THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

441-Shirley Bassey-Razzle Dazzle.

1975-It has never been released as single in the UK, but was issued as the ‘B’ side of ‘I Let You Let Me Down Again’ in 1977.

Best Bit-At 1.56. Britain’s greatest ever female vocalist effortlessly ‘Razzle Dazzle’s’ us.

Dame Shirley Veronica Bassey was born on January 8th, 1937, in Cardiff, Wales, her father was Nigerian, and her mother came from New Marske, North Yorkshire, England. In January 1959 she became the first Welsh person to achieve a UK Number 1 single with ‘As I Love You,’ and although none of her 34 studio Albums have reached Number 1 in the UK, she is the only female artist to have had Albums chart in seven separate decades. She has also charted with all three of the ‘James Bond’ themes she has recorded for the films, ‘Goldfinger,’ (1964-UK Number 21 & Billboard Number 8), ‘Diamonds Are Forever,’ (1971-UK Number 38 & Billboard Number 57), and ‘Moonraker,’ (1979) no other artist has recorded more than one ‘Bond’ theme. In America her records don’t sell as well as they did in the UK, on this subject Shirley Bassey has commented, ‘I suppose I should feel hurt that I’ve never been really big in America on record since ‘Goldfinger,’ but, concert wise, I always sell out.’ Shirley Bassey has always been a favourite with ‘BBC’ television in the UK, and she has presented and appeared on many shows, since first appearing in ‘Shirley Comes Home’ in 1957. She has won many awards over the years, including the ‘OBE’ in 1994, which was promoted to her becoming a ‘Dame’ in 2000. In 2004 she was ranked Number 8 on the list of ‘100 Great Black Britons,’ and in 2016, she was named as one of ‘The 50 greatest Welsh men and women of all time.’ In 1977 at the very first ‘Brit Awards’ she was named the ‘Best British Female Solo Artist in the previous 25 years.’

The discography of Shirley Bassey, who has sold in excess of 150 million records worldwide, includes 34 studio Albums released between 1958-2020, and 98 singles released between 1956-2014, there are also 22 extended plays, (EP’s) 25 official compilation Albums, and seven live Albums available. In the UK, 28 of her singles have reached the top 40, with ‘As I Love You,’ (1958) and the double ‘A’ sided Reach for the Stars’ & ‘Climb Ev’ry Mountain,’ (1961) both making the Number 1 position.

Shirley Bassey recorded her version of ‘Razzle Dazzle’ in 1977, for the ‘B’ side of her non charting single ‘I Let You Let Me Down Again,’ which was a track from her 22nd studio Album ‘You Take My Heart Away’ from that same year, her recording was produced by Martin Davis, and arranged and conducted by Arthur Greenslade, (1923-2003) (see also best songs 467) the engineer on the track was Martin Rushent (1948-2011) (see also best songs 1009 and 986.) ‘Razzle Dazzle’ was originally written for the 1975 musical ‘Chicago’ by the American composer John Kander, and the musical theatre lyricist Fred Ebb, (1928-2004) ((see also best songs 469 and 182) as were all the other songs from that musical. The duo first began working together in 1962, and got their big breakthrough when the song ‘My Colouring Book’ was nominated for a ‘Grammy Award.’ They co-wrote the music and lyrics for 20 musicals, including ‘Cabaret’ and ‘Chicago,’ and have also written songs for films and television series,

Fred Ebb was born on April 8th, 1928, in New York City, United States, he died from a heart attack on September 11th, 2004, at the age of 76. It was the music publisher Tommy Valando (1916-1995) who first introduced Fred Ebb to John Kander in 1962, which led to the pair writing the music and lyrics to their first joint ‘Broadway Musical’ collaboration, ‘Flora, The Red Menace,’ in 1965. The production starred Liza Minnelli (see also best songs 182) in the title role in her Broadway debut, for which she won a ‘Tony Award’ for ‘Best Actress in a Musical,’ All three would go on to even greater success with Ebb and Kanders next Musical ‘Cabaret’ in 1966. Following his death, ‘The Fred Ebb Foundation’ was set up in 2005, by instruction of Ebb’s will, which presents an annual award to an up-and-coming musical theatre writer, or team. The award has been presented every year since 2005, and awards a total of $60,000 to the winners each year.

In the musical ‘Chicago,’ ‘Razzle Dazzle’ was first performed by the American actor Jerry Orbach (1935-2004) as the lawyer Billie Flynn to his client, the accused murderess Roxie Hart, who was played by the American actress Gwen Verdon, (1925-2000) explaining how to manipulate and bamboozle a jury to secure the acquittal of an obviously guilty defendant. In the 2002 film version, the song is performed by the American actor Richard Gere.

‘Give ’em the old three ring circus, stun and stagger ’em. When you’re in trouble go in to your dance, though you are stiffer than a girder, they let ya get away with murder.’