Nov 142008
In honor of the release of the new James Bond flick, Quantum of Solace, let’s leave the classic James Bond theme song by John Barry out of it and ask the question, Excluding the main James Bond theme, what’s your favorite Bond song? You may factor in the Look of the opening credits sequence in your decision.
I do like this one. Jack is a hell of a drummer, the guitar solo is great, the horns sound like they sampled Wings from the mid 70’s and Alicia is so yummy..
#1 – Live & Let Die
#2 – A View To A Kill
#3 – Spy Who Loved Me ( Nobody Does It Better)
The rest all fall into (a) 2nd tier or (b) crap
This new one may be #4
When For Your Eyes Only pops up on some store PA (Like Bed Bath and Beyond) I have to say it stays with me and Ms. Easton does have a great voice, but It’s just not my kinda song.
goldfinger
Taking Live & Let Die off the board as the obvious winner, my favorites are From Russia With Love, You Only Live Twice and Nobody Does It Better – which all (coincidentally?) happen to be from among the best Bond movies.
I never fail to get a laugh out of how Matt Monro pronounces Russia as rusher. And Nobody Does It Better is probably the most coverable of the Bond themes.
I’ve only had a chance to hear the new one once and it didn’t work for me, but I’ll have to give it another shot.
I was thinking of some similar topics – what non-Bond song best could have made it as one? And what band around today should get a crack at doing the theme?
“Goldfinger” is the ne plus ultra Bond theme, but “Thunderball” is a close second for me. I really like the old ones jungleland mentioned, but I also like all the themes from the original Connery Bonds: “Diamonds are Forever,” “From Russia With Love.”
Not sure how I feel about this new one. It’s certainly better than most recent Bond themes (that Madonna one is the absolute pits!) but Alicia Keyes actually kinda annoys me.
That new theme is a mess. I’m a big fan of “Thunderball.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O30RhUMNGwg
“You Only Live Twice” is another great one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDitUVMMzE0
In the modern Bond age, I rather like “The World Is Not Enough” by Garbage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYbLR67_F9E
I like how “Thunderball” works in the pieces of the classic theme.
I agree that this new song is horrible. What kind of spy mission can be accomplished during all that dead space and moping about? Even I’m having trouble giving my girl Alicia a free pass for this one.
“Live and Let Die” is pretty awesome. I’ve never been a Bond movie afficianado, so I’ll have to review some other theme songs to have a more informed opinion.
I haven’t heard or don’t remember too many of these, but Goldfinger is the one. That John Barry/Shirley Bassey/Anthony Newley record was ubiquitous in 1965, and for me it typifies that early 60s world where the Beatles and rock in general had not yet achieved full hegemony. Sean Connery embodied that cultural niche, and Goldfinger was its soundtrack.
I actually kind of like You Only Live Twice, partly because of affection for Nancy Sinatra, but also because the whole concept by that time was running on fumes, and that can be an interesting place to be.
Bond songs have a tradition of bombast and need a thrilling, chase scene vibe to work.
In that regard, I agree that McCartney carries the baton admirably.
But the “spy who loved me” is where the bucket gets tipped and almost all the water comes out. It doesn’t sound like a bond song at all. She (or her team) doesn’t carry the tradition very well at all. And neither do too many others I guess (though Duran Duran tried better than most, but I haven’t heard some of the more recent ones, so I’ll shut up about them).
I agree with Kilroy and BigSteve and others who have said: Goldfinger.
Hey, Sat — how is it that “Goldfinger” has a “chase scene vibe”? You could say that about “Live and Let Die,” or (ugh) “The Man With the Golden Gun,” but “Goldfinger”? I don’t hear it.
Duran Duran’s number is *awful*!
One of the great things about “Thunderball” is the silly lyric:
He always runs while others walk
He acts while other men just talk.
He looks at this world, and wants it all,
So he strikes, like thunderball.
