Next up in John Barry week in #Johnuary is Diamonds are Forever. Not my favourite Bond film by quite a long way, but let’s look at the theme tune.
There’s only a bit of brass in this one and a fair amount of strings but not the same sort of strings as some of the other great Bond tracks. It’s actually a bit more funky this one. A bit more of a disco element. And there are no discernible elements from the James Bond Theme in the song at all.
The intro almost sounds like the intro to some 70s sci-fi show or something. It’s nice when the brass kicks in at 0:32 though.
The one thing that really makes this one feel like a Bond track is Shirley Bassey’s amazing voice again. I’m pretty sure she is the only artist to have sung a Bond title track more than once. She in fact sang three! (and recorded four if you count the unused Mr Kiss Kiss Bang). I don’t even think anyone else has sung two Bond songs. Am I right?
I love the bass bit right after it breaks down and before she sings ‘Diamonds Are Forever’ each time, like at 1:22.
It’s certainly a great song and will probably rank fairly high in my list. It won’t be no.1 though.