James Bond theme songs and the singers who sang them

It's all just a little bit of history repeating.

Do you have a link to the doc, op? I am obsessed with Bond history and especially the music.

Didn't Nancy Sinatra do one: "You Only Live Twice" ? I always got a kick out of that one - it's so over the top.

r3 Did you even read the original post?

R2, here is the promo for it. Check your local listings.

For some reason they referenced Madonna's song ("Die Another Day") buy didn't show a clip of it.

I know it's not everyone's favorite but Tina Turner's Goldeneye is my favorite Bond song. I also really liked Garbage's "The Word is not Enough".

I love Goldfinger and Live and Let Die and all the most popular ones. But those are my two favorite.

Duran Duran's "A View to a Kill" was one of the only good parts of that stinker.

Rita Coolidge's "All Time High" brought more class than Octopussy deserved.

And Lulu's peppy "The Man with the Golden Gun?" That movie wasn't ludicrous enough on its own?

My favorites are "Goldfinger" and probably much to the chagrin of DL..."Skyfall".

"Die Another Day" would be an okay song if it had nothing to do with the Bond franchise. Madonna dear: YOU'RE NEVER WINNING AN OSCAR.

The best James Bond theme song was "Moonraker" performed by Shirley Bassey . Anyone who argues otherwise has absolutely no taste in music. Believe it or not, this was my father's choice of music for his funeral.

Oh, for fuck sake. I'll try again..

The Duran song is my favorite.

The only Bond song to make it to #1 on the charts.

The video was better than the movie. 😬

"Goldfinger" is the platinum standard. It is everything you want in a Bond theme -- glamour, menace, sex and hysteria.

[quote] The video was better than the movie.

A View To A Kill has super-fierce Grace Jones. Roger Moore should've stepped down and let some younger actor play Bond.

Grace did guest vocals for Arcadia (Arcadia was a side project from some Duran Duran members).

Love is required

Whenever he's hired

He comes just before he kills!

There is this dreadful new album called "Bond 25 - Performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra". They turned most of the Bond themes into soulless instrumental tracks you can hear in a generic Hollywood Blockbuster heist movie. The only good one is the heist movie treatment of Madonna's Die Another Day.

Johnny Mathis was supposed to record "Moonraker." When he backed out they called Shirley. It sounds like a Johnny Mathis song.

I thought Licence to Kill was underrated. Gladys Knight sings the hell out of it.

k.d. lang's "Tomorrow Never Dies"

From Russia With Love

Nobody Does It Better

Tomorrow Never Dies

The Man With Thunderballs

@r19, I never understood why they didn't go with "Surrender." It sounds very much like a classic Bond theme. The Sheryl Crow theme was dreadful.

My favorite

Does "Never Say Never Again" count?

If I have a memorial service, I want We Have All the Time in the World played because I think it would make people chuckle.

R21 Ms. lang claims the suits told her Sheryl Crow was a hot new talent in town, and they wanted to draw teenagers who liked Crow but usually didn't like Bond. She thought it was dubious that even teenagers would pay money to see a movie just because a certain artist did the theme song. But no one told lang about the swap until she attended the premiere and saw someone else's song over the opening credits.

She didn't care that much. She got paid the same either way.

But she never did get a check from Bryan Singer's people when they ripped off "Miss Chatelaine" for the end of The Usual Suspects.

R23, I love Lani -- "Sundown Lady" is one of my favorite LPs -- but that song is too drippy for Bond. Interesting story, another songwriter submitted the theme for "Never Say Never Again" but Michel Legrand threatened to sue if his version wasn't used. The alternate version was recorded by Phyllis Hyman, a gorgeous voice that would have been perfect for the franchise.

Same, r7. Turner does a good snarling, sexy classic Bond theme and Garbage's was very catchy and of it's time.

R6 Madonna is a sweetie but always off key, the poor dear. Maybe that's why they left hers off.

The Pretenders did two tracks for The Living Daylights. If There Was a Man + Where Has Everybody Gone?

And later Chrissie Hynde covered Live & Let Die for David Arnold's Shaken and Stirred: The David Arnold James Bond Project.

