R.I.P., John Barry

Composer of far too many good soundtracks and title tunes to name (Goldfinger ought to suffice), John Barry‘s music defined the sound of the Sixties, in a large extent — and nobody wrote for Shirley Bassey‘s thermonuclear vocal cords so effectively. His passing leaves a considerable legacy, one which ABC News didn’t need to erroneously inflate this morning by crediting him with the James Bond theme, immortal handiwork of the otherwise forgotten Monty Norman. Back in college, when I was running the soundboard for a quartet of one-act plays (which was probably one too many), I used Barry’s theme from Dutchman to set the mood for Harold Pinter‘s The Room. The director liked it … and so did a number of audience members, much to my gratification. At least we can console ourselves with a playlist that runs the gamut from A (View to a Kill) to Z(ulu).