James Bond music

The James Bond series of films from EON Productions has had numerous signature tunes over the years, many of which are now considered classic pieces of cinematic music. The best known of these pieces of music was the ubiquitous "James Bond Theme." Many other pieces of instrumental music have also become identified with the series, such as "The 007 Theme", "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" theme, and various songs such as Shirley Bassey's "Goldfinger", "Diamonds Are Forever", and "Moonraker", Duran Duran's "A View To A Kill", Nancy Sinatra's "You Only Live Twice", Paul McCartney's "Live and Let Die", Tina Turner's "GoldenEye", Carly Simon's "Nobody Does it Better" and Sheena Easton's "For Your Eyes Only".

James Bond Theme

007

"007" (sometimes referred to as the "007 Theme", not to be confused with the "James Bond Theme"), is an adventure theme composed by John Barry in 1963 for the Bond film, "From Russia with Love". [ [http://www.mi6.co.uk/sections/movies/frwl_music.php3?t=mi6&s=music MI6 :: From Russia With Love (1963) :: James Bond 007 ] ] "The John Barry Seven" had pop chart hit with a cover version of Elmer Bernstein's theme to "The Magnificent Seven" that featured seven beats repeated throughout the theme. Barry used seven beats throughout the 007 theme

It became a secondary theme for the Bond films, being used in quite a few Bond movies, primarily during action scenes. Here are its most notable appearances:

*"From Russia with Love" — Played during the gypsy camp gunfight and also during Bond's theft of the Lektor decoder from the Russian embassy in Istanbul.
*"Thunderball" — Played when Bond runs from SPECTRE during a parade and when he joins the climactic underwater fight.
*"You Only Live Twice" — Played during the flight of "Little Nellie" before Bond battles four helicopters that attack him.
*"Diamonds Are Forever" — Played during Bond's destruction of Blofeld's Headquarters.
*"Moonraker" — Played during the Amazon river chase.

The theme has not been featured in its entirety in a Bond movie since its use in "Moonraker".

This piece of music was also used by Philadelphia KYW-TV and Chicago WLS-TV television stations as the theme music for its evening news programs.

"Suspense" Motif

Like John Barry, David Arnold has left his own mark in the music of James Bond. In this case, he has established what can be called the "suspense motif", which is a descending, repetitive four-note motif that can be heard in most of the Bond movies he has scored, starting with "Tomorrow Never Dies". It is usually an underlying motif playing under the main melody, and is usually orchestrated with piano trills, high strings, horns, blaring trumpets, and an underlying snare drum. This motif can be heard in:

*"Tomorrow Never Dies" — "Station Break", "*-3-Send", "Underwater Discovery"
*"The World Is Not Enough" — "Pipeline", "Submarine"
*"Die Another Day" — "Antonov"
*"Casino Royale" — "Miami International", "Dirty Martini", and very briefly in "African Rundown"

Composers (EON Productions)

The biggest contribution to the James Bond series, save for the "James Bond Theme", are works from John Barry. In addition to his uncredited contribution to "Dr. No", Barry composed eleven Bond soundtracks and is credited with the creation of "007" (dominated by brass and percussion) and the popular orchestral theme "On Her Majesty's Secret Service".

Next to Barry, David Arnold is the series' most regular composer. He has composed the score for four James Bond films in succession, from "Tomorrow Never Dies" to the series' most recent entry, "Casino Royale". His Barry-esque orchestrations combined with electronic rhythm elements gave the Brosnan era its musical identity. Arnold will also provide the score for Quantum of Solace.

Other major composers and record-producers include George Martin, Bill Conti, Michael Kamen, Marvin Hamlisch and Éric Serra.

*Dionne Warwick's performance of "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" is never actually heard in "Thunderball"; it was originally to have been the opening credits theme, but this was changed when Albert Broccoli decreed the theme had to include the title of the film. The melody of "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" is heard throughout the film; Warwick's version was finally released in the 1990s.
*The original end title theme to "The World Is Not Enough" was "Only Myself To Blame", composed by David Arnold and Don Black, and sung by Scott Walker, but was left out of the final film and replaced by an Arnold arrangement of the "James Bond Theme". "Blame" was, however, left on the "The World Is Not Enough" soundtrack album.
*Matt Monro's vocal rendition of "From Russia with Love" is often considered the official theme song for that film, even though the opening credits use an instrumental version that also incorporates the "James Bond Theme." Monro's version isn't heard until about 15 minutes into the movie over a radio, and again over the closing titles.

Official Foreign Songs

Some songs have been dubbed for the foreign versions of the movies. (To be completed)

*The closing credits of "Casino Royale" use a vocal version of "Casino Royale" sung by Mike Redway, who remains officially uncredited.

Unofficial Secondary Songs

References

* [http://www.listology.com/content_show.cfm/content_id.10101 Listology.com's rating of the James Bond Theme Songs #1]
* [http://www.listology.com/content_show.cfm/content_id.25361/Music Listology.com's rating of the James Bond Theme Songs #2]

External links

* [http://www.montynorman.com/ montynorman.com]
* [http://www.geocities.com/jaoll/barry/lawsuit.htm Detailed account] of a court proceeding between Monty Norman and John Barry re: The "James Bond Theme", including musicological breakdowns of the theme itself.Dead link|date=August 2008