Bono wrote the song for Goldeneye but told the producers he didn't want to record it for the movie. He suggested Tina. Bono sent Tina a badly recorded demo - he was hoarse and she couldn't hear the melody - and she said "What the hell am I supposed to do with this?". Bono told her "Don't worry, it will all come together when we're in the recoding studio".

I like most of them, the only one I really hated was For Your Eyes Only. Normally I like Sheena Easton but her voice was not a good match for that song.

Remember when Carly Simon's "Nobody Does It Better" was appropriated by Safeway for their advertising?

J'adore Yoko Ono's cover of Goldfinger.

R33 I don't understand it, but rather than admit that dull truth, I'm going to declare her a genius and stand in awe of her screeching.

Also, did you know her husband died forty years ago?

R29, I like If There Was a Man

Gold finger and Diamonds Are Forever: no discussion. Spectacular and perfect.

Thunderball by Tom Jones, and of course Goldfinger.

Which was the first one they let a non-Brit do?

The "chagrin of DL" be damned, (9).,... I'm with you: It's Goldfinger & Skyfall!

Seeing Goldfinger at the theater as a 9 year old, it & the theme song made an instant imprint on me! I never expected any other Bond theme to comparably resonate with me but little did I know the treat the 2010's had in store for me with Skyfall and also with Adele's rendition of the Skyfall theme!

I have a thrilling clip of it from her special with Oprah tucked away that, via it's setting and photography, makes me long for LA! Part of the romance that's deepened for me with the Skyfall theme is because I've climbed all over the hill upon which the Griffith Observatory is mounted and also been inside the observatory itself.

Gonna go listen and take a look at it now! See the link below here and look for it at 10:05 with that first haunting "Bond" chord coming at 10:08!

The View to A Kill by Duran Duran is the best, because I’m very biased due to Simon LeBons hotness! That Phyllis Hyman song is great. It definitely should have been used for the film. I’m a fan of her, she was so underrated and she passed from suicide and that didn’t need to happen 😢

R32, Carly Simon only sang the song "Nobody Does It Better", she didn't write it. It was composed by Marvin Hamlisch with lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager, so they likely licensed the song to Safeway.

R22 I agree. I still love this song. The movie and the song are both underrated.

The lyrics are puerile but Lulu sells the shit out of it. I wouldn't dismiss her performance as "peppy."

Lulu is one of the great lost talents. She was fantastic, and had a lasting career, but she never quite broke through the way Carly Simon or Cher did in that era.

Another Way to Die is without question the worst Bond song of all time. Alicia Keys can't sing. And QoS if without question the worst Bond movie. Marc Forster can't direct to spare his own life.

Ghkkkk

Alicia Keys is a good singer. You are crazy

No, she isn't.

KD Lang had the last good Bond song.

[quote] Lulu sells the shit out

An ugly phrase.

Lulu is not a good vocalist. I hate her squeak/shout/shrill voice. Very irritating on most of her songs. UK can have and keep her.

[quote] The best James Bond theme song was "Moonraker" performed by Shirley Bassey . Anyone who argues otherwise has absolutely no taste in music.

Does that include Dame Shirley hereself, who hated the song and has never performed it in concert?

The highest charting Bond songs according to Billboard.

1. Duran Duran - A View to a Kill. It is the only Bond song to reach #1.

2. Carly Simon - Nobody Does It Better. This #2 single was nominated for a best original song Oscar.

3. Paul McCartney & Wings - Live and Let Die. Peak position #2. The first Bond song written and performed by the same artist.

4. Sheena Easton - For Your Eyes Only. This single peaked during the fall of 1981 at #4. It remained in that position for several weeks. Nominated for a best original song Oscar.

Op I didn’t enjoy the doc because it spent too much time on that annoying minimally talented Billie Eilisch. Her track is definitely the weakest Bond song ever recorded.

[Quote] Lulu is not a good vocalist. I hate her squeak/shout/shrill voice. Very irritating on most of her songs. UK can have and keep her.

And yet you enjoy Betty Davis' squeak/shout/shrill voice. Different strokes for different folks...

Lulu sucks

Have you seen the obnoxious cow who does Lulu's PR? It's a miracle she's had a career at all.

Lulu actually covered a Jean Carn song with Bobby Womack, giving Womack his biggest UK hit. Jean was complimentary of Lulu and Bobby's remake.

