After taking a correspondence course and arranging for some of the bands of the day, he formed The John Barry Seven. His family was in the cinema business, but it was during his National Service that he began performing as a musician. United Artists wanted jazzy swinging 60s Britain, not something that would have made an awesome theme for a western, so stuck with the song John Barry wrote for Jones.John Barry, OBE (3 November 1933 - 30 January 2011), born John Barry Prendergast in York, UK is considered one of the "Big Four" of late 20th century film composers (the others being John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, and Henry Mancini). Indeed, with its propulsive guitar rhythm, it sounds a whole lot more "Johnny Cash" than "Bond theme" and therein lies its downfall. This version of Thunderball genuinely slaps like a classic Cash song should. In fact, Cash's lyrics are far closer to the actual plot of the movie than either Mr Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang or the Tom Jones Thunderball.Ĭash's song, which eventually saw the light of day on 1978 compilation Johnny & June, may share a trumpet fanfare with the official Thunderball but has very little else in common with it. While John Barry may have struggled to write a song about a superweapons project, Cash made it look easy with an energetic country rock tribute to the "fury of the mighty Thunderball".
Enter Bond superfan Johnny Cash.Ĭash wasn't approached by MGM, but rather came to them with his own take on Thunderball. Having refused to make use of Mr Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang late in the day, executives at MGM opened themselves up to any chancer who might be willing to pen a song that was actually called Thunderball to fit over the credits of the film of the same name.
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