Unused Bond Themes

[Skummy]

So that I'm not hijacking GoGo's Bond theme thread, I thought I'd go at the subject from a slightly different angle. Unused Bond themes; so much of the Bond music is so iconic that you couldn't imagine it being anything else...but, of course, there were others.

And here I celebrate a few.

Starting with one that a few EWBers are familiar with;

Johnny Cash - Thunderball

This one is bound to divide opinion more than just about anything else on this list. To me, this is a fantastic song, but I'm sure most people would agree that it doesn't scream "James Bond". That said, it's early in the series so, who knows? Things could have gone in a very different direction if we'd ended up with this one. Whereas the other songs in this list will mostly be other artists attempting to do something quintessentially "Bond", this is something quite different.

[Skummy]

Anthony Newley - GoldfingerWhile it was John Barry who wrote the music for every Bond theme worth caring about, it was Anthony Newley who wrote the lyrics to "Goldfinger", and was initially intended to perform it for the film itself, before Shirley Bassey stepped in.

I love this one. It's still camp, but it's subtle, and has more of an air of brooding menace to it than Shirley's version ever did.

[Skummy]

Shirley Bassey/Dionne Warwick - Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang BangDouble whammy for this one; "Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" was the intended original theme for "Thunderball" - meaning that movie alone pops up three times on this list.

Initially, it was recorded by Shirley Bassey - because why wouldn't it be? - but was later re-recorded with Dionne Warwick, presumably, because she was a little more relevant at the time.

I love this one. It has Bond written all over it, and could have acted as a theme from practically any Bond movie, were it not for the lack of a crowbarred in movie title. The lyrics are pure Bond, the music suitably bombastic.

Personally, I prefer Dame Shirley's version; it's classier and a little more understated.

[GoGo Yubari]

The Cash "Thunderball" is one of those ones where I think it's way better as a standalone song than as a Bond theme. The Newley "Goldfinger" arrangement is too jazzy, though there's definitely more of an air of a menace to it, I think because Newley's voice is a little creepy.

And of course you post another one after I finish that post!

[Skummy]

Lorraine Chandler - "You Only Live Twice"This is a really strange one, to me. One of the more iconic Bond themes, performed here by Lorraine Chandler.

Unlike the luscious opening strings of Nancy Sinatra's version, this does one of my favourite tricks of a Bond theme, and incorporates the main "007 Theme" into the new song. The vocals are also a lot more aggressive, and generally the theme is much more that of a "Bond song" than in Nancy's version. Unfortunately, it's just not very good.

Julie Rogers - You Only Live TwiceBefore either Nancy or Lorraine Chandler, though, there was this take on the theme, sung by Julie Rogers. This is generally identified as a "demo version", so it's not clear if Julie Rogers was ever intended as anything more than a vocal guide, or if this was seriously considered as the main theme. Again, the vocals are far more powerful and in the vein of Shirley Bassey than Nancy Sinatra, so it definitely has the feel of a great Bond theme, but just doesn't come close to Nancy Sinatra's version in my eyes, not just for the vocals, but for the lack of that gorgeous opening theme.

Again, it's possibly because it's a demo version, but this one seems really odd to me musically, incorporating a lot of stereotypically "Asian" sounds to fit the movie's Japanese setting, but they're just off-putting and distracting.



I'd also like to point out at this point that Bjork did an absolutely beautiful, nigh-on perfect cover version of this song, which you should listen to.


What is a shame is that John Barry allegedly first offered "You Only Live Twice" to Scott Walker, who at the time was in the midst of his first stab at a solo career, and was being seen by many within the music industry as the next big "crooner", with his manager attempting to groom him as the "new Sinatra". Sadly, Walker wasn't happy with being seen in that light, and turned Barry down. It would have been interesting to see what one of the best male vocalists of the era would have done with that song, and how different it could have been.

However, that brings us neatly to...

