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The Ecstasy of Gold

"The Ecstasy of Gold" (Italian: L'estasi dell'oro) 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 (Eli Wallach) 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 and one of the most iconic pieces of cinematic score in history.

See also: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (soundtrack)

"The Ecstasy of Gold"

1966

Film score, western

3:22

Ennio Morricone

An instrumental metal cover by appears on the 2007 Morricone tribute album We All Love Ennio Morricone. It reached #21 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock charts[1] and was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Rock Instrumental Performance.[2] The band also uses the original recording to open up their concerts ever since 1983.[3] The San Francisco Symphony Orchestra play the piece live on S&M and S&M2 in 1999 and 2019.

Metallica

The used snippets of "The Ecstasy of Gold" as outro music to their concerts.

Ramones

Jay-Z samples the beat in his song Blueprint 2 on his 2002 album

The Blueprint²: The Gift & the Curse

In October 2020, cellist Stjepan Hauser released a version of The Ecstasy of Gold as a tribute to Morricone, who died three months earlier that year. The song appears on the HAUSER plays Morricone album.

Croatian

The main melody and vocals are sampled in the 2022 song "Ecstasy of Soul" by electronic artists Zeds Dead and GRiZ. The song peaked at #19 on the US Dance/Electronic Songs chart.[4]

glitch hop

The used arrangements of the song for their 1978, 1979, 1980, 1992, and 2022 shows.

Troopers Drum and Bugle Corps