James Bond Title Themes

abond1From Wikipedia…

The James Bond film fran­chise is notable for its dis­tinc­tive theme songs, often per­formed by the top singers of the day.

Paul McCartney’s per­for­mance of “Live and Let Die” was the first James Bond theme song to be nom­i­nated for an Acad­emy Award for Best Orig­i­nal Song; it reached #2 as a US sin­gle, and #7 on the UK charts. Sheena Easton’s per­for­mance of Bill Conti’s “For Your Eyes Only” received an Acad­emy Award nom­i­na­tion for Best Song, as did Carly Simon’s per­for­mance of Mar­vin Hamlisch’s (music) and Car­ole Bayer Sager’s (lyrics) “Nobody Does It Bet­ter.” Duran Duran and John Barry’s “A View To A Kill” topped the sin­gles charts in Amer­ica (the only Bond theme to hit #1).

The main theme for The Liv­ing Day­lights (1987) was orig­i­nally assigned to the Pet Shop Boys who began work on the project but halted all record­ing when they learned that they would not be allowed to score the entire film. The project was turned over to A-ha. The Pet Shop Boys had already devel­oped an instru­men­tal for the title song which they later used as the back­ing track for the song “This Must Be The Place I Waited Years To Leave” on their 1990 album Behav­iour.

Welsh singer Shirley Bassey has per­formed the most Bond themes – she recorded the themes to Goldfin­ger, Dia­monds Are For­ever, and Moon­raker.”

LIST OF BOND THEMES

1962 — Dr. No — “James Bond Theme” and “Kingston Calypso” per­formed by John Barry and Monty Norman

1963 — From Rus­sia With Love — “James Bond Is Back/ From Rus­sia With Love/ James Bond Theme” per­formed by John Barry and Matt Monro

1964 — Goldfin­ger — “Goldfin­ger” per­formed by Shirley Bassey

1965 — Thun­der­ball — “Thun­der­ball” per­formed by Tom Jones

1967 — You Only Live Twice — “You Only Live Twice” per­formed by Nancy Sinatra

1969 — On Her Majesty’s Secret Ser­vice — “On Her Majesty’s Secret Ser­vice” per­formed by Louis Arm­strong & The John Barry Orchestra

1971 — Dia­monds Are For­ever — “Dia­monds Are For­ever” per­formed by Shirley Bassey

1973 — Live & Let Die — “Live & Let Die” per­formed by Paul McCart­ney & The Wings

1974 — The Man With The Golden Gun — “The Man With The Golden Gun” per­formed by Lulu

1977 — The Spy Who Loved Me — “Nobody Does It Bet­ter” per­formed by Carly Simon

1979 — Moon­raker — “Moon­raker” per­formed by Shirley Bassey

1981 — For Your Eyes Only — “For Your Eyes Only” per­formed by Sheena Easton

1983 — Octo­pussy — “All Time High” per­formed by Rita Coolidge

1985 — A View To Kill - “A View To Kill” per­formed by Duran Duran

1987 — The Liv­ing Day­lights — “The Liv­ing Day­lights” per­formed by a-ha

1989 — License To Kill - “License To Kill” per­formed by Gladys Knight

1995 — Gold­en­Eye — “Gold­en­Eye” per­formed by Tina Turner

1997 — Tomor­row Never Dies — “Tomor­row Never Dies” per­formed by Sheryl Crow

1999 — The World Is Not Enough — “The World Is Not Enough” per­formed by Garbage

2002 — Die Another Day — “Die Another Day” per­formed by Madonna

2006 — Casino Royale - “You Know My Name” per­formed by Chris Cornell

2008 — Quan­tum Of Solace — “Another Way To Die” per­formed by Jack White & Ali­cia Keyes

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