Goldfinger

Goldfinger was written for the 1964 film, with music by John Barry and words by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley, and sung over the titles by Shirley Bassey. The producers disliked it and tried to have it replaced before the opening; the film went out with the song intact. It fixed the pattern for the Bond title sequence — brass in unison, a wide vocal line, a lyric addressed to the villain — that the series has returned to ever since. Bassey recorded the vocal at the end of a session and held the final note to the limit of her breath.