Song 16 - Goldfinger by John Barry.

With the world premiere of Spectre, the 24th Bond film, happening tonight, what better way is there to celebrate the launch of the film than having a week's worth of bond themes being added into the Jukebox. Having been debating in my head all day on which Bond theme to start with, I've decided to go for an absolute classic; "Goldfinger" by John Barry, Anthony Newton, Leslie Bricusse and sung by the unmistakable Shirley Bassey. The only way you would not know this song is by never hearing it. It has an unmistakable tune and lyrically it is as golden as the film.



Goldfinger is the third film of the James Bond series; starring Sean Connery,  Honor Blackman and Gert Frobe and is one of the most popular film of the series. Who can forget the role of Oddjob, who is one of the greatest villains of the big screen. He kills someone with his hat and then attempts to cut off James Bond's crown jewels. Considering the film was released in 1964, some of the scenes are unforgettable.  It is understandable that the song needed to be as strong as the film. 

The first recording of the song was in May 1964; and recorded by Anthony Newley, the version was dumbed creepy and terrific by Barry, but it was never intended to be use on the soundtrack. Barry had worked with Bassey before and decided that hers was a voice that he needed to record the song. She wasn't the favourite of everyone, Saltzman, one of the film's producers didn't like the song and if it hadn't been that they had been running out of time he would have commissioned another song. Thankfully for everyone, they didn't go down this route as the song, like the film is iconic ,both to 007 films and also to Shirley Bassey. The iconic two note phrase which is the basis for the track's introduction was not in the original orchestration but occurred to Barry during a general tea break after an hour and a half of rehearsal with Bassey and the orchestra, with Barry having written the figure into the orchestration by the time the musicians returned after twenty minutes. 

Sam Smith, who recorded "Writing on the Wall" for Spectre can only hope that his song becomes as iconic as Goldfinger. 

For all the James Bond fans out there:
Enjoy the unmistakable Shirley Bassey

Written by:  John Barry, 
Lyrics by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley 
Released: 1964