Diamonds Are Forever by the incomparable Shirley Bassey (like the song she did with the Propellerheads, too, though it’s not a Bond theme).
The best is the original Bond theme by Barry. May Moby be stricken of every dollar he made for that awful electronic thing that tries to take its place.
BraheSilver, that is the best thing about Golfinger! As the theme plays thru the movie, it is still essentially the original Bond theme.
Live and Let Die, Octopussy and Diamonds are Forever
- A view to a kill
- The world is not enough
- The spy who loved me (Nobody does it better)
- Live and let die
- You only live twice
Last by a mile: Madonna.
I like the theme that said, “The hero always nails a good looking broad.”
Oh, you meant musical theme…
Live and Let Die
Goldfinger
The Living Daylights (only because I’m an 80’s A-ha fan)
The calypso theme from Dr No.
We have all the time in the world, sung by Satchmo.
I kinda like Tina Turner’s Goldeneye, since it works as a pastisch on the Shirley Bassey tunes. It helped putting Bond back on track ()even though it’s derailing again).
And yes, the Bassey songs - Goldfinger + Diamonds are forever are the best, followed by the bullhorn from Wales in Thunderball, Sir Paul w. Wings Live and Let Die with honorable mentions to For your eyes only + Nobody does it better.
Worst: Bond '77, the disco version of the original theme.
My top six:[list=1]
[li]OHMSS[/li][li]Goldfinger[/li][li]Live and Let Die[/li][li]Nobody Does It Better (TSWLM)[/li][li]Moonraker[/li][li]For Your Eyes Only[/li][/list=1]
Least favorite: All Time High
I love James Bond movie music. If I had to choose a top 6, they’d be:
Goldfinger
View to A Kill
Live and Let Die
Nobody Does It Better
Living Daylights
Goldeneye
But it’s a tough call.
Can’t stand All Time High and For Your Eyes Only
What about License to Kill?
Goldfinger. I also have a soft spot for Goldeneye.
I think technically it’s out of the running, but we should also mention k.d. lang’s Surrender, used for the end credits of Tomorrow Never Dies. Big show-stopping brassiness in the best Shirley Bassey tradition. Why it wasn’t at the other end of the movie I’ll never understand, unless it was because they couldn’t handle the idea of a Known Lesbian singing a song during the traditional naked-ladies-on-trampolines sequence. They used that insipid Sheryl Crow tune instead. Fie! Criminal, I tell you!
The World is Not Enough could have been great if they’d had a stronger singer handling the vocals. In my mind, the true Bond tradition pretty much demands some real pipes: Shirley Manson can rock, but in my mind she just wasn’t right for the part. k.d. lang, now. There’s somebody with the chops.
A View to a Kill was the song that killed my fandom for Duran Duran. Why on earth didn’t they write a song that was comfortably in Simon LeBon’s range? Whiny, whiny, whiny. Eeugh.
Actually, on Saturday they had a show on CBC radio dealing with Bond music. They played “never released” them songs… such as:
For Your Eyes Only - By Blondie
Goldfinger - By some guy that did some of the music for Dr. Doolittle (it was awful!)
You Only Live Twice - Can’t remember the name, but it was OK.
Various other newer versions. I thought the Blondie one was kind of interesting… it sounded just like a, well, Blondie song.
Hard to choose a single best song, actually. Here’s my top five as of today:
Goldfinger, at number one with a bullet.
-
Live and Let Die
-
Diamonds are Forever
-
John Barry’s theme for OHMSS
-
A View to a Kill; one of the best things the Durans ever did, IMHO
Honourable Mention:
Nobody Does it Better (than Carly Simon)
I had to bump this to change my answer.
- Tomorrow Never Dies
- Diamonds are Forever
- The World Is Not Enough
- All Time High
- From Russia With Love (with vocals)
Sorry but I don’t rate ‘All time high’, Rita Struggles(and fails) to make the long high notes, she has to slide up to them and still misses by a mile, and the few times she does hit them, again she slide upward but arrives to late and the moment is lost.
‘Live & let die’, the changes of pace and feel make it perhaps the most innovative of Bond themes.
The James Bond theme(John Barry), that riff is almost a signature for the Bond character.
Goldfinger.
Definately the original James Bond Riff… (Is it John Barry? Whatever song that plays when he’s pulling a “macgyver-success-out-of-the-jaws-of-certain-defeat-armed-with-a-washcloth-and-a-pen-knife-saves-the-girl-and-still-orders-the-Dom-Perignon-'53” song…
I liken it to the classic “Captain Kirk-fight-the-alien” Song…
D.
That would be my pick as well!
The original Bond theme was credited to Monty Norman, not John Barry. That said, it is widely believed that the tune is 90% Barry’s work, as he himself claims, although Norman did successfully sue the Sunday Times over the matter - http://www.geocities.com/jaoll/barry/lawsuit.htm.
Anyway, I love John Barry’s film music, my favourite Bond theme being You Only Live Twice.
I like it too. Except it’s Licence to Kill.
My favorites are, in no real order:
Diamond are Forever
All Time High
Goldfinger
Licence to Kill
For Your Eyes Only
Nobody Does it Better
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
The Man with the Golden Gun