[Josh]

Yeah, Johnny's Thunderball is such an odd creature. It's basically just the title that has even the most remote Bond connection. It's like he had this homage to "Ghost Riders In The Sky" tucked away with only partial lyrics, he got the title as a sentence starter, then filled in with his usual tropes that only coincidentally overlap with Bond now and then (basically, crime and technology, but his views on both differ greatly from the franchise.) And as Skummy pointed out elsewhere, when he was finished he actually submitted it for the film. I feel like it displays an intentional disregard for pleasing the taste-makers AND a general ignorance toward what composes a British spy story. It ends up being this fantastic creation on its own, that belongs nowhere near a Bond film.

I hadn't yet heard the other 2 so far. I actually really like Newley's "Goldfinger". I totally expected to be choked with piano wire when the song finished. Warwick's version of "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" I could do without, but Bassey's is predictably pretty great. It's a far better theme than at least half of the actual canon, Bassey's "Moonraker" included.

And then you posted the 2 versions of "You Only Live Twice". The Lorraine Chandler one is just as generic as you can get. The title may as well be "Yet Another Bond Film". The Rogers version stands out a little more, but like you said, it's all down to really gimmicky "probably Asian" sounds. It's more museum curiosity than actual theme.

[Skummy]

Scott Walker - "Only Myself To Blame"Something of an oddity, this one.

This theme was written by David Arnold for "The World Is Not Enough", the logic behind it being that it would act as the movie's "love theme" - in a similar vein to "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" using Louis Armstrong's "We Have All The Time In The World". It was also intended to play over the end credits.

Instead, it was cut from the movie, as it was seen as slowing the pace down too much, and too much of a downer ending, and as such the song exists only on the soundtrack CD.

It's an oddity in terms of Scott Walker's career too, as by this point he had completely turned his back on the "crooner"/"lounge singer" role he had once played, and was recording some of the bleakest, most challenging music of his, or any other "pop" artist's career for that matter. This came almost exactly half-way between "Tilt" and "The Drift", two of the most uncompromisingly avant-garde albums of their time.


As for the song...I like it. It's got a great smoky bar-room lounge singer feel to it, and I think Walker's voice being a little older and more worn down than you might expect from the singer of a Bond theme adds it a lot of character. It's classy and cool, and while out of place in the more action-centric Brosnan run, wouldn't have stood out at all in an earlier Bond movie. Again, it just makes me wish we could have seen Scott Walker attempt a Bond theme in his youth.

[Josh]

The Scott Walker song is blocked in the US, and I'm not easily finding a stand-in version. Booooooooooo.

[Skummy]

Blondie - "For Your Eyes Only"

Okay, I fucking love this one. A couple of films later, Duran Duran would break with tradition by recording a main theme for "A View To A Kill" that sounded far more like any other Duran Duran song than it did like a Bond movie - it was a pop song, not a John Barry composition and, in many ways, it updated the Bond franchise to fit the 1980s. The music wasn't stuck in the past, and neither - in theory - were the films.

But it could have happened so much earlier! This is magnificent. It's brilliant, it's really fucking cool, it's got a sophisticated Bond swagger, but it's also undeniably Blondie. And, to me, it's timeless. Sheena Easton's song sounds dated and cheesy, whereas this feels like a kick up the arse in comparison. I fucking love it.

[GoGo Yubari]

Blocked in the US, so here's this. Wow. Waaaaaaaaay better than Sheena Easton.

[Skummy]

The Scott Walker song is blocked in the US, and I'm not easily finding a stand-in version. Booooooooooo.

Sadly, I actually had to upload that one myself. It seems like copyright claims have got to any previous videos of it on Youtube.

Shirley Bassey - "No Good About Goodbye"

Shirley Bassey is the last person you would expect to show up on a list of rejected Bond themes, let alone showing up twice. This one is taken from Quantum Of Solace, and is beautiful. It's pure Bassey, and while it doesn't always scream "Bond", it's close enough and, I reiterate, it's Shirley fucking Bassey.

Instead, we got Alicia Keys & Jack White.

