Top 5 non-Bond Songs

It's my favourite kind of post - one that requires little effort on my part, yet looks well researched and informative. Woo hoo! So, unless you've been living deep within an underground lair beneath a dormant volcano for the last while, you'll be aware that a new Bond film, Skyfall, is almost upon us. Not only that, it's 50 years since Bond first hit our screens in Dr. No, so there's all sorts of things going on to celebrate that. Never one to miss a chance to leap aboard a bandwagon, I thought I'd join in. What angle to take though? Best Bond movies? Too obvious. Best Bond cars? Too boy-racer. Best Bond girls? Too sleazy. Best innuendos? Oh, cum on! - I'm above that!! Then, as I listened to Adele's theme song for Skyfall (which is a pretty okay, back-to-basics, ballad-ish affair), I thought about the Bond theme songs. No, not the ones we all remember from the films, but the ones that didn't make the cut for one reason or another. So here we go with the Top 5 non-Bond songs.

1. Thunderball by Johnny Cash
So Tom Jones sang ( and allegedly passed out hitting that final note) the version that appeared in the film, but The Man in Black also recorded a different song for the film. If Thunderball had turned out to be a Western, he might have had a better chance of making it.

2. Goldeneye by Ace of Base.

Yes, that Ace of Base, the Swedish pop-beat-combo who provided us with such 90s classics as "The Sign" and "All That She Wants". Man, I did some great dancing to those tunes in my time. But the return of Bond after the poorly received License to Kill meant producers weren't prepared to take the risk on little-known Ace of Base, so Tina Turner, Bono and The Edge entered the fray and Ace of Base were unceremoniously booted off the project. Never mind, Ace of Base, they weren't the ones being played by the DJ that time I dive-bombed the dance-floor at the disco with a bucketload of Mad Dog 20/20 inside me.

3. The Man With the Golden Gun by Alice Cooper
Lulu got the gig in the end, but apparently Cooper got all excited by seeing the 'James Bond will return in..." message at the end of Live and Let Die, and scurried off to pen this song. He claims he was officially approached to do it, but either way, he was left to croon this to himself.

 

4. For Your Eyes Only by Blondie
The producers approached Blondie to do the theme song and they duly toddled off and wrote this version. On their return, they proudly unveiled their creation, only to be told that they were actually expected to sing the version written by Bill Conti. Blondie took the huff and told the producers where to stick Bill Conti's song. Sheena Easton retrieved it, cleaned it off and went on to be the beneficiary in the end.

5. Tomorrow Never Dies by Pulp

Remember when Pulp were cool? Well, they weren't so cool when they lined up X-Factor style with the likes of Swan Lee, Saint Etienne, Marc Almond, Sheryl Crow, k.d. lang and David Arnold to each submit a theme song for the film, all of them shouting 'Pick me, pick me!', whilst the judges producers made their decision. Crow won the contest, the others went home vowing to submit a song for The Bourne films instead.

So, there you go. Not all of these might have worked but interesting to hear them. I think so, anyway. Besides, as long as there's naked female silhouettes in the video, I’ll be happy. Mmmmm, naked silhouettes.....