THUNDERBALL was the James Bond movie released the year I was born (1965). It was the first Bond movie to feature the trademark opening titles, with silhouettes of nude women performing graceful ballets and gymnastic routines based on the movie's theme (here, the movie's underwater-battle climax).
The movie was released with Tom Jones singing the swaggering opening theme. But the theme originally intended for the opening titles was a James Barry written theme called "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" -- named after the Japanese nickname for Bond -- sung by Dionne Warwick. The main titles were synched to that song, and the melody reappears as a motif throughout the movie's score. But the song itself is nowhere to be found in the movie. (It has been released on one or more anthologies of Bond music.)
Both songs have the same basic message: how cool Bond is. MKKBB is -- as you might imagine -- more slinky about it.
MKKBB has some clever lyrics, but does feature one of those strained attempts at rhyme that always hit a false note with me: "He'll soothe you like vanilla/The gentleman's a killah." Sort of like the Turtles rhyming "et cetera" and "bettah" in "Eleanor Really," or Sting rhyming "jail ya" and "failure" in "Spirits in the Material World."
Somebody with too much time on their hands has edited MKKBB into the THUNDERBALL main titles. The results are below.
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