James Bond Song Poll – Best Male

Thunderball – Tom Jones

The title theme was written by John Barry and Leslie Bricusse. It was the third James Bond score composed by Barry, after From Russia With Love and Goldfinger. It was originally entitled “Mr. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang”, taken from an Italian journalist who in 1962 dubbed agent 007 as Mr. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang. The song was originally recorded by Shirley Bassey, but was later rerecorded by Dionne Warwick, whose version was not released until the 1990s. The song was removed from the title credits after producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman were worried that a theme song to a James Bond film would not work well if the song did not have the title of the film in its lyrics.^[1] Barry then teamed up with lyricist Don Black and wrote “Thunderball” which was sung by Tom Jones who, according to Bond production legend, fainted in the recording booth when singing the song’s final, high note. Jones said of the final note, “I closed my eyes and I held the note for so long when I opened my eyes the room was spinning.”^[24] Country musician Johnny Cash also submitted a song to EON productions titled “Thunderball” but it was not used.^[25]

You Know My Name – Chris Cornell

The soundtrack of Casino Royale, released by Sony Classical on 14 November 2006 featured music composed by veteran composer David Arnold, his fourth soundtrack for the Bond film series, while Nicholas Dodd orchestrated and conducted the score. Producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli announced on 26 July 2006 that Chris Cornell, who was the lead singer for Audioslave and Soundgarden, composed and performed the title song “You Know My Name“.^[42] The song’s main notes are played throughout the film as a substitute for the James Bond theme, to represent Bond’s immaturity. The classic theme only plays during the end credits to signal the end of his character arc.^[43]