The composers from a previous release in the series, GoldenEye 007, returned to do the music score for 007 Legends. Kevin Kiner wrote and composed the soundtrack, while David Arnold wrote his own instrumental arrangement of "Goldfinger" for the main title sequence. more...
“Writing’s on the Wall” is a song by English recording artist Sam Smith; from the 2015 James Bond film Spectre. In the United Kingdom, “Writing’s on the Wall” became the first James Bond theme to reach number one, on the issue dated 8 October 2015; The previous highest-charting Bond themes were Adele’s “Skyfall” and Duran Duran’s “A View to a Kill”, which both reached number two. The song was written and produced by Sam Smith and Jimmy Napes, the song was also produced by Disclosure.
“Skyfall” is a song performed by Adele, and the eponymous theme song of the 23rd James Bond film from Eon Productions, Skyfall. The track was co-written by Adele and producer Paul Epworth, and features orchestration by J. A. C. Redford. “Skyfall” was released on 5 October 2012 at 0:07 BST, as part of “Global James Bond Day”, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the release of Dr. No, the first James Bond film. more...
“Another Way to Die” is a song by American rock musician and singer Jack White (of The White Stripes) and American R&B singer Alicia Keys. Written and produced by White as the theme song to the 2008 James Bond film Quantum of Solace,it was released as a single in the United States on September 30, 2008 and in Europe on October 20, 2008. The song—which features White on vocals, guitar and drums and Keys on vocals and piano—is the first duet in the Bond film series. more...
“You Know My Name” performed by Chris Cornell, is the theme song to the 2006 James Bond film, Casino Royale. Cornell wrote it jointly with David Arnold, the soundtrack’s composer. The film producers went after Cornell because they wanted a strong male singer (as such, it was the first vocal theme from a James Bond film to be sung by a male vocalist since “The Living Daylights”). Cornell and Arnold tried to make the song a replacement theme for the character instead of the James Bond theme reflecting the agent’s inexperience in Casino Royale, as well as an introduction to Daniel Craig’s grittier and more emotional portrayal of Bond. more...
"Die Another Day" is the theme song from the James Bond film of the same name by American singer and songwriter Madonna. Following the release of the previous Bond single, "The World Is Not Enough", MGM wanted a high-profile artist for the theme of Die Another Day, and Madonna was their choice. She wrote and produced the song with Mirwais Ahmadzaï while French composer Michel Colombier was enlisted as composer. more...
“The World Is Not Enough” is a 1999 orchestral rock song performed by alternative rock group Garbage, and was the theme single of the James Bond film of the same name.The song and accompanying soundtrack were released internationally by Radioactive Records as the feature film premiered in theaters around the world at the end of November of that year.“The World Is Not Enough” was written by composer David Arnold, who also did the score for the film, and lyricist Don Black, who had worked in four Bond songs before. The single was written in the traditional style of the series’ title themes contrasting with the post-modern production technique and genre-hopping sound that Garbage had established on their first two albums. more...
“Tomorrow Never Dies” is a song by Sheryl Crow, which was the theme song to the 18th James Bond film of the same name. The song, co-written by Crow and Mitchell Froom,became her fifth UK Top 20 hit, peaking at No. 11 in 1997.
“GoldenEye” is a hit James Bond theme performed by Tina Turner used for the 1995 film, GoldenEye. The song was written especially for Turner by Bono and The Edge of U2 when they learned that she had been offered to sing the theme to the upcoming Bond movie, and the track was produced and mixed by British producer/remixer/composer Nellee Hooper, best known for his work with Massive Attack, Madonna, U2 and Björk. The GoldenEye theme became one of the highest-charting hit singles of Turner’s career, reaching #10 on the UK Singles Chart and a Top 5 hit in most other European countries. more...
Initially Eric Clapton and Vic Flick were asked to write and perform the theme song for Licence to Kill. The theme was said to have been a new version based on the James Bond Theme. The guitar riff heard in the original recording of the theme was played by Flick.The prospect, however, fell apart and Gladys Knight’s song "Licence to Kill" was chosen, later becoming a UK Top 10 hit. The song (one of the longest to ever be used in a Bond film) was composed by Narada Michael Walden, Jeffrey Cohen and Walter Afanasieff. It was based on the “horn line” from Goldfinger, which required royalty payments to the original writers. more...
“The Living Daylights” is the song performed by a-ha for the James Bond film of the same name. It was co-written by guitarist Paul Waaktaar-Savoy and Bond composer John Barry. This is the only Bond film where the title song has not been performed by a British or an American. more...
“A View to a Kill” is the thirteenth single by Duran Duran, released in May 1985. The song was written by Duran Duran and John Barry, and recorded at Maison Rouge Studio and CTS Studio in London with a 60-piece orchestra. It remains the only James Bond theme song to have reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100. more...
The music for Never Say Never Again was written by Michel Legrand, who composed a score similar to his work as a jazz pianist. Legrand also wrote the main theme “Never Say Never Again”, which featured lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman—who had also worked with Legrand in the Academy Award winning song “The Windmills of Your Mind"—and was performed by Lani Hall.Many of the elements of the Eon-produced Bond films were not present in Never Say Never Again for legal reasons. These included the gun barrel sequence, where a screen full of 007 symbols appeared instead, and similarly there was no "James Bond Theme" to use, although no effort was made to supply another tune.A pre-credits sequence was filmed but not used; instead the film opens with the credits run over the top of the opening sequence of Bond on a training mission. more...
