“Goldfinger” is one of the more unlikely lyrics I have ever written. It isn’t exactly a catchy title and neither John Barry nor Tony Newley nor I ever imagined, when we sat down to write it, that we were going to end up with a hit single, and appropriately, a “Goldfinger” gold record. In fact, the first time John played us the opening three notes of the melody, Newley and I both instinctively sang “wider than a mile!” It was fortunate to have the right people in the right place at the right time. Shirley Bassey sang the song with such Welsh passion that she made the bizarre lyric sound almost logical. I personally would have had Shirley sing all the Bond title songs. She sang “Goldfinger” - and everything else, for that matter with such total conviction that you actually believed every lunatic word of it! And Shirley did too!