Shirley Bassey set the template – now Billie Eilish will create the theme for No Time to Die. Are these sultry anthems, usually sung by women, actually subverting 007?
![Midas touch: how to create the perfect James Bond song](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/5319a4458a6d70b938ff0b23220c68c9500bd8f7/0_0_2080_1248/master/2080.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=cadd75e1900043da5a468d1634358079)
Goldfinger opens with a shot of a floating fake duck that turns out to be attached to a wetsuit-clad Sean Connery as James Bond. He clambers out of the water, shoots a climbing rope from a gun, overpowers a security guard, plants a plastic explosive and peels off his suit to reveal a white tuxedo. Bond goes on to see the reflection of a knife-wielding baddie in the eyes of the girl he is kissing and overpowers him. Cue Shirley Bassey’s immortal theme tune: “Goldfinger, he’s the man / The man with the Midas touch …”