I personally haven’t cared much about the Oscars since like… the year Ken Russell’s Tommy came out—I was nine and had not seen the film—but admittedly my ears did perk up when I heard Shirley Bassey singing “Goldfinger” last night as my wife watched in another room.

I thought Bassey absolutely killed it, like she always does, but she killed it even harder last night. I mean, I quite like Adele, but her Oscar performance of “Skyfall” seemed curiously lackluster and rather phoned in compared to what Dame Shirley served up, don’t you think?

In the afterglow of her triumph onstage last night, this seems like a good time to post the music video for “The Rhythm Divine,” Shirley Bassey’s 1987 collaboration with Swiss dance-floor avant gardists Yello (Dieter Meier and Boris Blank) from their One Second album. The song was written specifically for Bassey’s instrument as if there’s another vocalist alive who could do this:
 

 
Previously on Dangerous Minds
‘Light My Fire’: Is the very best Doors cover, ever, by Shirley Bassey?