10 Best James Bond Songs That Were REJECTED (And Why)

Rejected because: The song didn't have the same title as the movie

Tom Jones's bombastic, bellowing Thunderball theme was written in a rush at the last minute by regular Bond composer John Barry and lyricist Don Black after executives at United Artists rejected their original choice.

Barry wasn't really convinced that he could write anything around the vague concept of "Thunderball", so instead went with a song about Bond himself named Mr Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (named for a not inaccurate descriptor applied to 007 by an Italian critic after Dr No).

Originally written for Shirley Bassey to reprise her hit Bond song formula after Goldfinger, Mr Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang was eventually given to Dionne Warwick, the Walk On By singer being the biggest selling female artist of the previous year.

Like the song that replaced it, Mr Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang is a jazzy number driven by the orchestra's horn section. But it's a much more fun, energetic and playful song than the largely one-note Tom Jones effort.

Studio United Artists, however, demanded a song with the title of the film, so Mr Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang was out and a hastily written tune that was actually called Thunderball came in.

The song wasn't publicly released until the 90s, but the rushed, last minute nature of the change means that the melody can still be heard as a theme in the movie because Barry simply didn't have the time to rework the whole score to fit with the new theme as he would have wanted.