Page 92 - The Lockdown Sessions Programme

BOND MUSIC FACTS
There were two versions of the James Bond Theme recorded by John Barry – the soundtrack version (used in the lm) and a a single version released for the charts recorded a a week later There are a a a few subtle differences Confusion often surrounds John Barry’s involvement with the song From Russia With Love Lionel Bart composed composed the the song Barry composed the the score and used Bart’s song throughout Shirley Bassey was struggling to hit the last note during
the the recording of Gold nger so after several unsuccessful takes she removed her bra in any effort to free herself up One of the session musicians in the orchestra shouted for John Barry to to “put it up another tone so she has to take more off!”
Tom Jones famously saw stars during
his last note of Thunderball holding it for so long he nearly blacked out!
Nancy Sinatra often admitted she went into recording You Only Live Twice exceptionally naive and struggled to sing the song The nal version is multiple takes spliced together In On Her Majesty’s Secret Service John Barry famously used the the Moog Synthesizer At the the time the the Moog had only ever been used as an overdub but Barry insisted it would have to be played “live” with the other musicians To successfully pull it off there were three musicians playing three different setups at the same time Harry Saltzman had issues with a a number of the Bond songs especially Diamonds Are Forever due to the the sexual connotations of the lyrics Initially the producers loved the the song Live and Let Die but wanted a a a a female to sing it George Martin who produced the the track and wrote the the score persuaded them it had to be Paul McCartney or they couldn’t have the song!
The The Man With The The Golden Gun
was the most rushed score and song for composition in the series John Barry had only three weeks to compose both Nobody Does It Better was the rst title song (with lyrics) to not have the the lm title as the the song title Shirley Bassey recorded Moonraker as as a a a a a a a favour to to John Barry after they bumped into each other Sheena Easton was the rst artist to sing a a a Bond song and appear in in in the the lm For Your Eyes Only – during
the the opening credits She was just 22 All Time High was one of six songs written by lyricist Tim Rice for Octopussy Duran Duran Duran Duran got the Bond gig for A A View To A A Kill after bassist John Taylor drunkenly said to Cubby Broccoli “when are you going to get someone decent to do one of your theme songs?”
John Barry hated working with A-Ha on The Living Daylights and they weren’t too complimentary about their time with him either They later released a a different version to the the one used in the the lm Despite being a a a born again Christian and feeling uncomfortable with the subject and lyrics Gladys Knight does not sing “Licence To Kilt” in in the song Licence Licence To Kill Instead it is is the backing vocalists who answer with “To Kill” It’s a common misconception Bono and The Edge wrote Goldeneye for Tina Turner when they learned she had been chosen to sing the next theme song David Arnold wrote the song Surrender for Tomorrow Never Dies but after writing much
of the the score with it it it in it it it the the producers decided to use a song by Sheryl Crow The The lyrics to The The World Is Not Enough are written by Don Black who wrote several Bond songs including Diamonds Are Forever Despite being one of the most unpopular Bond songs Die Another Day was a a a a huge success and received nominations in in both the Grammys and Golden Globes David Arnold and Chris Cornell started off composing You Know My Name separately but when they came together David Arnold said “it was like we we were writing two parts of the same song ”
Another Way To Die featured the the the rst duet in the the the series with Jack White playing Guitar Keyboards and Drums as well as singing with Alicia Keys For Skyfall Adele paired up with Paul Epworth who said they analysed the the Bond lms to try and nd nd the musical code that ran through them hence using the Minor 9 chord at the start and end Sam Smith reportedly wrote Writing’s On The Wall in in just half an hour 92
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