The music of James Bond

The "Bond Music Style" is so familiar to people, that it sometimes seems as though it was always there. But if fact it took a lot of effort to establish all the recognisable facets of this style. Monty Norman had scored most of the first movie "Dr. No" but neither he nor the film-makers were completely satisfied that they had captured the essence of Bond. John Barry was brought in and orchestrated one of Norman's songs on electric guitar, and the unmistakeable Bond Theme had arrived. Barry was asked to score the next film "From Russia with Love" which had a theme tune and incidental music incorporating elements of the Bond theme and its style. The theme song for the next film "Goldfinger" was written to be larger than life and Shirley Bassey was asked to sing it in her powerful voice.

By now all the elements of the Bond Style were fully established and that format continued throughout the series, with John Barry staying on as composer for many years. A few other composers did one-off stints with Bond films, and there were several attempts to update the format and introduce pop songs and artists. It wasn't until the late 90s that David Arnold successfully updated the mix by introducing techno beats into the high-octane chase sequences, and Arnold has remained as the resident Bond composer every since. The recent Daniel Craig movies have reinvented the series and the music has also gone "Back to Basics". The latest film "Quantum of Solace" is in theatres now.

The Bond Composers

Here are the score composers for all the Bond films to date, including the original "Casino Royale" and "Never Say Never Again" though these films were made by different groups outside of the main franchise.

• Dr. No (1962) - Monty Norman
• From Russia with Love (1963) - John Barry
• Goldfinger (1964) - John Barry
• Thunderball (1965) - John Barry
• Casino Royale (1967) - Burt Bacharach
• You Only Live Twice (1967) - John Barry
• On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) - John Barry
• Diamonds Are Forever (1971) - John Barry
• Live and Let Die (1973) - George Martin
• The Man with the Golden Gun 1974) - John Barry
• The Spy Who Loved Me 1977) - Marvin Hamlisch
• Moonraker (1979) - John Barry
• For Your Eyes Only (1981) - Bill Conti
• Never Say Never Again (1983) - Michel Legrand
• Octopussy (1983) - John Barry
• A View To a Kill (1985) - John Barry
• The Living Daylights (1987) - John Barry
• Licence to Kill (1989) - Michael Kamen
• GoldenEye (1995) - Eric Serra
• Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) - David Arnold
• The World Is Not Enough (1999) - David Arnold
• Die Another Day (2002) - David Arnold
• Casino Royale (2006) - David Arnold
• Quantum of Solace (2008) - David Arnold

The Bond Songs

The Bond Song is a key part of the overall package, and more often than not the Song has the same Title as the films or include's the film's title within its lyrics. We have listed the title or main songs of all the Bond films below, with composers, lyricists and performers, but several films have other secondary songs used in to accompany the End Titles or as source music in the middle of the film. Notable additional songs include "Underneath the Mango Tree" from "Dr. No", "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" from "Thunderball", and "Do You Know How Christmas Trees are Grown" from "On Her Majesty's Secret Service". Many Bond Songs have done very well in the music charts, but others have failed to hit the mark.

• Dr. No: "Kingston Calypso" by Monty Norman - performed by John Barry Orchestra
• "From Russia with Love" by Lionel Bart - sung by Matt Monro
• "Goldfinger" by John Barry, Leslie Bricusse & Anthony Newley - sung by Shirley Bassey
• "Thunderball" by John Barry & Don Black - sung by Tom Jones
• "Casino Royale" by Burt Bacharach - performed by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass
• "You Only Live Twice" by John Barry and Leslie Bricusse - sung by Nancy Sinatra
• On Her Majesty's Secret Service: "We Have All the Time In The World" by John Barry - sung by Louis Armstrong
• "Diamonds Are Forever" by John Barry & Don Black - sung by Shirley Bassey
• "Live and Let Die" by Paul & Linda McCartney - performed by Paul McCartney and Wings
• "The Man with the Golden Gun" by John Barry and Don Black - sung by Lulu
• The Spy Who Loved Me: "Nobody Does It Better" by Marvin Hamlisch and Carole Bayer Sager - sung by Carly Simon
• "Moonraker" by John Barry and Hal David - sung by Shirley Bassey
• "For Your Eyes Only" by Bill Conti and Michael Leeson - sung by Sheena Easton
• "Never Say Never Again" by Michel Legrand, Alan & Marilyn Bergman - sung by Lani Hall
• Octopussy: "All Time High" by John Barry, Tim Rice & Stephen Short - sung by Rita Coolidge
• "A View To a Kill" by John Barry and John Taylor - performed by Duran Duran
• "The Living Daylights" by John Barry and Pal Waaktaar - performed by a-ha
• "Licence to Kill" by N. Michael Walden, Jeffrey Cohen & Walter Afanasieff - sung by Gladys Knight
• "GoldenEye" by Bono and The Edge - sung by Tina Turner
• "Tomorrow Never Dies" by Sheryl Crow and Mitchell Froom - sung by Sheryl Crow
• "The World Is Not Enough" by David Arnold and Don Black - performed by Garbage
• "Die Another Day" by Madonna and Mirwais Ahmadzai - sung by Madonna
• Casino Royale: "You Know my Name" by David Arnold and Chris Cornell - sung by Chris Cornell
• Quantum of Solace: "Another Way to Die" by Jack White - sung by Jack White and Alicia Keys

Further information and recommendations

Here are various links associated with James Bond music on the mfiles web-site, including score composer biographies and soundtracks reviews.

• John Barry - composer for 11 Bond films from "Thunderball" to "The Living Daylights"
• David Arnold - composer for 5 Bond films from "Tomorrow Never Dies" to "Quantum of Solace"
• George Martin - Beatles producer and composer for "Live and Let Die" with the Paul McCartney title song
• Marvin Hamlisch - famous song writer and composer for "The Spy Who Loved Me"
• Bill Conti - composer for all the Rocky films and "For Your Eyes Only"
• Michael Kamen - composer for "Licence to Kill"
• Eric Serra - composer for "GoldenEye"
• Michel Legrand - composer for "Never Say Never Again"
• Burt Bacharach - legendary song writer and composer for the original "Casino Royale"
• Casino Royale - review of this soundtrack by David Arnold
• Live and Let Die - review of this soundtrack by George Martin
• The Best of Bond - superb album recreating Bond songs and instrumental tracks
• James Bond: The Gold Edition - a double album of instrumental Bond music, with a 20+ page booklet on the history of Bond music

Here are a selection of external links to sites associated with the music of the James Bond films.

• James Bond 007 Collection - a great Sheet Music Book, available for piano and other instruments
• Monty Norman - the website of the "Dr No" composer lets you listen to the original song "Bad Sign, Good Sign" which became the James Bond Theme
• John Barry - website of the man who crafted the "James Bond Music Style"
• David Arnold - website of the current established Bond composer
• James Bond - official film website now focussing on "Quantum of Solace"