He knows the meaning of success.
His needs are more, so he gives less.
They call him the winner who takes all.
And he strikes, like thunderball.
Any woman he wants, he’ll get.
He will break any heart without regret.
His days of asking are all gone.
His fight goes on and on and on.
But he thinks that the fight is worth it all.
So he strikes like thunderball!
That’s what I say: my needs are more, so I give less!
hvb,
i shoulda made myself clear:
” ‘finger ” doesn’t have the chase scene vibe, you’re right.
but it does have the bombast, and other intangible qualities that might be necessary for a song to qualify as a bond song: swagger or confidence, luxury, the sound of a velvet hammer. it is the sound of post coital bond, bond in repose, brandishing his gold plated zippo with panache, perhaps adjusting his dinner jacket in the mirror, or on the make for some prime tail.
Allow me to cut and paste my Bond-theme theories from another web project:
I’ve spent my share of time trying to distill the specifics code that make a perfect Bond theme. It’s not an exact science, I’ve figured that much out. You need to pay respect to the classic Bond motifs created by John Barry; but any fool knows that. It’s the other elements that are slightly less tangible. For example, you can be reverent towards Bond music, while being tongue-in-cheek towards the whole Bond persona. Additionally, your song needs to sound great coming after the chase sequence it is inevitably following – to that end, you should either try to amp up the excitement further, or provide a dramatic change of pace with a luxuriously unfolding ballad.
Thus, while I generally prefer the classic, manly Bond themes, I think the glossy Moore-era ones fulfill a certain aesthetic as well.
Also, I would love for some politician to use “Thunderball” as their campaign song. That would indeed show some serious balls. I have a mostly crap Bond tribute album from the late ’90s but, seriously, Martin Fry from ABC does a helluva great version of “Thunderball.”
Sat, that is *excellent*. (You, too, Oats!) Based on your criteria, I continue to assert that Garbage’s “The World Is Not Ebough” was an excellent Bond theme.
Oats — somehow, some way, you’ve got to get that Martin Fry “Thunderball” posted for all to enjoy!
Whoops — the “World Is Not Enough” link didn’t get posted properly:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYbLR67_F9E
I’ll work on it this weekend! BTW, the album in question, Shaken and Stirred, has four good tracks:
Fry- Thunderball
Aimee Mann- Nobody Does it Better
Pulp- All Time High
Natasha Atlas (who?)- From Russia With Love.
Interesting Mann cover — I saw Jon Brion do it at the Largo. Wonder if she did that when those two were joined at the hip.
They did. He plays sitar, harmonium and guitar on her version. It’s pretty out-there, actually.
That Pulp cover of All Time High kills every time I hear it, especially the part at the end when the orchestra returns in full force. It’s criminal they turned down Cocker’s “Tomorrow Never Lies” theme for (what became) Tomorrow Never Dies and the godawful Sheryl Crow thing they used.
The Spy Who Loved Me works as a theme because it pulls together the sex & death aspects of Bond so well. The movie has the big ski chase opening (with, unfortunately, the goofy Disco Bond music) into the classic bit with the Union Jack parachute, which is matched perfectly by the piano intro to the theme, featuring a woman singing about Bond’s often interchangeable skills in killin’ and sexin’.
The Man With The Golden Gun is indeed a bad theme outing. I really want them to remake that movie now, and Prince could be brought in to rework the theme.
The best mix of opening-and-credits in the series is Live and Let Die. The two or three minutes of pre-credit set-up is excellent: Yaphet Kotto melting people’s brains at the UN, the funeral/parade fake-out (“Who’s funeral is this?” “Yours!”), a wild faux-voodoo freakout and then…silence. Piano. McCartney softly singing…and finally, exploding skulls, naked dancing women and the theme comes in full blast. Rest of the movie never comes close to matching that.
