Recommended music:
Today, from the Bond on Vinyl archives, we’re moving on and enjoying a tune called Thunderball!
Today’s post was a holy grail find for me, and I’m so happy to be able to share this album from my collection. We’ve been talking Goldfinger for a week, so let’s move on to 1965’s Thunderball soundtrack. I’ve mentioned before how composer John Barry felt he couldn’t write a good song based around the term “Thunderball.” It’s still not clear what it means 60+ years after the novel. Instead, he wrote a description of James Bond for the main theme “Mr. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang.”
Shirley Bassey returned to record the track, but her vocals were too short for the planned title sequence, so it was re-recorded by Dionne Warwick as Bassey wasn’t available. Just when it seemed like they had the song figured out to work with the opening credits, United Artists demanded a theme song that contained the film’s title in the lyrics. So, Warwick’s recording was due to move to the end credits, but then Bassey sued the production, which resulted in neither singer’s versions ending up in the film.
Due to the mandate from UA, Barry worked with lyricist Don Black and wrote “Thunderball” in a hurry. This was the Tom Jones version we all know, though, there was another “Thunderball” song that could have kicked off the film in a different way. Country music pioneer and legend Johnny Cash wrote and sang his own song with the title “Thunderball,” presenting it to Eon Productions right around the time that Tom Jones was recording his version. It is still not totally clear if Cash was contacted first or whether he offered his own track for inclusion, but Eon ultimately passed on Cash’s country sounding theme.
The tune’s existence remained a mystery as it was not released commercially in the United States for 46 years, when the track appeared on a compilation album “Bootleg Vol II: From Memphis to Hollywood” in 2011. However, I was able to find a (damn obscure) record that was only released in Germany in 1978. I am guessing there must have been some sort of restriction with licensing in the US as the track was buried in the middle of the album made up of B-sides from both Johnny and his wife June, and even includes some of the rare songs Cash sang in German!
105. Johnny Cash & June Carter – Johnny & June
Dale's Toys 