Composer John Barry talks 007 - Lazenby was `the worst James Bond ever`

27-Mar-2007 • Bond News

The Observer Music Monthly supplement conducted a brief interview with legendary James Bond composer John Barry this month.

OMM How did you first get involved with the Bond movies?

John Barry I was calle d up and told they were making the Bond movies. I hadn't read the books. All I knew was the Daily Mail's James Bond cartoon strip. I did Dr No without ever seeing the movie. I was a big bebop fan and wrote a bit for the film and it all came together. It was a huge hit and that was the start of it. We did Dr No, then From Russia With Love. But it was with Goldfinger that I got to do the whole thing. I wrote the song for Shirley [Bassey] and the whole score. I was called to the offices afterwards and Harry Saltzman [co-producer of Bond] said: 'That's the worst fucking song I've ever heard. We open in three weeks and if I had time I'd throw it on the crap heap.' The song runs throughout the whole movie. It's what I do; use the theme in variations as a hook throughout the film. It gives the audience some sort of lead from one scene to the next. It really works.

OMM Which is your favourite Bond soundtrack?

JB Well, Goldfinger because it was the first big hit all over the world. George Lazenby in On Her Majesty's Secret Service was probably the worst Bond ever, but it's one of the best scores. He was so bad I felt I had to make up for it with the music. I think I was fortunate enough to be at the beginning of Bond with the classic style. I did about 11 of them and then checked out. I wanted to move on and do something else.

OMM What do you make of modern scores?

JB Spielberg and John Williams do some fantastic stuff together, but the golden era of songwriting is over. The most important thing is, will this get radio play, not whether it'll fit the movie. It's not movie scoring as I understand it.

A CD, The Very Best of John Barry, is released on 19 March