This week we’re focusing on songs from movies, cinematic treasures that crossed over into pop music success. Our first classic movie theme song of the day this week is the iconic theme from the movie Goldfinger, as sung by Dame Shirley Bassey.
“Goldfinger” was composed by John Barry, who did the entire soundtrack. Lyrics were by Leslie Bricusse and, believe it or not, Anthony Newley. Miss Bassey’s recording of the theme song was released as a single in January of 1965 and peaked at #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart. The single was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2008.
The first recoding of “Goldfinger,” a demo, was recorded by Anthony Newley. Mr. Barry thought Mr. Newley gave a “very creepy” performance, but that’s okay, it was just a demo.
The real recording came several weeks later, on August 20, 1964, when Shirley Bassey entered the studio. Holding that final note was a bear; Miss Bassey said she had to slip behind a partition in the studio to remove her bra. As she recalls:
“I was holding it and holding it—I was looking at John Barry and I was going blue in the face and he’s going—hold it just one more second. When it finished, I nearly passed out.”
The result was friggin’ impressive, a song and performance that set the bar for all future James Bond theme songs. When you think of 007 themes, you think of “Goldfinger” and then you think of everything else. It’s everything the film itself was—big, brassy, and in your face. From those opening three notes (C, G, F) tell you immediately what you’re listening to and suggest what you’re in for in the rest of the film. Like I said, it’s an iconic song for an iconic movie, with an iconic performance by Dame Shirley Bassey. It’s the template for every James Bond movie and theme song that came after.
And here’s your daily bonus video of the day, the full credits sequence (itself iconic, by designer Robert Brownjohn), complete with Miss Bassey’s performance of the theme song. It just doesn’t get much better than this.
