Connery's final Bond film tune sees the light of day after 25 years
7 May 2008, 1643 Hrs

Add comment          Mail          Print          Write to Editor

London, May 7 (ANI): A lost theme tune to Sean Connery's last film as James Bond has been revealed by its composer after 25 years.

The track for the unofficial Bond movie 'Never Say Never Again' was co-written by Stephen Forsythe and Jim Ryan. However, it never appeared in the finished film due to contractual issues.

Now, 25 years later, Forsythe has released the track onto the Internet.

The song, sung by late US soul singer Phyllis Hyman, was ultimately replaced by a more disco-sounding track by the movie's composer Michel Legrand.

However, Forsythe revealed how his track was initially intended to offer a traditional John Barry-esqe theme for the movie, a remake of Thunderball, which also starred Kim Basinger, Rowan Atkinson and Max von Sydow.

"During the filming of the James Bond movie Never Say Never Again, I co-wrote the title song for the movie with Jim Ryan," the Daily Record quoted him, as stating in a post on the Video Watchblog website.

"Warner Bros informed our attorney that the song was to be used as the title song in the picture.

"However, shortly before its release, Warner Bros informed us that the song could not be used because Michel Legrand, who wrote the score, threatened to sue them, claiming that contractually he had the right to the title song. So my song was never released.

"The legendary Phyllis Hyman was my first choice to sing the song and working with her is one of the highlights of my musical career.

"After agreeing to sing the song, she arrived at the studio and, without any rehearsal and only having heard the song sung once at the breakfast audition, sang the song in one perfect take.

"Phyllis sadly took her own life in the early nineties. The year before she died, she called me late one night and told me she felt that Never Say Never Again was her best and favourite recording," he added. (ANI)