The Bond theme is a mighty accolade for any recording artist – an honour now generally reserved for the hottest acts in music. A great Bond song not only defines the identity of the film but can evoke everything a Bond film is about – the excitement, that sense of the exotic, and the action that’s so specifically Bond. Think those big, stirring notes from Goldfinger, the clang-a-lang opening of Nobody Does it Better, or the thumping adrenaline of Live and Let Die.
With the wait for Bond 26 now creeping into the longest wait between 007 films ever, the closest we have to a new official Bond song is Lana Del Ray’s First Light, the title track for a new Bond video game of the same name. The song, a classic Bond ballad with plenty of atmosphere build and dramatic horns, was written by David Arnold, who has scored five Bonds to date. It sounds like a tribute to the Bond greats.
This isn’t Lana Del Ray’s first time dealing with the Bond-verse. The American singer previously wrote the track 24 a potential theme for Spectre (2015) but was rejected in favour of Sam Smith’s Writing’s on the Wall. Del Ray joined a long list of artists whose Bond songs didn’t make the grade.
Here are eight songs that were rejected as should-have-been Bond classics.
Thunderball, Johnny Cash
The film: Thunderball (1965)
Who got the gig: Tom Jones
Mission debrief: Much like the idea of George Lazenby continuing after On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, or Timothy Dalton starring in GoldenEye, this remains a curious “what if?” from Bond history – the Man in Black singing over the Bond titles. Following the success of Shirley Bassey’s Goldfinger – the first truly iconic Bond theme – Johnny Cash tried his hand at writing a theme for the fourth Bond adventure. It’s unknown whether he was asked to write the song (though that seems unlikely) but it was turned down regardless.
“Thunderball, your fiery breath can burn the coldest man, and who is going to suffer from the power in your hand” sang Cash. “Somewhere, there is a man who could stop the thing in time, he is known by very few but he’s feared by all in crime.” The song was unheard for almost 50 years and included on the Bootleg Vol II: From Memphis to Hollywood album. It’s more Cash than Bond – unless Bond ever feels inclined to ride into a dusty Old West town on horseback, that is.
Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang – Dionne Warwick/Shirley Bassey
The film: Thunderball (1965)
Who got the gig: Neither of them
Mission Debrief: Cash wasn’t the only artist rejected for Thunderball, which represented the peak of “Bondmania”. Classic Bond composer John Barry hated the name Thunderball – a bit of Bondian gibberish – and wrote a ditty with lyricist Leslie Bricusse called Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, taken from the Italian nickname for 007. They brought in Dione Warwick to record it but, under pressure from United Artists, producers Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman scrapped the song – they needed a song that would belt out the film’s title on radio (cue Tom Jones’s walloping “Thunderbaaalll!!” vocals).
Interestingly, Barry brought in Shirley Bassey to re-record Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang for potential use over the end titles. But, as remembered in Jon Burlingame’s book on Bond music, Bassey’s vocal performance wasn’t quite up to scratch and the song was canned again. Bassey’s company went on to sue the producers and attempted to block the film release.
You Only Live Twice, Julie Rogers
The film: You Only Live Twice (1967)
Who got the gig: Nancy Sinatra
Mission debrief: Julie Rogers isn’t well remembered as a major name of `60s pop, but the English singer had a sizeable hit with The Wedding in 1964. And she was very nearly the voice of Sean Connery’s fifth Bond film, recording a demo version of a song written again by Barry and Bricusse. The songwriters thought they could write something better, however, and went back to the drawing board.
As detailed in the epic book on Bond film history, Some Kind of Hero by Matthew Field and Ajay Chowdhury, there was a dispute over who should sing the theme. Harry Saltzman hired a music supervisor who argued Aretha Franklin should do it. Meanwhile, Cubby Broccoli went to see his good pal Frank Sinatra, which ultimately led Ol’ Blue Eyes’ daughter, Nancy – fresh off These Boots Are Made for Walking – singing a new version of the theme. Julie Rogers’ You Only Live Twice appeared on a Best of Bond album.
