# What's the best Bond theme song? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 2, 2010, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-bond-theme-song/548885 "2010-08-02T13:48:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angel_of_the_lord/32/2949_2.png) [@Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angel_of_the_Lord)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-bond-theme-song/548885/41 "2010-08-03T14:48:50Z")
I’m sorry, is everyone in this thread old? Like. . .over thirty or something? 😃 The best Bond song is _clearly_ “You Know My Name” from the Daniel Craig _Casino Royale_. I mean. . .it has Chris Cornell. He was in _Soundgarden_! He’s, like, totally awesome. . . .okay, in all seriousness, to my ear, that _is_ the best one. It keeps the tone of the Bond songs while updating it with some rock, which makes it a lot more palatable to me. Most of the other themes were just too soft for a series that had a lot of action–though I’m not a huge fan of any pop-style music, so that’s probably a factor. It’s very. . .nice, and raw, and awesome. I love it, both as a Bond theme and on its own. Blasphemy, I know. ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-bond-theme-song/548885/42 "2010-08-03T15:03:58Z")
> [@Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](#): > > I’m sorry, is everyone in this thread old? Like. . .over thirty or something? 😃 > > The best Bond song is _clearly_ “You Know My Name” from the Daniel Craig _Casino Royale_. I mean. . .it has Chris Cornell. He was in _Soundgarden_! He’s, like, totally awesome. > > . . .okay, in all seriousness, to my ear, that _is_ the best one. It keeps the tone of the Bond songs while updating it with some rock, which makes it a lot more palatable to me. Most of the other themes were just too soft for a series that had a lot of action–though I’m not a huge fan of any pop-style music, so that’s probably a factor. It’s very. . .nice, and raw, and awesome. I love it, both as a Bond theme and on its own. Blasphemy, I know. I like the way it builds… and builds… and builds at the end. Like, Bond is coming for you. He’s coming. He’s coming, and he’s going to kill you, and he’s not going to stop until you are dead. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-bond-theme-song/548885/43 "2010-08-03T15:27:14Z")
> [@a35362](#): > > I like the way it builds… and builds… and builds at the end. Like, Bond is coming for you. He’s coming. He’s coming, and he’s going to kill you, and he’s not going to stop until you are dead. Or he’s spent. ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-bond-theme-song/548885/44 "2010-08-03T15:34:52Z")
Okay, made me snicker. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![kenner116](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecb155/32.png) [@kenner116](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenner116)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-bond-theme-song/548885/45 "2010-08-03T16:20:54Z")
I voted Goldfinger for best song as a Bond theme, but the only songs I regularly listen to are “View to a Kill”, “You Know My Name” and “Live and Let Die”. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-bond-theme-song/548885/46 "2010-08-03T16:24:15Z")
There is only one possible choice. Goldfinger. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-bond-theme-song/548885/47 "2010-08-03T16:39:29Z")
[_The_ James Bond Theme](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Bond_Theme), first used in [Dr. No](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dSpoKZWb2Y) (0:14 - 1:27) and every “official” Bond movie since. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-bond-theme-song/548885/48 "2010-08-03T22:52:56Z")
[quote=“a35362, post:42, topic:548885”] > [@Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](#): > > Like, Bond is coming for you. He’s coming. He’s coming, and he’s going to kill you, and he’s not going to stop until you are dead. He’s _George Washington?!_ ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-bond-theme-song/548885/49 "2010-08-03T22:59:23Z")
Wow, if there was ever a Bond song where the Emperor had no clothes, it’s the dreadful _L&LD_. The lyrics have nothing to do with anything, there’s only one verse (barely), and the action bridge wants to be badass but comes across as repetitively stupid. 1st place? Ugh. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![kidneyfailure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9f8e36/32.png) [@kidneyfailure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidneyfailure)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-bond-theme-song/548885/50 "2010-08-03T23:34:19Z")
Come on, people. The best Bond theme is The Living Daylights. Terrible movie, wonderful song. No, I am not joking. ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2010, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-bond-theme-song/548885/51 "2010-08-04T00:05:21Z")
Indecision… arrgghhh. 🙂 OK, finally voted for On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, although, technically, it does not have an opening theme song (just an instrumental piece) and “We have all the time in the world” is the love song, not the title track, but… Goldfinger was doing very nicely without my vote and the Louis Armstrong song is just so good. Top 5: [ol] [li]We have all the time in the world[/li][li]Goldfinger[/li][li]Thunderball[/li][li]Nobody does it better (also from the first Bond movie I ever saw).[/li][li]Dr. No original theme.[/li][/ol] Yes, over 30… why do you ask? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2010, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-bond-theme-song/548885/52 "2010-08-04T01:02:45Z")
