"The Ecstasy of Gold" is a musical composition by Ennio Morricone, part of his score for the 1966 Sergio Leone film The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. It is played while Tuco is frantically searching a cemetery for the grave that holds $200,000 in gold coins. Sung by Edda Dell'Orso, it stands as one of the most well known of Morricone's themes.
Appearances in other media
By other musicians
American metal band Metallica has used "The Ecstasy of Gold" as the introductory music for its concerts since 1983; it is included on the live albums Metallica Through the Never, S&M and '. It also appears on remastered deluxe versions on many of their albums, ...And Justice for All include a full studio version of the song as well. An instrumental metal cover by Metallica appears on the 2007 Morricone tribute album We All Love Ennio Morricone. This metal version was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Rock Instrumental Performance. It was also used in the trailer for and appears in ', in its original form as composed by Morricone; however, it is not a playable track. It reached #21 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock charts in April of that year.
New York City-based punk rock bandRamones used "The Ecstasy of Gold" as the outro music for their concerts since 1991. This can be heard at the end of their live albums Loco Live, Greatest Hits Live and We're Outta Here!. The band uses "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", another one of Morricone's compositions at the beginning of their concerts since the same year.
Famous cellist Yo-Yo Ma recorded this song in his tribute album, Yo-Yo Ma Plays Ennio Morricone.
Used by the DCI group Carolina Crown in their 2016 show “Relentless”.
Films
The 1975 film adaptation of The Rocky Horror Show uses an excerpt as incidental music during the climax when Rocky grieves and carries the dead Dr. Frank-N-Furter up the RKO Tower.
The opening scene of Jackass Number Two, in which the cast is chased through a suburban neighborhood by bulls, is accompanied by this piece.
Appears in the 2015 film as SpongeBob gives a speech.
Is used during a climactic scene in the 2017 Korean period filmThe Battleship Island.
Television
The song is used as incidental music in The Simpsons episode "Super Franchise Me", the third episode of the show's 26th season.
The episode "XCIII" in Samurai Jack's5th season pays homage to the cemetery scene when Jack hides from the Daughters of Aku in a stone coffin within a ruined temple.
A song heavily derived from The Ecstasy of Gold is used as opening theme for Miracle Workers.
Video games
An arranged version, composed by Michiko Naruke, titled "Lone Bird in the Shire" is featured as the overworld theme in the 1996 PlayStationRPGWild ARMs.
Bandini's remix is used in the introduction sequence of the 2010 Activision racing game, Blur.