I'll have two of those. And THREE of those.

Source, R52? Here she is performing Moonraker at approximately the five minute mark.

"Moonraker" dates from around the time Bassey's relationship with the United Artists records label ended. She was rather at sea for much of the subsequent decade. She even resorted to singing Bond Themes over cheap, Casio keyboard type backings.

Sheena Easton is the only theme singer to appear on camera.

As pretty as Sheena was, it should have been Debbie Harry!

Pffft Debbie stan

Debbie is an icon. Sheen Easton sang a song tossed off by an icon.

Go to bed r65

Bore us with your Kelly Clarkson opinions, r65!

The producers decided to not go with Blondie regardless of their music Sheena Easton was suggested by United Artists and after an in person meeting with the film’s producers and Bill Conti was selected to sing a new song written by Bill Conti. They asked her to appear in the opening credits because of her striking good looks.

No. It was Maurice Binder's idea.

The outcome was the same you moron. Go fuck your self

If you don't know the details, don't "share."

And Sheena's always been pretty shrill up top...

All sore losing stans are headed to the toilet

Btw…. Debbie Harry not Sheena Easton would give you a piece of corn out of their shit r65 r67

I thought “Thunderball” was sung by Miss Sarah Vaughan the first time I heard it.

Miss Warwick got bumped.

Lulu is wonderful.

Mrs Kiss Kiss Bang Bang!

R6, Madonna owns the rights to her music catalogue and probably charges a lot for just a snippet. The documentary producers probably deemed it not worth the trouble.

No Added Madonna.

Top 5 Gold Standard bond songs

Live and Let Die, Nobody does it better You Only live twice Goldfinger A view to a kill

Plus obviously the killer Bond theme

What about the 007 Theme?

I love the dreamy All Time High. It failed in the UK charts, but I love the song.

Personally I really like the Bond 25 album by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. The slowed-down version of A View to a Kill is haunting and Die Another Day sounds more Bond-ish than Madonna's version.

Britpop icons Pulp also wrote a song for Tomorrow Never Dies that wasn't used. They recorded it as a b-side retitled "Tomorrow Never Lies".

"Tomorrow Never Lies" was the original title of the movie.

The source for the Bassey opinion of Moonraker is Bassey herself in the doc.

I remember that Laura Branigan was announced as engaged to sing the theme song of the then-upcoming Bond movie, which turned out to be “Octopussy”. It made sense at the time, because she was hot off “Gloria”, and her vocal style seemed well-suited for a Bond theme. But when “Octopussy” was released, there was Rita Coolidge crooning “All Time High”.

Rita Coolidge?! Wasn’t she the one who Bette Midler cracked was arrested for loitering in front of a microphone? Who in 1983 said, “Get me Rita Coolidge!”

Turned out producer Cubby Broccoli heard his daughter listening to Coolidge, liked what he heard, and Branigan got replaced.

I'd not heard that Midler crack about Rita Coolidge before R88 but it sounds like the pair of them. I once saw her described as a 'languid singer' and that's pretty spot on. Her first half a dozen or so solo albums for A&M are very good - packed with some great songs and musicians but her singing style is very low key, soothing in its own way but you get the feeling she's always holding back.

R88, Midler made that crack about Helen Reddy.

R87 et al - I think the reason given for Shirley Bassey's disdain for Moonraker is that she had something like ONE week between being asked to sing it and having it in final form on tape.

Singers record songs they've just only heard all the time. Bassey got some of the notes wrong on the single version of "Goldfinger." Barry probably went through the roof.

*they've only just heard

The Bond Song That Got Away: Amy Winehouse

Bassey needed a hit badly. "Moonraker" didn't give her that. Whereas the flop of "Diamonds Are Forever" wasn't as keenly felt as she had recent big hits in that period ("Something," "For All We Know") and another big one shortly after ("Never, Never, Never").

Rumor has it that Marvin Hamlisch got roped into writing the music for 'Nobody Does It Better' because he thought his friend Barbra Streisand was definitely going to record it and the Bergmans would once again be his lyricists (ala 'The Way We Were'). Once Carole Bayer Sager was chosen to write the lyrics, Streisand backed out - upset that they reneged in asking her friends the Bergmans to compose the lyrics, as originally agreed upon. In search of a singer for the new Bond tune, the offer went to Diana Ross (who just had her #1 with 'Mahogany') but she declined upon Berry Gordy's advice. Then someone suggested Carly Simon - and the rest is history.

