Some interesting notes about James Bond themes Full table and much info stolen
from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Bond_music
Apart from the first film, Dr. No, which introduced the James Bond Theme (and
was also the only film to use two songs during the opening sequence), only 3
films have had theme songs with titles differing from the title of the film:
“Nobody Does It Better” – Carly Simon – The Spy Who Loved Me “All Time High”
– Rita Coolidge – Octopussy “You Know My Name” – Chris Cornell – Casino Royale
Duran Duran and John Barry’s “A View To A Kill” topped the singles charts in
America and was the only Bond theme to hit #1. “Live and Let Die” reached #2
on the US Singles Chart. Sheena Easton’s performance of Bill Conti’s “For Your
Eyes Only” received an Academy Award nomination for Best Song Madonna’s theme
for “Die Another Day” was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Original
Song (2002) in addition to a Golden Globe for Best Original Song. Only three
films had instrumental themes: Dr. No (excluding the second song used in the
opening sequence), From Russia with Love (a vocal version of the song was used
in the closing credits), and On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
Shirley Bassey, who is Welsh, has performed the most Bond themes – Goldfinger,
Diamonds Are Forever, and Moonraker. Bassey also recorded her own version of
“Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” for Thunderball, but her version was replaced by Dionne
Warwick’s rendition.
| Film | Year | Score composer | Title song | Composed by | Performed by | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dr. No | 1962 | Monty Norman | ” The James Bond Theme” “Kingston Calypso” | Monty Norman | John Barry orchestra Monty Norman orchestra | ||
| From Russia with Love | 1963 | John Barry | ” From Russia with Love” (instrumental) in the opening credits, a vocal rendition of “From Russia with Love” in the end credits by British singer Matt Monro |
Lionel Bart | John Barry orchestra | ||
| Goldfinger | 1964 | “Goldfinger” | Leslie Bricusse Anthony Newley John Barry | Shirley Bassey | |||
| Thunderball | 1965 | ” Thunderball” | John Barry Don Black | Tom Jones 1 | |||
| You Only Live Twice | 1967 | ” You Only Live Twice” | Leslie Bricusse John Barry | Nancy Sinatra 2 |
|||
| On Her Majesty’s Secret Service | 1969 | “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” | John Barry | John Barry orchestra | |||
| Diamonds Are Forever | 1971 | “Diamonds Are Forever” | John Barry Don Black | Shirley Bassey | |||
| Live and Let Die | 1973 | George Martin | ” Live and Let Die” | Paul McCartney Linda McCartney | Paul McCartney & Wings | ||
| The Man with the Golden Gun | 1974 | John Barry | “The Man with the Golden Gun” | John Barry Don Black | Lulu | ||
| The Spy Who Loved Me | 1977 | Marvin Hamlisch | ” Nobody Does It Better” | Marvin Hamlisch Carole Bayer Sager | Carly Simon | ||
| Moonraker | 1979 | John Barry | “Moonraker” | John Barry Hal David | Shirley Bassey | ||
| For Your Eyes Only | 1981 | Bill Conti | ” For Your Eyes Only” | Bill Conti Michael Leeson | Sheena Easton | ||
| Octopussy | 1983 | John Barry | ” All Time High” 3 |
John Barry Tim Rice | Rita Coolidge | ||
| A View to a Kill | 1985 | ” A View to a Kill” | Duran Duran John Barry | Duran Duran | |||
| The Living Daylights | 1987 | “” The Living Daylights” | John Barry Pål Waaktaar | a-ha | |||
| Licence to Kill | 1989 | Michael Kamen | “Licence to Kill” | N. Michael Walden Jeffrey Cohen Walter Afanasieff |
Gladys Knight | ||
| GoldenEye | 1995 | Éric Serra | ” GoldenEye” | Bono The Edge | Tina Turner | ||
| Tomorrow Never Dies | 1997 | David Arnold | ” Tomorrow Never Dies” | Sheryl Crow Mitchell Froom | Sheryl Crow | ||
| The World Is Not Enough | 1999 | ” The World Is Not Enough” | David Arnold Don Black | Garbage | |||
| Die Another Day | 2002 | ” Die Another Day” | Madonna Mirwais Ahmadzaï | Madonna | |||
| Casino Royale | 2006 | ” You Know My Name” | Chris Cornell, David Arnold | Chris Cornell | |||
The unofficial main themes:
| Film | Year | Score composer | Title song | Performed by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Casino Royale (unofficial film) | 1967 | Burt Bacharach | “Casino Royale” | Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass 5 |
| Never Say Never Again (unofficial film) | 1983 | Michel Legrand | “Never Say Never Again” | Lani Hall |