Since its inception in 1962, theJames Bond film series fromEon Productions has featured many musical compositions, many of which are now considered classic pieces of Britishfilm music. The best known piece is the "James Bond Theme" composed byMonty Norman. Other instrumentals, such as "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", and various songs performed by British or American artists such asShirley Bassey's "Goldfinger",Nancy Sinatra's "You Only Live Twice",Paul McCartney's "Live and Let Die",Carly Simon's "Nobody Does It Better",Sheena Easton's "For Your Eyes Only",Duran Duran's "A View to a Kill",Gladys Knight's "Licence to Kill", andTina Turner's "GoldenEye" also became identified with the series.

Three Bond songs have won theAcademy Award for Best Original Song: "Skyfall" byAdele, "Writing's on the Wall" bySam Smith and "No Time to Die" byBillie Eilish. Smith's "Writing's on the Wall" and Eilish's "No Time To Die" are the only Bond themes to reach number one on theUK Singles Chart,^[1] while Duran Duran's "A View to a Kill" is the only Bond song to have reached number one on the USBillboard Hot 100.

The "James Bond Theme" is the main signaturetheme of theJames Bond films and has featured in everyEon Productions Bond film sinceDr. No, released in 1962. The piece is used as an accompanyingfanfare to thegun barrel sequence in every Eon Bond film prior toCasino Royale (2006).

The briefest of "James Bond themes", this composition starts off the "Opening Titles" music ofFrom Russia with Love (1963). It can be heard in the trailer for the 1969 filmOn Her Majesty's Secret Service,^{[citation needed]} as well as in the pre-title sequences ofTomorrow Never Dies (1997) andDie Another Day (2002).WLS (AM) used the theme in the mid-1960s for its secret agent radio serial program "The Wild Adventures of Peter Fugitive" that appeared onThe Art Roberts Show.^[2]

"007 Theme", also known as "007 Takes the Lektor", is an adventure theme composed byJohn Barry in 1963 for the Bond filmFrom Russia with Love.^[3]"The John Barry Seven" had pop chart hit with acover version ofElmer Bernstein's theme toThe Magnificent Seven that included seven beats repeated throughout the theme. Barry used seven beats throughout the "007 Theme".

It became a secondary theme for the Bond films, being used throughout the series, primarily during action scenes. Its most notable appearances are:

• From Russia with Love – played during the gypsy camp gunfight and also duringJames Bond (Sean Connery)'s theft of the Lektor decoder from the Russian embassy inIstanbul.
• Thunderball – played briefly in a climactic underwater fight; a similar but different theme of seven beats is played when Bond runs fromSPECTRE during a parade and during the climax.
• You Only Live Twice – played during the flight of "Little Nellie" before Bond battles four helicopters that attack him.
• Diamonds Are Forever – played during Bond's destruction ofErnst Stavro Blofeld (Charles Gray)'s Headquarters.
• Moonraker – played during theAmazon River chase.

The theme has not been used in its entirety in a Bond film since its use inMoonraker.

This piece of music was also used byAl Primo, the news director atKYW-TV inPhiladelphia for its long-time theme toEyewitness News, and was adopted by otherGroup W stations inBaltimore,Pittsburgh,Boston andSan Francisco as well as other non-Group W stations, includingWLS-TV inChicago. The theme was alsosampled byBig Audio Dynamite for the 1986 song "Sightsee M.C!" from their albumNo. 10, Upping St.

Like John Barry,David Arnold has left his own mark in the music of James Bond. In this case, he has established what can be called the "suspense motif", which is a descending, often repetitive four-note motif that can be heard in all of the Bond films he has scored. This motif can be heard in:

• Tomorrow Never Dies – "Station Break", "*-3-Send", "Underwater Discovery"
• The World Is Not Enough – "Pipeline", "Remember Pleasure", "Torture Queen", "Submarine"
• Die Another Day – "Death of Moon", "Iced Inc", "Antonov"
• Casino Royale – "Miami International", "Dirty Martini", and very briefly in "African Rundown"
• Quantum of Solace – briefly in "Time to Get Out", and twice in "Perla de las dunas"

The largest contributions to the Bond films, save for the "James Bond Theme", are works from John Barry. Barry composed eleven Bond soundtracks and is credited with the creation of "007" (dominated bybrass andpercussion) and the popular orchestral theme fromOn Her Majesty's Secret Service.

