A preview of Adele's terrific theme to the new James Bond

[GehVorbei]

The film is entitled "Skyfall" as most of you will know by now. It is directed by the great Sam Mendes, who won an Oscar for "American Beauty".

Adele's track will be released this Friday. I think it's stunning...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6p4HervgL0

[GehVorbei]

And the greatest Bond theme that never was. Dionne's stunning "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" which the stupid producers cut from "Thunderball" because it was considered too suggestive.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oREmbGD84Kw

[Blair N. Cummings]

Adele fans us in the US will have to wait untilFriday to be stunned. YouTube has blocked it here.

[GehVorbei]

Now, there is the whole track:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... HKoqNJtMTQ#!

[blueonblue]

Thanks Geh Vorbei,
I think we have another Dame Shirley here.......Magnificent !!!

"blue"

[Alvina]

I am and always have been a huge Bond fan. Love the music and Adele should be a great addition to all the great songs that came before. I for one can't wait.

[Peter Greenhill]

And the greatest Bond theme that never was. Dionne's stunning "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" which the stupid producers cut from "Thunderball" because it was considered too suggestive.

Not true. Dionne's version of Mister Kiss Kiss Bang Bang was dropped because at the last minute, the studio, United Artists decided it wanted a song with the title 'Thunderball' for publicity reasons. John Barry had to rewrite with lyrics by Don Black. Tom Jones did the vocal

[GehVorbei]

Well, there a different versions to that story. A lot of sources report that producer Albert R. Broccoli vetoed it because he felt it was too suggestive. I have also read that on top Shirley Bassey had threatened to sue for breach of contract because she had recorded "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" and then been replaced by Dionne.

Anyway "Thunderball" is by far the inferior song and much of the score to that film uses the the melody of "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" .

[Peter Greenhill]

The sequence of events regarding Mister Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Source The Music Of James Bond by Jon Burlingame (Oxford University Press)

1. John Barry (music) and Leslie Bricusse(lyrics) compose a song Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang for the opening titles of the 4th Bond film ,Thunderball

2.Early Autumn 1965 Dionne Warwick is on a European tour she is invited to sing the song.

3.The song is recorded on 4th September. Arrangement and production were by John Barry.

4. United Artists decide they want a song with Thunderball as title for PR. Mr.KKBB is dropped.

5.Over a mid September weekend John Barry/Don Black compose a new song 'Thunderball' .

6.Thunderball is recorded by Tom Jones on 11th October

7. The next day they record a version of Mr KKBB with Shirley Bassey intended for the closing titles. Bassey's performance was problematic and it was dropped.

7. Bassey and her management demand the song is reinstated or they'll sue. They argue the film's opening should be delayed until the song is reinstated. The court rejects this and says Bassey should seek damages. There was an out of court settlement.

Both versions of the song Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bank were finally released on a 2CD 30th Bond Anniversary set in 1992
Peter Greenhill

Posts: 44
Joined: Tue Nov 01, 2005 9:04 am
Location: London, UK

[GehVorbei]

Mr Burlingame seems to be the only author who puts it in that order: Bassey rerecording after Warwick. Usually the order is: Warwick rerecorded after Bassey had delivered a problematic version.

"The song was originally recorded by Shirley Bassey, but was later rerecorded by Dionne Warwick."
Spencer, Kristopher. Film and Television Scores, 1950-1979: A Critical Survey by Genre. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., 2008, p. 64

As a matter of fact, I remember an interview with John Barry from at time when the "James Bond 30th Anniversary Collection" came out where he also described that order. And that he had not been happy with Shirley's original vocal performance. And how thrilled he was with Dionne's and her musicality and that the vocal arrangement was totally hers.

I think Mr Burlingame might be a bit of a Shirley revisionist.

[GehVorbei]

John Williams writes in his 2010 Biography "Miss Shirley Bassey" Page 274-275:

"Perhaps she (Shirley Bassey) was relying on the next James Bond soundtrack to help keep her in the charts. The new film was Thunderball. John Barry initially despaired of writing a song with that title and instead wrote (with Leslie Bricusse) a song called "Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang". He recorded it with Shirley singing and she must have assumed she had another hit on her hands. Unfortunately for her, Barry wasn't happy with the song and he decided to re-cut it with the much more restrained Dionne Warwick as the vocalist. Shirley was furious, so much so that she took unsuccessful legal action to try to force the Bond producers to use her song."

[Peter Greenhill]

Interesting.
I'll only add at this point that the Dionne version was clearly meant for the opening credits. It fits and runs for 3.06. The Bassey version is shorter at 2.28. Too short for the opening credits but probably suitable for the end credits.

[GehVorbei]

Mr. Burlingame also in recent interviews presents a new version of how Shirley replaced Johnny Mathis on "Moonraker". Up till now all sources I know of reported that it was Johnny Mathis who decided that the song just wasn't right for him. And that he actually didn't like the song.

Burlingame now says, Shirley came in "when a version by Johnny Mathis was deemed unsatisfactory"...Maybe there is a pattern here:-)

There also have always been rumors that Barry and his lyricist Hal David tried to get Dionne for Moonraker...I don't know if there is any truth to that and why it didn't happen. Maybe in early 1979 Dionne was not seen as bankable enough. Her big Arista comeback album "Dionne" was released in May 1979, Moonraker was released in June of that same year.

[An Enormous BB Fan]

I think Mr Burlingame might be a bit of a Shirley revisionist.

Positively correct! There's no way that Shirley Bassey couldn't deliver the goods. There's more to this story than this.

[GehVorbei]

I don't know, with Bassey this tongue-in-cheek song becomes so camp it turns into a parody. Also a lot of musical subtlety is lost. She has a powerful voice but she is always such a "ham singer".