I’ll field my own question about who should be doing the theme today. I’d love to hear Queens of the Stone Age do one. A great mix of sleaze and bombast, Homme’s got a killer falsetto for the naked dancing lady parts of the credits and they could have played with the Quantum of Solace/QotSA thing.
I forgot how good “You Only Live Twice” was, and that Garbage one is a pretty nifty pastiche, which they are generally pretty good at.
My new theory is that the best Bond themes are either sung by women or men with considerable female fanbases (Tom Jones, McCartney and, i’m guessing, Matt Munro). So, while I bet Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy could write a good Bond theme, giving it to Rihanna or Kelly Clarkson to sing would fall into so-crazy-it-just-might-work-ville.
Or if the franchise went whole-hog into indie-ville, Sons and Daughters could probably pull it off.
Alexmagic asked:
A specific song? U2’s “Mysterious Ways” would go real good with blurred out, nearly nude women dancing through half-filled martini glasse.
Prime-time Zeppelin should have done a Bond theme, but it’s too late for that idea.
I’d like to hear one by a cool, I believe still contemporary jazz arranger, like Henry Threadgill.
How ’bout Nick Cave doing one with PJ Harvey?
Amy Winehouse’s “Some Unholy War” would be a great bond song of the majesterial type, but it needs more reverb and some strings. The lyrics, and the retro vibe, are perfect.
The thought of Zeppelin doing a bond song makes me throw up a little in my throat. I don’t know why.
It’s time to take the piss out of this franchise and have They Might Be Giants do and absurdist fiasco with a lot of bass trombone in it.
TMBG actually wrote the theme to the second Austin Powers film. I think Flansburg’s wife sang the lead vocal.
As for the White/Keys tune, that stop and start grind does not work for me as a Bond theme. Sounds like the Aston Martin needs a tune-up.
“Goldfinger” sets the template for what I want in a Bond-theme: soaring, urgent vocals, careening strings and percussive horn charts. And it has to sound good while the shadowy naked chick does her flips. “Nobody Does It Better” is probably my least favorite. “Live and Let Die” is great, (especially the instrumental part, isn’t it George Martin?) and “The Man With the Golden Gun” is a good one that has gone unmentioned.
The new Bond is a disappointment; the director Marc Forster really has no facility with action, and the action is non-stop.
Oh man, I knew it was going to be like that second Bourne movie – all pointless, close-up, suffocating action. I hate that stuff! We’re going tomorrow night. At least I love popcorn.
buskirk, we are of like mind!
Mr. Mod said..all pointless, close-up, suffocating action. I hate that stuff!
Be very prepared to hate the action in this film. The opening is so lame it’s unreal. The movie is ok, he’s a great Bond but the action is like a director playing with camera (rather then having a director’s touch). Hard to even tell what’s going on. Fast cut, close ups, can’t tell where they are in relation to the scene, shaking camera….for me this all adds up to BORING action scenes.
The only thing I liked about that new video was her shoes, and I like those a lot! Was that a guitar solo or was Jack unsuccessfully trying to hold in some gas?
I’m excited now, though. I like mindless action movies and I think the new guy is a really good Bond. He seems more like the ruthless type that I imagined from the books. The further away from
Bridges of Madison County this one is, the more I’ll like it.
OK. I second the shoes, and that’s about it. Isn’t James Bond supposed to be cool? I mean, not so much impotently histrionic thrashing about and what not. I am not a fan of either of these people, and this video seems to be a catalog of why. Ugh. James Bond tends to make saving the world look easy, and these folks make boring me for three minutes look monumentally difficult.
So the new Bond flick was better than I expected. The action sequences did SUCK, but there was just enough plot, dialog, and good Looks to keep me interested. I’ve gotta say, the Jack White-Alicia Keyes theme song worked much better through the theater’s speakers than my computer’s, and the song also worked better with the cool intro graphics. Anytime I have to look at White mugging for the camera I feel sick in the stomach. His Look’s not bad, it’s just genetically mean!