Again, maybe the idea was to reject the traditional assumptions of what a Bond theme "was" in order to bring the series to a new audience but fuck off.

As a bonus, here's Joe Cornish's proposed Quantum Of Solace theme;

[Josh]

Yeah, the Blondie tune is pretty choice. It really does feel like it was rejected out of producers truly being scared of change.

Bassey's "No Good About Goodbye" is another that could fit with the canon just fine and be better than a lot. I don't outright hate the White/Keys tune like some do, but it's a shame Bassey's isn't attached to a film.

Sidenote: I really feel like Cee Lo Green could do a killer Bond theme if given the proper chance. Hell, I think there's a song on Lady Killer that more or less IS a Bond theme.

[Skummy]

Pet Shop Boys - "The Living Daylights"Yeah, I love you Pet Shop Boys, but no. It's only a demo version, so I should probably cut them some slack, but this is the least Bond thing I have ever heard.

[Lineker]

This is a fantastic thread! Keep this up Skummy.

[GoGo Yubari]

Yeah, rejecting the Bassey song was definitely them trying to distance themselves from Old Bond and release something more dissonant and jagged to fit the tone/be more modern. Like many things about Quantum of Solace, it was a mistake.

[Josh]

Ba ha ha. That Pet Shop Boys song feels like the theme to a Teenage James coming-of-age flick.

[Skummy]

Pulp - "Tomorrow Never Lies"The film was apparently initially titled "Tomorrow Never Lies", and so this film must have been recorded fairly early on in the production. I love this one, but I don't feel it sounds all that much like a Bond song. There's something about Jarvis singing about Bond that doesn't quite work - it feels completely outside his comfort zone as a nerdy outsider to be singing about the coolest man on the planet.

There are a lot of alternate themes for this movie; the main theme was selected from 12 submissions.

One of the coolest is this little number by Saint Etienne;

Saint Etienne, admittedly, are pretty consistently one of the coolest bands in the world, and I could have seen this one working for a 1990s Bond movie. Like pretty much every other submission for this film, it leans a little closer to the band's usual sound than to a conscious Bond theme, but lyrically this one is perfect, and musically I feel it's an appropriate update of the main Bond theme style to fit a late '90s movie.

And finally;

k.d. lang - "Surrender"
This was actually used for the end credits, but is just so much better than Sheryl Crow's theme it's ridiculous. Who'd have thought that K.D. Lang, of all people, would be able to flawlessly emulate a bit of Dame Shirley swagger? This is one which just has Bond theme written all over it.


EDIT: I have no idea why that last video isn't displaying properly.

[GoGo Yubari]

I actually like the k.d. lang song less than the Sheryl Crow song because it feels too "this is a Bond song," which is the same thing that plagues most of the Brosnan franchise. It's a good song, but it doesn't do anything I haven't heard before.

[Skummy]

Red Flag - "Beyond The Ice"This is another one where the title of the song reflects the film's working title; "Beyond The Ice" was a working title for Die Another Day.

I'll be honest, I haven't a fucking clue who Red Flag are. Wikipedia tells me that they are a synthpop band formed in 1984, and I am none the wiser.

I don't like this one. It's far better than the Madonna crap they went with, but it doesn't sound like a Bond theme, nor does it fit the kind of thing Bond was by this point. It's too understated, too subtle, and to re-use a phrase from earlier in the thread, full of brooding menace. Not what Bond was about by 2002, in any case.

An above-average song, but a terrible Bond theme, in my opinion.

[Skummy]

Straw - "The World Is Not Enough"Back to The World Is Not Enough and, again, a band I've never heard of. Who are Straw? Wikipedia tells me they were an English pop band who released one album. Clearly, Bond theme material.

They sound like a poor man's early Radiohead, and this is shit. The song's not all that terrible, and the lyrics aside from the repeated "KISS KISS BANG BANG" are pretty suitable for Bond, but fuck, those vocals. Kill them now. One album was one album too many.