#12 The World is Not Enough (Garbage)
Brosnan really didn’t have much luck when it came to theme tunes. “Shirley is the only person I can think of in the world of contemporary music who is the musical equivalent of Elektra” said David Arnold, and Shirley Manson sings the theme tune as a typical 90s Garbage song. The band, that is. Your mileage may vary on your view of that. I see it as perfectly decent song, if not as good as other Bond themes. Compared to Die Another Day, however...
#11 On Her Majesty's Secret Service (John Barry)
Some readers at this point are immediately thinking of Louis Armstrong. We have all the time in the world. It’s a wonderful tune, but the Bond theme for OHMSS is actually that haunting instrumental piece by John Barry. There was hints of it in the Spectre trailer which thrilled. An instrumental because Barry thought that getting the title into lyrics would prove cumbersome in the types of music generally accepted for Bond themes. It is a really great instrumental piece though, and like Diamonds are Forever above, the fact that this films theme would have been in the top 5 if the Louis Armstrong piece (specifically written and performed for the film, making it possibly the most famous of all Bond music) shouldn’t detract from that.
#10 You Only Live Twice (Nancy Sinatra)
One of the many things people remember fondly about You Only Live Twice. The opening credits have Nancy Sinatra sing this threnody of the Connery Bond era, as lava pits explode, and the words “Written by Roald Dahl” show up. It sets the scene for what should, on paper, be greatness. Sinatra’s tune is frequently thought of, as the quintessential Bond theme: it was used for Robbie William’s Millenium. Starting off, I planned to have it in the bottom three, but as you listen to it again and again, it just becomes too good a track to leave out of the top ten. I’m not really a fan of Nancy Sinatra, but she fits in here. The lyrics are simple, and haunting, and seem to work as a coda for the entire Connery era, which, at time of recording, this seemed set to be the final film for.
#9 The Living Daylights (Aha)
Apparently when Adele was worried she wasn’t right for a Bond theme, the production team told her to think on the bright side, that she couldn’t be as bad as Aha. Poor Aha! Chosen over songs from The Pretenders and when the Pet Shop Boys pulled out, Aha had a storm relationship with John Barry, and the version of the song in the film is quite different from the song the band released on their own album.
#8 A View to a Kill (Duran Duran)
It’s Duran Duran! How wonderfully 80s. Actually, I quite like sections of Duran Duran’s work (Come Undone, Ordinary World) and this is a fine song, even if Barry and the band didn’t get on. Although, your taste for the song might depend on your view of 80s pop: Mandy thinks it is cheesy as hell and hates this song!
#7 Diamonds Are Forever (Shirley Bassey)
Seen as a lesser tune to Goldfinger, which is a bit unfair. I mean, fair enough, it is, but Eleanor Rigby is arguably a lesser tune to Yesterday, and we don’t unfairly look at either as a result! This is a great song, Bassey hitting all the right notes (and finding all the euphemisms in the lyrics), with just the right hint of tragedy. “I don’t need love, because what good could love do?” A story of the tormented and the tormentors, all wrapped up in their own driven self-desires, be they diamonds or vengeance, and so many wind up driven to their own demise, physically and spiritually. Despite the glitter and the razzmatazz, Diamonds is quite a sad film, and Bassey nails that. Highly underrated, Harry Saltzman famously hated it.
#6 Skyfall (Adele)
Easily the best Bond film of the Daniel Craig era, with the best theme to join it. Adele’s song is a grower, it lingers in the mind. What really sets it above some of its peers is the doom laden atmosphere the song has. “This is the end” she sings, which should set alarm bells ringing in even the least genre savvy of audiences. Opening credits filled with grave yard imagery, while Adele sings of “standing tall at Skyfall”, so when those lyrics become relevant in the actual film, the feeling of impending doom reaches deep inside the viewer. The atmosphere lifts it beyond the normal.
#5 GoldenEye (Tina Turner)
In 1995, Bond had been off the cinema screens for six years, the victim of a copyright wrangle. It returned with a new post-Cold War Bond, and in Tina Turner, it had another of the legends of soul. Turner belts out the track written by U2, and it resonates in a confident return to form. Plus, its the soundtrack of the video game.
I am heavily biased towards GoldenEye, it was my introduction to the series as a child.
#4 James Bond Theme (Monty Norman and John Barry)
One of the most instantly recognisable riffs in movie history. It takes its cue from the guitar shredding rock music of the likes of Dick Dale. No matter which side you take in the authorship debate, Monty Normans or John Barrys, the fact remains it is a sublime piece of music, an adrenaline pumping declaration of intent ready to float in and revive the most moribund of scenes. It is a song which works no matter the styling it is given in the movie: jazz variation, sympthony, slow, fast, brass, guitar.
#3 Nobody Does it Better (Carly Simon)
It would be a terrible injustice if a song was called that and then merely mediocre. Like raiiiiiiiiin on your wedding day, even. Luckily, Marvin Hamlisch was up to the challenge, Carly Simon was a great singer, and the song itself is a great song, full stop. That it ranks only third is a testament to the quality at the top, rather than a mark against Simon's efforts. It has the exact opposite effect of Man With the Golden Gun, which was its predecessor. Here, we have a class Sager lyrics song right at the moment the franchise needed a boost.
It is the perfect cherry on top of a film which does nearly everything perfectly.
#2 Goldfinger (Shirley Bassey)
From the moment Shirley Bassey’s unmistakable voice belts out the name “Goldfinger” full belt, this is a track which makes you sit up and take notice. The opening credits, in which scenes from the film are played as frames shown in reflection over a golden model, are some of the best of the series, and they, combined with Bassey’s belting performance, really make the series come alive. It’s light and day away from the friendly jaunting tune of From Russia with Love – this song is cold, loud, forewarning, and thrilling. It even makes some resemblance of sense with the film itself, which is always a bonus. A perfect combination of singer, John Barry and Big Jim Sullivan and co.
#1 Live and Let Die (Paul McCartney and Wings)
It helps when your old producer is the composer for a Bond film. When George Martin heard Paul McCartney's (and Wings) effort for the theme tune for Live and Let Die, he knew he was onto a winner. He loved it. He let Saltzman hear it, and the immediate response was that the producers loved it too, and wondered who could perform it for the film. Martin’s response was that Macca performed it, or they didn’t get the song. It shouldn’t fit the film at all. A Scouse rock song doesn’t tend to be the build up for a Harlem and New Orleans based tale. And yet, it works to ground the film, allowing it to be more than what the producers were originally intended. Which might be my handwaving of “style-clashes work when Paul McCartney is involved” and, then, yeah, guilty as charged. The instrumental screech is one of the most recognisable tunes in 70s music, let alone Bond themes.
So there we have it. Next time Bond comes up, we'll be looking at the villainous henchmen. Who takes a bite out of the opposition? We'll see supernatural entities, femme fatales, world weary assassins, super humans and midgets. Who will come out on top? My money's on Milton Krest...
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