The Man with the Golden Gun, Alice Cooper
The film: The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)
Who got the gig: Lulu
Mission debrief: Roger Moore had been introduced with a musical bang in 1973, accompanied by Paul McCartney’s Live and Let Die – arguably the best Bond theme of all time. The song for Rodge’s follow-up adventure, however, The Man with the Golden Gun by Lulu was a golden dud – up there with the very worst. It could have been very different if the producers had gone with an alternative song from the gothy grandfather of shock-rock, Alice Cooper.
The song was written on spec and would feature on the Muscle of Love album. Cooper later explained that his song submission came “a day too late” and the producers had already enlisted Lulu. As Cooper told AV Club: “We went to every single one of those John Barry albums to try and invent the perfect James Bond song, and even Christopher Lee, who played Scaramanga in the movie, said, ‘Oh, man, why did we take the Lulu song? This song is the one!’” Very much in the spirit of Live and Let Die, it’s all thundering brass and chunky guitars – a top-tier would-be Bond theme.
For Your Eyes Only, Blondie
The film: For Your Eyes Only (1981)
Who got the gig: Sheena Easton
Mission debrief: Roger’s fifth entry (*raises eyebrow*) is also his most serious effort. But the song, written by Bill Conti and Mick Leeson and sung by Sheena Easton, is on the sappier side. Blondie almost offered up something more dramatic – a song that combines the familiar chimes of Atomic with Bondian adventure. Debbie Harry later recalled that the filmmakers had actually wanted her to sing their own track, but the band went ahead and wrote an original song.
Blondie’s version of For Your Eyes Only was rejected but was included on their next album, The Hunter. Listening now, it seems a little ahead of its time in terms of the classic Bond sound and certainly boots the Sheena Easton version off a cliff.
The Juvenile, Ace of Base
The film: Goldeneye (1995)
Who got the gig: Tina Turner, Bono, and The Edge
Mission debrief: The Swedish foursome and their reggae-inflected Euro pop should never have been anywhere near a Bond film (not to take anything away from certified bangers All That She Wants and The Sign, of course, but let’s get serious). Yet they were in the running for GoldenEye, Bond’s big 1990s comeback and the first film to star Pierce Brosnan as 007. According to Jon Burlingame, the (possibly apocryphal) story is that they weren’t actually rejected and their record label worried the film would bomb so pulled the tune from consideration. (The Ace of Base website says it was withdrawn due to “unforeseen events”.)
The song was retooled as the 2002 single, The Juvenile. You can hear the Bond pretensions in it – a big, moody ballad with a signature piano melody that’s tailormade for those opening titles. For better or worse, we ended up with Tina Turner honking out a tune by U2’s Bono and The Edge.
Tomorrow Never Lies, Pulp
The film: Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
Who got the gig: Sheryl Crow
Mission debrief: With Bond back as the biggest name in action cinema, MGM invited a number of bands to submit potential theme songs for Brosnan’s second adventure as 007. The infectious Northern whimsy of Pulp and Jarvis Cocker might seem an odd fit for the Bond-verse but they were a hot band at the time and joined the contest to pen the new theme.
Other acts who wrote potential themes were Duran Duran, Saint Etienne and Marc Almond. According to composer David Arnold, Pulp and the other acts didn’t necessarily know it was a competition. “They were under the impression that they were being asked to write the song for the Bond movie,” he said. Pulp released their version as a B-side to Help the Aged, and changed the title to Tomorrow Never Lies (a working title for the film) to avoid a copyright clash with Sheryl Crow’s official theme.
Spectre, Radiohead
The film: Spectre (2015)
Who got the gig: Sam Smith
Mission debrief: Lana Del Ray wasn’t alone in being rejected for Daniel Craig’s penultimate adventure. Radiohead submitted an unreleased track, Man of War, after being approached by the filmmakers. The song was already inspired by Bond – somewhere between the Casino Royale theme You Know My Name and Radiohead’s own Creep and Karma Police.
The producers wanted an original song, so Radiohead halted the recording of their album, A Moon Shaped Pool, to write a Spectre title track. (“That f—ing James Bond movie threw us a massive curveball,” producer Nigel Godrich told Rolling Stone about the album recording. “It was a real waste of energy.”) Producers went with Sam Smith’s atmospheric-but-iffy ballad Writing’s On the Wall, which sums up the bluster and disappointment of the eventual film. Radiohead released their Spectre as a Christmas treat for fans in 2015.
The Telegraph, London
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