Revisiting the rejected Johnny Cash ‘Thunderball’ theme
It seemed like an utterly bizzare choice on paper: the suave, debonaire, and extremely British James Bond series was to be soundtracked by rugged American country pioneer Johnny Cash. The two shared absolutely nothing on paper, but that didn’t stop Cash from presenting a theme song to Eon Productions in 1965.
Eon was on its fourth Bond picture in four years. Starting with 1962’s Dr. No, the series gained financial success and critical acclaim with each subsequent film, catapulting lead actor Sean Connery to A-list celebrity status. 1965’s Thunderball would be the apex of Connery’s run as 007, becoming the highest-grossing Bond feature of his entire career.
Behind the scenes, however, Thunderball was a mess. Instead of being based on a novel by author Ian Fleming, Thunderball was originally a script co-authored by Fleming, Irish screenwriter Kevin McClory and British playwright Jack Whittingham. When the original film adaptation fell through, Fleming adjusted the story and published it as a Bond novel. After McClory and Whittingham sued, cinematic rights to the story and characters in Thunderball were retained by McClory.
In order to avoid a competing Bond film at the height of the series’ success, Eon producers Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman agreed to collaborate with McClory on Thunderball. But the chaos didn’t stop in pre-production: shark attacks, casting controversies, and Connery’s growing dissatisfaction with the role would cast a dark cloud over the film. Even after the cameras stopped rolling, there was still a distinct lack of organisation.
When it came time to record a theme for Thunderball, Eon got Goldfinger theme singer Shirley Bassey back on board. The original song, ‘Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang’, was too short for the film’s opening credits. Bassey was unavailable to re-record the track, so Dionne Warwick recorded her own version of the song. Broccoli and Saltzman eventually had reservations about releasing a theme without the film’s title, so they decided to scrap ‘Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang’ in favour of a new composition, the Tom Jones-sung ‘Thunderball’.
But there was another ‘Thunderball’ song that could have played in the opening credits. Cash had written his own song with the title ‘Thunderball’ and presented it to Eon around the time that Jones’ ‘Thunderball’ was being recorded. It’s not entirely certain whether Cash was approached directly or whether he pitched his own track for inclusion, but Eon decided to pass on Cash’s moody country-tinged theme. Cash’s ‘Thunderball’ went unreleased for nearly 50 years, eventually appearing on the 2011 compilation Bootleg Vol II: From Memphis to Hollywood.
Check out Cash’s version of ‘Thunderball’ down below.