Some of have claimed that Dusty Springfield turned down "Nobody Does It Better," which seems madness on her part if true.

I think i’m the only one who likes Sheryl Crow’s “Tomorrow Never Dies.” Her voice is much bigger than you’d think and it’s fun hearing her be more showy with it.

Garbage *hates* the final version of “The World is Not Enough.” They turned in a version with far more layers and loops - more akin to their other music - and it was stripped down without the band’s consent. They spent a day off on tour in Ireland or someplace going to see the movie and were all pissed when the theme started playing.

Have Garbage releaed that version? I liked their entry at the time but Shirley Manson doesn't have the range. Adele's is even more earthbound. Chris Cornell really had the chops to sing a Bond Theme.

*released

This one doesn't get any love and it's so good. It's a great video too! Holds up better than Duran Duran's IMHO.

[quote] Shirley Manson doesn’t have the range

Welcome to Datalounge, Dame Bassey

Yes, yes, yes! I love the theme songs better than most of the movies. I’ve tried with little success in putting together a playlist on Amazon Music. I haven’t seen a single Pierce Brosnan 007. I was living in SF and went clubbing all if the time! (Nothing to do with baby seals)

Yes, bulge, r37!

Lulu is like Cher in the UK.

"You know my name" and "Skyfall" are the only decent post 2000 Bond songs.

The slow ballad early 80's Bond songs (All time high, FYEO) were absolute bores.

I really like "Tomorrow never dies" but not as a Bond song...Sheryl Crow just doesn't have a "special" enough voice.

License to Kill by Gladys Knight starts out really good...just so much potential...but it's ruined by an awful chorus.

I don't hate "Die Another Day" or "Another Way to Die". Am I broken?

Die another day is a great track.

Crow’s track is for the birds

I like coolidge’s low key all time high ONLY in retrospect

For Your Eyes Only is perfect song AND singer

R39 has been inside the Griffith Observatory! Is he an Adele VIP!? Almost Famous?

…every kid who grew up in the Greater L.A. basin saw the inside during an elementary school field trip…🤤

I did a theme for a Bond movie but SOMEONE messed up and when they heard "A Few To Kill" they said insurance issues would pre-vent things from proceeding.

Because I'm all about naming names and keeping it real, you know.

Here is Sheena Easton in 2016 being exposed to Blondie's version of For Your Eyes Only (supposedly) for the first time.

They're great but they've lost their way a bit recently. Sam Smith and Billie Eilish? Nope. Bond needs classic singers.

Billie Eilish's song, in my opinion, is one of the worst ever associated with the franchise.

Bond songs need a belter nor a whisperer. Look for the next Bond vocalist to be raising the roof in a church choir!

R113 I feel "The writting is on the wall" and "Another way to die" are still worse, but yes, its down there. I make it a point to not watch any Bond film that has a shitty intro song. I just know it will suck if it doesnt have a good one and 9/10 I'm right..The last one I watched was Skyfall and many say that was enough.

Speaking of "Another way to die", likely the worst Bond song ever recorded, the fact that they rejected this one that imo would have been an instant classic, over the JackWhite)Alicia Keys vomit, just makes it even more ainful

I actually liked Eilish’s song. But Smith’s was boring.

just another endorsement of Die Another Day, and I love the video, Madonna was at the perfect point to pull something like that off, no one else could have done it - ridiculous, meaningful, serious, corny, aggressive, and sensitive all at once

Don’t forget Ms. Patti on the end credits for License to Kill

Dusty's gorgeous ‘Look of Love’ from Casino Royale, 1967. Here singing it live, looking like a dykey Princess Di.

David Mcalmont's version of ‘Diamonds Are Forever’ is a hoot - camp as arseholes. Here he is singing ‘From Russia With Love’. Heavenly voice, the saxophonist is amazing too.

Nobody Does It Better doesn't sound like a James bond theme song . Maybe more fitting for a sad romantic movie. My fave.

This was a way better track than The Living Daylights.

R123 that blonde assassin Necros was the object of many a release when I was growing up. The VHS was paused often.