Johnny Cash's Rejected James Bond Theme Is Bizarre But Great

You can't really have a true 007 adventure without an opening title sequence. They're a seminal piece of the James Bond experience that thematically set the tone for the film you're about to watch. It's difficult to imagine that ever going away even with the creative changing of the guard to Amazon MGM Studios. The ingenuity in their kaleidoscopic imagery has evolved over a number of ways across the franchise's six decade run. But it's ultimately the musical selection that accompanies these visuals that give these sequences their power. The wrong track — even if it's a good song — can offset the mood of the film.

Nearly every Bond film has had to go through the lengthy process of matching the right voice to those opening titles, with "Thunderball" proving to have one of the most interesting developments. Anyone who's marathoned the title sequences — as I have — knows that suave crooner Tom Jones was ultimately the one chosen to perform the titular song. But there was a brief period before him in which Shirley Bassey, the golden voiced singer that gave the world "Goldfinger" was presented with the opportunity to record another potential Bond hit with "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang." The song was considered too short and with Bassey unable to re-record it in time, Dionne Warwick stepped in for her own rendition.

Both versions have their merits, yet EON Productions essentially decided to pass and go with a new song that actually includes the title in it. Hence, composer John Barry and lyricist Don Black put together the "Thunderball" number we're all familiar with today. But it's crazy to think we almost had an official Bond ballad sung by none other than one of the great pioneers of country music, Johnny Cash himself.

According to a piece from Far Out Magazine, Cash sent in his own interpretation of the "Thunderball" theme to EON Productions, of which they decided to pass. The Bond songs have always been flexible in terms of tonal differences. They imbue each film with a unique flavor. But even then, Cash seems like such a strange fit considering 007 has never had much of a country taste. Though the moody ballad clashes against the opening titles' underwater ballet, it's actually pretty great in isolation.

It's unclear whether Cash had access to any plot details to form the crux of the song or if he was even courted to sing it for EON at all. However, there are verses within his version that coincidentally correlate with what the film ended up to be.

In "Thunderball," Bond's primary antagonist is Emilio Largo (Adolfo Celi), an eye-patched board member of the supervillain syndicate SPECTRE. He threatens to unleash chaos through two NATO-sanctioned atom bombs if his $100 million diamond ransom isn't met. The film's title literally means an explosive storm, referring to the nukes. Lyrics such as "Thunderball, your fiery breath can burn the coldest man/and who is gonna suffer from the power in your hand" falls in line with their destructive power. Further lyrics like "by courage and by fighting, he has not been known to fail/but neither has the fury of the mighty Thunderball" illustrate a delineation between the tenacity of Sean Connery's 007 and the threat of preventing nuclear annihilation. 

This Cash fella has something to him. But alas, the "Thunderball" audiences would become acquainted with was the one Jones unleashed in the sound booth.

For as interesting as it would have been to infuse Cash's country taste within the long-standing spy franchise, going with Jones was the right decision. It's impossible to think of the great Bond ballads and not include his incarnation of "Thunderball." It's quintessential 007.

On its surface, lyrics like "he looks at this world and wants it all, so he strikes like Thunderball" makes it seem like he's singing about Largo, while other verses like "any woman he wants, he'll get/he will break any heart without regret" leans more towards describing Bond. Meanwhile, verses like "his fight goes on and on and on" perfectly describes the underwater climax that feels like it goes on for an eternity. Either way, Jones hitting that final high note is exactly what "Thunderball" needed.

Jones was asked to hold that final "baaaaaall" for as long as he could and certainly felt very dizzy afterwards (via Far Out). The story was so infamous that it even led to a hilarious riff in the Bond parody "Spy Hard" that saw Weird Al's head explode from holding the note for too long.

You can't exactly do that kind of gag with Cash's song. It may not have fit was EON was going for, but I'm really happy it exists among the other candidates.