Why did Connie Francis turn down the Goldfinger movie?

I dont think this has the power, tonal purity, elegant economy, or sexiness of Shirley.

Sang "Baby Love" goddamn it!

Thank god Connie did turn it down, OP.

Shirley Bassey, deservedly, became a STAH with her Bond songs. She killed it at the Oscars a few years ago, even upstaging Barbra, who appeared the same night to a lesser reception.

No one but Shirley Bassey was EVER considered to sing Goldfinger.

Bassey and John Barry were in a relationship and he had been touring with her.

She agreed to sing the song just from hearing the melody, before the lyrics were even written.

There's only one.

OP must be joking. She is so bland compared to Bassey.

Different styles, that's all.

It's not about different styles. Shirley Bassey made the song iconic. This woman would have made it totally forgettable. She's a lounge singer.

Connie did not turn down Goldfinger. and she definitely is not a lounge singer or bland. She is quite dramatic and a very fine singer and a great entertainer able to handle many types of venues. Extremely versatile. A magnificent career.

That performance of Goldfinger shows why they would never in a million years have used Connie Francis to sing the theme to a James Bond film.

Why, R10?

The "Goldfinger" song is one of high drama. From the very beginning, we hear it in the use of the rhythmic drums, and certainly the guttural brass. Even the strings are reinforcing the dramatic flair of the song. The composition would require an equally dramatic vocal delivery. Shirley Bassey nails it so much so that I cannot hear the possibility of another singer doing it - like Vivien Leigh as Scarlet. Equally captivating, I feel, was Lulu's delivery on "The Man With the Golden Gun." Have a listen:

Lulu's live performance in that clip is better than the studio recording. Don Black should have been flogged for those lyrics. They're so witless.

R12 Lulu was one of the most talented and delightful singers. Her presence was immediately likable.

Besides lacking the right voice and interpretation, Francis' biggest problem is that she was considered uncool by that time.

Bassey, Tom Jones, Nancy Sinatra, Carly Simon, Lulu...etc...were at the height of their fame and part of the swinging 60s.

What I've always found odd is that Bassey sings some wrong notes on the single version. Was Barry not present at the recording? She also holds the big note longer - over 10 seconds, versus about 7 on the soundtrack version.

*should have written: "Bassey, Tom Jones, Nancy Sinatra, Lulu...etc..."

LuLu is great there at R12. Gee they don't make em like that anymore.

I love the lyrics to "Golden Gun."

"Love is required whenever he's hired. He CUMS just before the kill." Haha - love it!

It's just impossible to hear "Goldfinger" and not think of Shirley Bassey. The song was lucky to have her. She was lucky to have that song.

That stated, after my ear adjusted to the sound of someone else singing "Goldfinger," Connie Francis did a fine job. Her voice is smaller than Bassey's, but everyone's voice is smaller than Bassey's. She used that difference to add a few more subtle licks of her own. No one will take the song away from Shirley Bassey. Not ever. But Francis did a respectable job with it.

Lulu actually was uncool by 1974. David Bowie had just given her a hit but the cool points didn't endure past that single.

Donna Loren sang Goldfinger on TV as well - Shindig, maybe.

I have a CD somewhere with Anthony Newley's own version. Agreed that Bassey owns it.

I don't like Bassey's styling in the live performance here (dated and corny) but I have seen several live Bassey renditions that I like. The more straightforward, the better. Old gal had to belt that at galas for 2 decades I bet she was sick of it if also grateful. She never delivered it with any boredom. A pro.

R20 Lulu never ever had the uncool stigma that Connie Francis had.

Connie Francis covering gold finger is akin to Pat Boone covering tuti fruiti

R24

Are you kidding? The Proclaimers wrote a song called "Lulu Selling Tea". Before her comeback with "Independence", her last single was the theme tune to "Nellie the Elephant". She was the height of uncool in the 1970s and 1980s.

