“Diamonds Are Forever” Served by Shirley Bassey, Arctic Monkeys, and Kanye West
There are those wonderful, rare instances where a film’s soundtrack becomes more famous than the film itself. In the case of the James Bond films, the songs are almost guaranteed hits, and that can certainly be said of “Diamonds Are Forever,” the 1971 song for the film of the same name.
Welsh legend Shirley Bassey made this song forever memorable as she sang it with her deep, operatic voice.
Brit rockers Arctic Monkeys incorporated the classic Bond hit into their live performances, and released a studio version of it in 2008. The track is decidedly more rock ’n’ roll. And though lead singer Alex Turner’s voice is nowhere near as strong as Bassey’s, he makes up for it with his raffish, youthful belting.
Now, let’s take the song on a completely different route. In 2005, Kanye West took the song’s Marilyn Monroe-esque fixation and remade it into a song about the taboo topic of blood diamonds. Renamed “Diamonds From Sierra Leone,” the track was the lead single from West’s sophomore album, Late Registration, and won him a Grammy.
It uses Bassey’s original vocals for the chorus, but largely features West’s rapping. The black-and-white video, directed by Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), showcases creepy visuals, like a woman putting on an engagement ring only to see that her hand is now covered in blood.
Keep it loud
