James Bond theme song by Johnny Cash

[DaveInCLT]

I'm a big James Bond fan, its one of the movie series I'll always watch when I see it a channel or on streaming. I also listen to James Bond podcasts where I occasionally learn interesting stuff like this, which I heard yesterday and blew me away.

In Thunderball, the main score in the movie was done by Tom Jones - done very quickly last minute because they replaced the planned song by Dionne Warwick called "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" because Cubby Broccili (producer) didn't like it since it didn't ever mention the word Thunderball in it.

Turns out Johnny Cash was a big James Bond fan and submitted a theme song (without ever being asked to) for Thunderball. It starts off like a traditional Bond song but quickly turns a bit more western so understand why it didn't get picked up. Still a great song I never new existed!


This is the Dionne Warwick version which sounds really like a Bond song & I think and would have been better than Tom Jones song. Some components of it play during the movie as background music.


Tom Jones version that's in the movie I think is inferior to both of these.

 

[MacEntyre]

I like 'em all three...

 

[cold1]

Cash's sound too much like ghost riders in the sky.

Dionne's sounds like a Dr. Suess song for me.

Toms just sounds like most other of his songs.

 

[Friday]

The only kiss kiss bang bang I care about is Luciana Paluzzi

 

[Tim]

Cash's sound too much like ghost riders in the sky.

Are you suggesting that Johnny Cash’s mastery of 3 chords made for some slight repetitions in his work?!

 

[DrScaryGuy]

Quiet everybody. nobody clue him in to hank williams, or the ink spots, or...

 

[cold1]

Are you suggesting that Johnny Cash’s mastery of 3 chords made for some slight repetitions in his work?!

If I was a music guy and understood what you said, I would probably agree with you. In my world, chords are associated with wood or ropes 🤣