> [@kidneyfailure](#): > > Come on, people. The best Bond theme is The Living Daylights. Terrible movie, wonderful song. > > No, I am not joking. I’ve got your back on this. Seriously. It _is_ a good song. So’s the [Pretenders song that closes the movie](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsTBYQ-jZDk). ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2010, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-bond-theme-song/548885/53 "2010-08-04T01:06:08Z")
I’m kind of surprised that no one’s picked [“Underneath the Mango Tree”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-3Qtu6YA9s), from **Dr. No** , yet. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2010, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-bond-theme-song/548885/54 "2010-08-04T02:43:23Z")
I have to go with “Goldfinger”. There are technically better opening title songs, but none that so well accompany and indemnify a Bond movie, especially one that is both as iconic and irrational as _Goldfinger_. Duran Duran’s _A View To A Kill_ is uncommonly catchy, but also, like Roger Moore’s performance, just hasn’t aged well, harkening back to a very cheesy decade for both Bond films and music in general. (Ditto, in its own way, for “Thunderball”.) Shirley Bassey nails it with a brassy, big band backing, and like a good Bond theme, it talks to his opponent rather than Bond himself. The theme to “Dr. No” just isn’t jelled as the classic Bond theme, despite having Monty Norman’s signature guitar riff. The Dalton/Brosnan era themes all blend together for me, like the films; I expected something more standout from Gladys Knight, Tina Turner, and Sheryl Crow. (I didn’t expect much from Garbage or Madonna, and got exactly what I paid for.) The lounge lizard themes from _From Russia to Love_, _Thunderball_ and _Octopussy_ are yawn-inducing. McCartney’s “Live and Let Die” may be the best thing he did post-Beatles, but it didn’t work as a Bond theme (although, to be fair, neither did the film). I have an uncommon–perhaps unique–affection for the Jack White/Alicia Keyes atonal “Another Way to Die” from _Quantum of Solace_, although the severely hobbled version that accompanied the film is much inferior to the full version (available on the soundtrack album), and think that it suits the “New Bond” very well while still harkening to the big band sound. It’s the first post-Barry title song that really sounds like a Bond film. (“You Know My Name” could have been there if not for the hoarse screeching of Chris Cornell, who I like otherwise but not for voicing a Bond song.) Since it doesn’t qualify as a credit song per se, I didn’t consider Louis Armstrong’s “We Have All The Time In The World”, the love ballad theme to _On Her Majesty’s Secret Service_, but this is actually one of my favorite songs, period, especially the way John Barry managed to integrate it into other parts of the soundtrack. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![In\_Winnipeg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a8b319/32.png) [@In\_Winnipeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/In_Winnipeg)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2010, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-bond-theme-song/548885/55 "2010-08-04T04:32:08Z")
What, no Max Power? ---
**Author:** ![DragonAsh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/db5fbb/32.png) [@DragonAsh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DragonAsh)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2010, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-bond-theme-song/548885/56 "2010-08-04T11:28:25Z")
_The Spy Who Loved Me_. All the others are fighting for second place (which I’d give to _Casino Royale)_ Incidentally - I was shocked, shocked, I tell you, to realize recently that many of the older Bond movies have not aged well. At all. Many of them are almost unwatchable…as a Bond fan it was a major shock. ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2010, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-bond-theme-song/548885/57 "2010-08-04T11:42:00Z")
I tried to watch _Dr. No_ a year or two ago and it looked like an Austin Powers movie to me. ---
**Author:** ![seosamh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@seosamh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seosamh)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2010, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-bond-theme-song/548885/58 "2010-08-04T12:12:22Z")
So far I’m the only twit to vote for _From Russia With Love_, principally because of Matt Monro’s voice. Of course, the song appeared over the closing credits rather than at the start. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2010, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-bond-theme-song/548885/59 "2010-08-04T13:20:33Z")
> [@a35362](#): > > I tried to watch _Dr. No_ a year or two ago and it looked like an Austin Powers movie to me. I pick Soul Bossa Nova! ---
**Author:** ![riasboytoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@riasboytoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/riasboytoy)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2011, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-bond-theme-song/548885/60 "2011-06-09T23:34:30Z")
hands down the best is You Know Your Name! Not only is it sung by the best vocalist on the planet but that song just plain rocks! I can give a second place nod to Live and Let Die with Nobody Does It Better a close third, but c’mon! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-bond-theme-song/548885.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-bond-theme-song/548885.md?page=4)