Every Bond Movie Theme Song Ranked Worst To Best
2. Thunderball By Tom Jones
The most staggering thing about this Tom Jones classic is that the song was never meant to exist. The original choice of theme song for the film was Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, written by John Barry and performed by none other than Dionne Warwick.
The problem that existed was that the song didn't utilise the title of the film early enough, something which director Terence Young wasn't happy with. Thus Thunderball the song was constructed, addressing the issues with the Dionne Warwick tune while creating a new power ballad, with then 25 year old Welshman Tom Jones brought in to sing. And with that, cinematic gold was created.
Where as the Shirley Bassey hit Goldfinger created a vivid description of the titular villain, Jones' Thunderball concentrates on the virtues of James Bond himself. All the lyrics are iconic, with Sir Tom bringing a power to his delivery in a quality of performance well beyond his years. James Bond was a massive entity that had turned into the blockbuster film, and this title song was the biggest blockbuster song of them all.
There are just so many superlatives one could use to describe this epic, but no one word could describe the greatness of this song. Thunderball has proved to not only be one of the greatest songs in James Bond history, but also the best in Tom Jones career.