The fun title song from the admittedly execrable 1966 spy movie spoof with Marty Allen & Steve Rossi ( a sort of poor man's Martin and Lewis). Nancy Sinatra, who recorded this song originally, appears in the flimsy movie despite her father's considerable show biz clout at the time. It is this version by the Revillos, featuring Faye Fife, that is the superior rendition.
Never heard this before Doug, a fun sound. I like the John Barry references here, his Bond scores are more exciting than the films themselves in my opinion. It reminds me of the magic of the cinema when I was a kid, the feeling of being at a special event which is lost for me now in the Multiplex. The cinemas I used to go to were mostly converted Edwardian music halls with elaborate and theatrical decor and deep scarlet curtains... some had art deco facades, their subsequent demolition was no less than acts of crass civic vandalism....a local equivalent of the Taliban destruction of the Buddhas of Bamyan. This music transported me back to the dimming lights that heralded ascension onto an astral plane ... beyond the world of everyday monotony and troubles.
ReplyDeleteThis has got me thinking that to me these cinemas were like cathedrals fulfilling a similarly transcendental function, cathartic morality plays were projected in a mysterious zone that was not of this world, a paternoster and magic theatre all wrapped up in this song.
Agree with you wholeheatedly about John Barry and the Bond films. His contribution was critical to the great wave of spy films--good and bad--that I celebrate here. I don't think many people realize Barry also did the score for a more relaistic and downbeat espionage flick, "The Ipcress File".
ReplyDeleteThe loss of the big theaters are indeed a crime. I lived in the suburbs most of my youth, but cherished the occasional trip to San Francisco to see movie houses similar to what you describe. Later on, as a young adult, I spent a lot of time going to those venues in the Frisco-Berkeley area that were still standing. On a recent visit down to the Bay Area in May, it was sad to see two more of these great old theaters gone--one just shuttered and decaying, another literally pulled down to make a vacant lot on, which now offered a view of a venerable Jewish temple--a slight consolation to the loss of a spititual cathedral of another kind.
Here below is a piece on old movie houses I wrote last year:
http://dnoakes.multiply.com/journal/item/51/quotOld_Moviesquot_in_Theaters_The_Lost_Experience_Part_One
I had never heard tis song either. It was "interesting". I am not sure if I liked it or not. The jury is still out. I will come back later and give it another listen.
ReplyDeleteHope it grows on you...I saw the movie again a few years ago after a long while...i don't recommend it unless you really like Marty Allen or Nancy Sinatra or youre really looped after a session at the Trans-Atlantic Pub.
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