R14 -- Carly Simon was not at the height of her career in the 1960s. She was born in 1945 after all. Her career was in the 70s.

Who cares, people are idiots! Say whatever you want. Carly Simon, 60's ICON!

R27 Note the correction at R16

"Carly Simon, 60's ICON!" Her great achievement in that regard is all the remarkable when one notes that her first song on the Billboard charts did not happen until 1971.

Most performers become icons after their work is known to the public. Not Carly! So all you lesser icons... suck it!

I was browsing in a Media Play store in downtown Denver sometime back in the late 90s. On the big video monitor that was made up of 9 smaller screens "Goldfnger" came on. I could hear other shoppers quietly singing along under their breath. At the line "But don't go in!" a number of them chimed in full force and full volume. Then everyone just burst out laughing. It was a great joyous spontaneous moment. Thanks, Shirley! I also saw this happen in a thrift store on the last line of "Viva, Las Vegas". Thanks, Elvis!

[quote]Carly Simon was not at the height of her career in the 1960s. She was born in 1945 after all.

1945 . . . ish.

That frozen frame in OP's video is most . . . unfortunate . . . looking.

She looks like an East German flight attendant on a region airline during the Cold War.

When I was about 4 or 5 years old I met Carly while she was at Sarah Lawrence (she was a friend of the family) and we lived nearby. I remember being absolutely terrified at how large she seemed. Then I met her sister Joanna, who was even larger. I ran behind my father and hid. From then on, the joke of the family became, whenever I did something bad, the Simon Sisters are going to get you!

And Lulu’s like that sweetie👋

Connie Francis....still wearing a 1962 Jackie Kennedy era hair-do in 1965.

I wonder if Cher was ever approached to do a Bond theme back in the day. She would have been a natural. no?

Chaka Khan

Janelle

When she was raped, she became afraid of everything.

1998

Monae is really stunning.

The problem for Bassey is that she is only successful in singing bombastic songs like Goldfinger. There is no convincing nuance in her vocals. That's why she never had a career in the US. Jennifer Holliday and Jennifer Hudson had the same problem.

^What about Patti LaBelle?

[quote] She looks like an East German flight attendant on a region airline during the Cold War.

Lol, R33. It's not a flattering hairstyle. Even dressed in an expensive gown, Connie can't escape her New Jersey roots.

Some of the Bassey gowns and hair are quite bizarre, as well as her motions and facial grimaces.

I love both Connie and Shirley for different reasons.

Connie sounds like a lounge singer doing a "song styling". Ecch!

R47...far from a lounge singer. If you do not like her, that is your right. However, she is far from a lounge singer and a magnificent performer with a stellar career.

Lulu stated that she was greatly influenced by Connie.

Connie's look in the video fits the performance. The expensive and statuesque gold gown and the exaggerated mod-look wig. Her motions are emphatic and understated, as is her stance throughout the performance.

R50 That is NOT a mod hairstyle. It's a dated early 60s do. The gown is ill fitting and awkward.

[quote]Connie sounds like a lounge singer

Rather than lounge singer, I'd say her performance is more like very a good Miss America contestant during the talent competition.

Don't drag her about the dress. She got a gig on a television show and this is what they gave her to wear. Ditto the hair. If she had resisted it, she would be labeled "difficult."

The singing is all hers. The song was a hit, but not well suited to her voice. Perhaps she could have chosen better. But given the expense of the gown and the giant vault, someone at the network wanted that enormous hit song performed. She took the gig and did an okay job with it.

Donna Loren has a go at it:

Yes, her hairdo is 1965 "mod." It's a version of this.

No... it's not that. At all.

Look at the the pic at the top of the thread and then this:

[quote]When she was raped, she became afraid of everything.

Except the "room service" at HoJo's.

1965

1966

1967

1968

Which Supreme was Connie?

