Although a 007 veteran and having already recorded one of
the most popular James Bond theme songs, Shirley Bassey was not the first
choice to sing “Moonraker,” her third and last song of the series. Frank Sinatra was originally considered and
Johnny Mathis was also approached.
Mathis was set to record the tune, but at the last minute decided to bow
out. This left the producers scrambling
to find a replacement. Kate Bush
declined, so John Barry, who composed the Moonraker
soundtrack, offered the chance to Bassey.
Due to the short notice, Bassey didn’t have time promote the single or
provide any intellectual input to make it her own, which probably attributed to
the song’s failure to chart well.
Paul Williams (pictured below) originally wrote lyrics for the theme song,
but his work was discarded and Hal David, who had worked on “We Have All the
Time in the World” from On Her Majesty’s
Secret Service, ended up contributing the final lyrics.
The only significant note regarding the film’s theme song is
that the opening notes were used in a 2007 tourism commercial for the Dominican
Republic, which is to say that the song had little impact on popular culture.
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