For Bond lovers, a riff not shaken, but stirring

It's one of the most famous guitar licks of all time.

Dun-da-dun-dun-dun-da-dun-dun-dun.

Right about now, you should be thinking of impossibly dapper spies and the leggy damsels who lust for them while thirsting for a martini. That's all thanks to that distinctive guitar line that's perhaps the most identifiable part of the James Bond theme.

"Everybody seems to know it, from here to Peru," says Vic Flick, the man who played it. "Guess I would be welcome in Peru," he adds with a chuckle, seated at the dining room table in his home on the south side of the city.

A copy of his autobiography, "Vic Flick, Guitarman," sits in front of him, and he flips it over to reveal a picture of the guitar on which he played the theme, a Clifford Essex Paragon De Lux, which was displayed in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for several years.

That big-bodied instrument was a key component in getting the characteristic Bond sound, and it came to be almost by happenstance.

"I had been given this Stratocaster, because Fender was trying to make an inroad to the U.K.," recalls Flick, 75, a friendly British native turned American citizen. "I was doing this gig in North London and I was loading up my car. These guys came around and they started hustling me, trying to open the car door, so I jumped in and disappeared. But I left this Stratocaster at the side of the road. So I only had one guitar left."

A busy session musician at the time, he'd use said six-string to play on the celebrated theme that turned 50 this year, though Flick could hardly have predicted its longevity.

"It was just kind of another session," he recalls, as an excitable Yorkshire terrier bounds about the house, occasionally chasing a cat. "And the next minute you know, it's all over the place."

The success of the Bond franchise, beginning with "Dr. No," would boost Flick's career, as he'd contribute to many Bond soundtracks up through 1989's "License to Kill," as well as play with Tom Jones, Herman's Hermits, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and dozens more.

These days, Flick still records in his home studio, down the hall, composing music that gets used in film and television. And he can still be heard on the radio, from time to time, as artists ranging from Fatboy Slim to Kanye West have sampled his playing on hits such as "The Rockafeller Skank" and "Diamonds From Sierra Leone," respectively.

With another Bond film opening next Friday, Flick's legacy carries on.

"It's been a good run for me, you know," he says with a wink, a few more victory laps in mind.

Contact reporter Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@reviewjournal.com or
702-383-0476.