1969. The mod look took hold in 1966. Connie gets a pass for her 1965 coif in OP's original post.

I agree with other who have said Shirley Bassey owns the theme to Goldfinger. Other singers can do a good rendition with the theme but Bassey made it an iconic song if any other singer did as good a rendition with the song they would have been compared to SB. This has not happened, there is no comparison with the original.

[quote]1969. The mod look took hold in 1966.

No. The "Mod" look came to the US with the Beatles in 1964.

Those shots of the Supremes with the asymmetrical cuts were influenced by Vidal Sassoon who popularized the look. They have nothing to do with what Connie Francis is sporting.

The Supremes often wore Connie's hair-dos, even the one-sided flip that Connie often wore in the early 1960's. Connie's gold gown is spectacular in that video. It makes her look so tall and thin, while she was just about 5 ft. 1 in. tall.

[quote]The Supremes often wore Connie's hair-dos

Oh please.

Which mod do you prefer? This mod?

Or this one

[quote]The Supremes often wore Connie's hair-dos

And the Beatles often wore her shoes and girdles.

Is this mod?

Okay. This has GOTTA be mod

Mod?

That Fonna Loren clip is dreadful, esp. with the extra twinkly ivories.

THIS is Connie Francis mod look.

The Connie flip

The Connie flip

The Connie flip

Well, there's that face for one.

Could Connie pull off this look?

She's one hot mama in that video, R5.

R79 LOL

The Star Behind David Starr (makeup artist)

Here ya go, R79. Connie with afro.

Thanks everyone for posting all of the variations of this song. Shirley Bassey is definitely the "gold standard", but I really like the Chaka Kahn version.

I will say when Connie Francis walked out of the golden vault singing "Goldfinger" on the Ed Sullivan show, my dad actually shut up and watched mesmerized. My mom kept saying how stunning Connie looked. We thought she was outstanding doing the song. Until I heard Shirley Bassey singing it....

R83 that's some ratchet lip-syncing.

Forget about the '60s fashions.

Why does Connie Francis look like a dowdy, 55 year-old, drunk housewife in 1959?

I love the ugly people in the audience in the R86 clip, chewing gum and bored out of their minds.

Believe it or not, R86, she's only 21 yrs old there.

Dick Clark: "I can get anyone in this audience to clap that I want. If you miserable kids don't clap while she's singing, you'll NEVER clap in this town again!"

R86: When mom gets drunk and goes on television.

And Vidal Sassoon created that five point cut in 1963 at the behest of the producers of the BBC’s upcoming program Doctor Who. Who wanted an interesting and atypical hairstyle for the alien Doctor’s Alien granddaughter Susan, played by Actress Carole Ann Ford.

R86 Connie was placed on the worse dressed list at the time and MGM was trying to make her appear older to appeal to a wider audience. Even before that, with her father's influence, she was always a dowdy dresser. Thereafter, when Connie took control over her appearance, she was then placed at the top of the best dressed list. The gum chewing was done intentionally as it was the Dick Clark Beech Nut Hour.

I will say when Connie Francis walked out of the golden vault singing "Goldfinger" on the Ed Sullivan show, my dad actually shut up and watched mesmerized. My mom kept saying how stunning Connie looked. We thought she was outstanding doing the song. Until I heard Shirley Bassey singing it....

R84 Same for my household. When Connie made an appearance on the Sullivan Show or any show, every one watched in my family and neighborhood. Ed Sullivan was her biggest fan.

Another Connie thread already? I guess her fans are anxious to honor her before they or she dies.

It's a scream watching Connie try to be sultry singing Goldfinger! A sex symbol she was not!

Trump basically just called her a liar. I hope women are getting angry about this.

He called Connie a liar?

Connie's vocals-though quite New Jersey -has a decent plea in it. I also love the sound of her voice. it's very charming and pleasing. I never think of Connie Francis as sexy. That's part of the appeal of her voice.

bump

Beautiful voice.

Insipid caterwauling.