Bedtime Music: Carly Simon - Nobody Does It Better

The last Bond theme song this week is my favorite: Carly Simon singing Nobody Does It Better from the movie The Spy Who Loved Me. (This is my favorite Roger Moore movie as well.) Written by Marvin Hamlisch, with lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager, I remember hearing once that the song was written via a trans-continental conference call.

Nobody Does It Better was and still is an immensely popular song. The song reached #2 on the U.S. singles chart and #1 on the U.S. Adult Contemporary chart, and was ranked the 67th greatest song by the American Film Institute for its listing in the top 100 songs in American cinema. For Bond movies, the only other song on the list is Goldfinger, which is ranked 53rd.

Bedtime Music: Shirley Bassey - Diamonds are Forever

Tonight's Bond theme song is the title track from the movie Diamonds are Forever. Like Goldfinger and the later Bond movie Moonraker (which we won't use this week), Shirley Bassey is the singer. Ironically, the song almost wasn't used in the film because co-producer Harry Saltzman hated the sexual innuendo in the lyrics. (Imagine that! /snark ) The song, however, was used at the insistence of the other co-producer, Albert "Cubby" Broccoli.

Bedtime Music: Paul McCartney and Wings - Live and Let Die

One of my favorite Bond theme songs has been Paul McCartney and Wings' Live and Let Die, from the Bond film of the same name. It helped that one of my cousins who loved music (and later became a DJ) gave my family a 45 rpm record of the song, which I remember playing quite a bit. ;) McCartney was actually considered to sing the theme song for the previous Bond movie, Diamonds are Forever, but he was passed over in favor of Shirley Bassey, who ultimately sang three Bond theme songs. What's interesting is that producer Harry Saltzman actually wanted a black soul singer to do the theme song (since the movie mirrors the blaxploitation film theme that was popular in that era). Saltzman later compromised when actress Brenda Arnau sang the theme song in the "Fillet of Soul" nightclub scene.

Trivia note:

• Live and Let Die was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1973, but lost to The Way We Were.

Bedtime Music: Shirley Bassey/Anthony Newley - Goldfinger

Our second Bond theme song is Goldfinger, a song with an interesting history behind it. The lyrics to the song were written by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley, with Newley singing in the original recording. However, Shirley Bassey was then asked to re-record the song, which was used in the film. (This is the first video clip below.) In 1992, the Newley demo was released on a compilation album, The Best of Bond...James Bond. (Someone has taken the Newley demo and put it to the film's intro; this is the second video below.) As you can hear, the Newley version is much softer, more understated and very jazzy. It's an interesting version, but I prefer Bassey's interpretation myself.

Bedtime Music: Garbage - The World Is Not Enough

New theme this week: songs from the James Bond series. As Milady discovered rather quickly in our relationship, I'm very much into the Bond movies. ;)

This video, The World Is Not Enough (from the Bond movie of the same name), is actually a separate music video that isn't part of the traditional Bond opening credits. I first saw this video at some friends' home when they played the movie DVD, the video being among the "extras." It's rather well done (IMO), with the making of a killer robot who looks like Garbage lead singer Shirley Manson. The robot kills a test subject, kissing him with acid(?), before being taken to the concert hall where Manson and Garbage are singing. The robot then kills Manson backstage before singing with the band who, along with the audience, are about to be blown up by the bomb inside the robot's torso.

About the title of the song and movie, it's based upon the Latin phrase Orbis non sufficit. This is the Bond family motto, and was mentioned in a much earlier Bond movie, On Her Majesty's Secret Service.