You don’t even realize
that the emotion of the music
is what makes you
enjoy the movie!
Have you ever been amazed by the music when you are watching a movie?
Do the songs take you back to an influential and certain time in your life?
Soundtracks help you create unforgettable memories; nowadays it is almost impossible to find the release of a movie that does not have influential music content. The music serves as reinforcement at critical moments and can even replace unnecessary dialogues. It also sustains the structure of the narrative giving a sense of continuity to the film.
A character that has been seen for several generations, where the soundtrack plays an important role, is James Bond.
Each installment of the saga along with its soundtrack accompanies the identity of the secret agent according to the time in which the story takes place and as you have surely seen, the songs included in the James Bond films have always been performed by contemporary artists such as Nancy Sinatra, Paul McCartney, Tina Tuner, Duran Duran, Chris Cornell, Sheryl Crow, Madona, Alicia Keys, Adele, Sam Smith or Billie Eilish, many of them awarded for their performances. With each installment, the great expectation among fans grows, to find out who will personify James Bond or who will oversee its soundtrack.
1962, 007: James Bond: Theme
The main theme of the saga was composed by Monty Norman and performed by John Barry who made the arrangements and is the main theme that identifies the action scenes of the character throughout the saga.
1967, You only live twice Nancy Sinatra
It belongs to the soundtrack of the fifth film, was composed by veteran John Barry and was sung by Nancy Sinatra, the first non-British performer to do so.
1973: Live and let die – Paul McCartney & Wings
This song was written by Paul and Linda McCartney and performed by Paul McCartney and Wings for the eighth James Bond film that had the same name as the song.
1997: Tomorrow Never Dies- Sheryl Crow
This is the 18th film soundtrack. The score was composed by David Arnold and the song was co-written by Sheryl Crow and the song’s producer Mitchell Froom and peaked at number 12 in the UK top 20 in 1997.
2002: Die Another Day- Madonna and Mirwais Ahmadzaï
The singer and author of the main theme of this film said the following regarding this song: “I was hesitating for a while, precisely for that reason: Everyone wants to do the theme of the James Bond movies, and I’ve never liked it. doing what other people like to do. It’s just kind of perverse on me, right? So, I thought about it and I said, “You know what? James Bond needs some techno” Actually the song does differ from the classic musical representations of the secret agent, however, the single remained on the Billboard Singles chart for 11 weeks and was even nominated for a Golden Globe for best original song.
2012: Skyfall – Adele
For the 23rd version of James Bond, the British Adele, at just 24 years old, lent her voice to the main theme of the film, this was produced and co-written by Paul Epworth after a few years in which the music of the movie had not received the best reviews since Madona’s version, which had also been the last to be named exactly like the movie.
About Skyfall Adele admitted: “At first I was hesitant to get involved with the theme song for Skyfall. It’s just that being a Bond song generates a lot of attention and pressure. But I fell in love with the script and Paul had great ideas for the track that In the end, it ended up being easy to perform. Skyfall was recorded at London’s Abbey Road Studios and is backed by a large 77-piece orchestra.
2015: Writing’s on the Wall, Spectre – Sam Smith
It was written by Sam Smith in 2015 and received various criticisms as they compared it to other versions written for the James Bond saga. Only the instrumental version of the song appeared on the film’s official soundtrack album. Despite this, the song won the Golden Globe for Best Original Song at the Golden Globes and the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2012.
2020: No time to Die – Billie Eilish
This is the soundtrack of version number 25 of the James Bond film No time to Die with the same name. Finneas O’Connell was a co-writer and producer of the track and it is the singer’s brother who is played by Billie Eilish. Orchestration of the songs was in charge of Hans Zimmer who has already won two Grammy Awards and was included in the list of the 100 greatest living geniuses.
