The song was originally recorded by Shirley Bassey, but was later rerecorded by Dionne Warwick. Both version were not released until the 1990s. The song was removed from the title credits after producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman were worried that a theme song to a James Bond movie would not work well if the song did not have the title of the film in its lyrics. John Barry teamed up with lyricist Don Black and wrote "Thunderball" which was sung by Tom Jones who, according to Bond production legend, fainted in the recording booth when singing the song's final, high note. Jones said of the final note, "I closed my eyes and I held the note for so long when I opened my eyes the room was spinning." [2] Like "Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang", the lyrics of "Thunderball" are a description of Bond's character.
Country musician Johnny Cash also submitted a song to EON productions titled "Thunderball" but it wasn't used. [3] The lyrics of Cash's "Thunderball" describe the story of the film.[4]
[edit] Track listing
- Thunderball - Main Title – Tom Jones
- Chateau Flight
- The Spa
- Switching The Body
- The Bomb
- Cafe Martinique
- Thunderball (Instrumental)
- Death Of Fiona
- Bond Below Disco Volante
- Search For The Vulcan
- 007
- Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
- Gunbarrel/Traction Table/Gassing The Plane/Car Chase
- Bond Meets Domino /Shark Tank/Lights Out For Paula/For King And Country
- Street Chase
- Finding The Plane/Underwater Ballet/Bond With SPECTRE Frogmen/Leiter To The Rescue/Bond Joins Underwater Battle
- Underwater Mayhem/Death Of Largo/End Titles
- Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (Mono Version)
[edit] Parodies / tributes
- Within the film itself, the original title "Mr. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang" appears in the Club Kiss Kiss scene: both as the establishment's name and as the song to which Bond and Fiona Vulpe dance.
- In 1996, "Weird Al" Yankovic parodied the famous ending of Thunderball in the spy comedy Spy Hard, however, instead of passing out like Jones allegedly did, Yankovic's head exploded at the end of the opening song.
- Tom Jones notably sang the theme during Sean Connery's AFI Life Achievement Award ceremony in 2006. He did not pass out on this occasion.
- Mr. Bungle recorded a cover of the theme song, however it was never released on any official albums.
[edit] References
- ^ Fiegel,Eddy John Barry: A Sixties Theme" 2001 MacMillian
- ^ Tom Jones's comments on the Thunderball song. Interview with Singer Tom Jones. Retrieved on 10 September 2005.
- ^ Bitter Cinema piece on Johnny Cash's Thunderball
- ^ YouTube - "Thunderball" Opening w/ theme song by Johnny Cash