“All Time High” is a 1983 single release by Rita Coolidge introduced as the theme song for the James Bond film Octopussy. “All Time High” marked the return of regular James Bond theme composer John Barry after his absence from the For Your Eyes Only soundtrack. It is one of six Bond film title songs or songs that are not named after film's title. Prior to Rita Coolidge being assigned the Octopussy theme a contender was Mari Wilson, a British singer whose retro-image evoked the mid-‘60s when the Bond series originated, but Wilson’s lack of a US-profile led to a negative decision.
“For Your Eyes Only” is the theme tune to the 12th James Bond movie, For Your Eyes Only, written by Bill Conti and Mick Leeson, and performed by Scottish singer Sheena Easton. The song reached number four on the US Billboard Hot 100, and number eight on the UK Singles Chart.It was nominated for Best Song at the Academy Awards in 1982. more...
"Moonraker" was the third of the three Bond films for which the theme song was performed by Shirley Bassey. Frank Sinatra was considered for the vocals, before Johnny Mathis was approached and offered the opportunity. Mathis was unhappy about the song and withdrew from the project, leaving the producers scrambling for a replacement. Kate Bush declined, so JohnBarry offered the song to Bassey within just weeks of the release date. As a result Bassey made the recordings with very short notice and as a result, she never regarded the song ‘as her own’ as she had never had the chance to perform it or promote it first. more...
“Nobody Does It Better” is a power ballad composed by Marvin Hamlisch with lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager. It was recorded by Carly Simon as the theme song for the 1977 James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me. It was the first Bond theme song to be titled differently from the name of the film, although the phrase “the spy who loved me” is included in the lyrics. “Nobody Does It Better” received an Academy Award nomination for Best Song. more...
"The Man with the Golden Gun" is the soundtrack for the 9th James Bond film of the same name. The theme tune was performed by Lulu, composed by John Barry, and the lyrics to the song were written by Don Black. more...
“Live and Let Die” is the main theme song of the 1973 James Bond film Live and Let Die and was performed by Paul McCartney & Wings. It was one of their most successful singles, and the most successful Bond theme to that point, charting at number two on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number nine on the UK Singles Chart.Commissioned specifically for the movie and credited to Paul McCartney and his wife Linda, it reunited McCartney with Beatles producer George Martin, who both produced the song and arranged the orchestral break. more...
Diamonds Are Forever is the soundtrack by John Barry for the 7th James Bond film of the same name. “Diamonds Are Forever”, the title song with lyrics by Don Black, was the second Bond theme to be performed byShirley Bassey, after Goldfinger in 1964. more...
"On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (“OHMSS”)"is the soundtrack for the sixth James Bond film of the same name. The soundtrack to this James Bond adventure was composed, arranged, and conducted by John Barry; it was his fifth successive Bond film. The opening theme proved a challenge; the convention was to include the film’s title in the lyrics of the opening song; the film became the first in the series since From Russia with Love to deviate from this rule. John Barry felt it would be difficult to compose a theme song containing the title “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” unless it was written operatically, in the style of Gilbert and Sullivan. Leslie Bricusse had considered lyrics for the title song but director Peter R. Hunt allowed an instrumental title theme in the tradition of the first two Bond films. The track is notable for its incorporation of the Moog synthesizer in its recurring bassline - the first time this instrument had been heard in a film soundtrack. more...
"You Only Live Twice", performed by Nancy Sinatra, is the theme song to the 1967 James Bond film of the same name. The music was by veteran Bond film composer John Barry, with lyrics by Leslie Bricusse. The song is widely recognized for its striking opening bars, featuring a simple 2-bar theme in the high octaves of the violins and lush harmonies from French horns. It is considered by some to be among the best James Bond theme songs, and has become one of Nancy Sinatra's best known hits.
The original main title theme to Thunderball was entitled “Mr. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang”, which was written by John Barry and Leslie Bricusse. Barry had thought he couldn’t write a song about a vague “Thunderball” term or the story of the film, so his song was a description of the character of James Bond. The song was removed from the title credits after United Artists requested that the theme song contain the title of the film in its lyrics. John Barry teamed up with lyricist Don Black and wrote “Thunderball” in a rush. Tom Jones, who sang the new theme song, fainted in the recording booth after singing the song’s final, high note.
“Goldfinger” was the title song from the 1964 James Bond film Goldfinger. Composed by John Barry and with lyrics by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley, the song was performed by Shirley Bassey for the film’s opening and closing title sequences, as well as the soundtrack album release. The release on vinyl of Bassey's (mono) version sold more than a million copies in the United States. more...
"From Russia with love" is the soundtrack for the second James Bond film of the same name. This is the first series film with John Barry as the primary soundtrack composer. The title song was sung by Matt Monro. Monro’s vocal version is played during the film (as source music on a radio) and properly over the film’s end titles. The title credit music is a lively instrumental version of the tune preceded by a brief Barry composed James Bond is Back then segueing into the “James Bond Theme”. more...
The original James Bond Theme was written by Monty Norman. John Barry, who would later go on to compose the music for eleven Bond films, arranged the Bond theme, but was uncredited - except for the credit of his orchestra playing the final piece. It has occasionally been suggested that Barry, not Norman, composed the "James Bond Theme". The soundtrack album of Dr. No was not originally issued to coincide with the film's initial release in October 1962. However, in addition to his fee for orchestrating The James Bond Theme, Barry was allowed to perform a different orchestration of the theme on Columbia Records. This became a top ten hit in the UK.
The originally intended theme song for Thunderball was entitled “Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” a reference to a nickname given to Bond by an Italian journalist in 1962. Dionne Warwick and Shirley Bassey both recorded versions, but halfway through the scoring process, Cubby Broccoli decided that the film’s title must appear in the lyrics, so “Thunderball” was commissioned. The song still plays a prominent role in the score and both singers’ versions have appeared on compilations in the 1990s.