Next to Barry, David Arnold is the series' most regular composer. He composed the scores for five Bond films:Tomorrow Never Dies throughQuantum of Solace. His orchestrations combined with electronic rhythm elements gave thePierce Brosnan era its musical identity. John Barry recommended Arnold to producerBarbara Broccoli when she took over the Bond films from her father,Albert R. Broccoli.

Other major composers and record-producers includeGeorge Martin,Bill Conti,Michael Kamen,Marvin Hamlisch,Éric Serra,Thomas Newman andHans Zimmer. Each of these composed for only one Bond film, with the exception of Newman. The departures from John Barry had various causes; sometimes Barry declined in order to avoid paying double income tax—US and UK. Barry died in 2011. Sometimes the director of a Bond film had worked with the composer of his choice on other films – the latter happened to Thomas Newman withSkyfall andSpectre.

The "James Bond Theme" is the main theme forDr. No, and has featured in all the Eon Productions Bond films in different versions. The theme has also featured on the gun barrel sequences at the beginning of the films. The original theme was written byMonty Norman, and was performed by John Barry and his orchestra in 1962. In the opening credits ofDr. No, two other pieces were played: an untitledbongo interlude and aCalypso-flavored rendition of "Three Blind Mice", titled "Kingston Calypso". Due to this,Dr. No is the only film to have more than one opening theme. The "James Bond Theme" reachedNo. 13 in theUK Singles Chart, and remained in the charts for 13 weeks.^[4]

The opening credits ofFrom Russia with Love were accompanied by an instrumental version of the main theme, arranged by John Barry and written byLionel Bart. A single by The John Barry Orchestra reachedNo. 39 in the U.K. At the film's end, a vocal version by English singerMatt Monro is heard. This song spent 13 weeks in the U.K. charts, peaking atNo. 20.[4]

Goldfinger was the third soundtrack composed by John Barry, and this timethe theme song had lyrics written byAnthony Newley andLeslie Bricusse. The soundtrack reachedNo. 1 on theBillboard 200 and spent 70 weeks on the charts.^[5] It also peaked atNo. 14 on theUK Albums Chart,^[4] and received the Bond series firstGrammy Award nomination,Best Original Score from a Motion Picture or Television Show at the7th Annual Grammy Awards.^[6]

Welsh singerShirley Bassey is the only singer to perform more than one Bond theme – she recorded the themes toGoldfinger,Diamonds Are Forever, andMoonraker. Bassey also recorded her own version of "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" forThunderball and it was rumoured that her song "No Good About Goodbye" from her 2009 albumThe Performance was intended forQuantum of Solace, however David Arnold said "No Good About Goodbye" was never intended as a Bond song.^[7]

Paul McCartney andWings' performance of "Live and Let Die" was the first Bond theme song to be nominated for anAcademy Award for Best Original Song at the46th Academy Awards; it reachedNo. 2 as a U.S. single on theBillboard Hot 100, andNo. 9 on the U.K. charts.[4]^[5] George Martin's work in the song won the Grammy forBest Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists at the16th Annual Grammy Awards.^[8]

Marvin Hamlisch's (music) andCarole Bayer Sager's (lyrics) "Nobody Does It Better" (performed byCarly Simon) fromThe Spy Who Loved Me received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the50th Academy Awards, as did Bill Conti's "For Your Eyes Only" at the54th Academy Awards, which was performed bySheena Easton in the filmFor Your Eyes Only.

It was not until the 2013 Oscars that a Bond theme song finally won the Academy Award for Best Original Song:the theme song fromSkyfall byAdele at the85th Academy Awards. Thomas Newman's score also got the first nomination forAcademy Award for Best Original Score in the series since Hamlisch's own forThe Spy Who Loved Me, while winning theGrammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards. Adele's song also won theGrammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media.^[9]Sam Smith's "Writing's on the Wall" fromSpectre andBillie Eilish's "No Time to Die" fromthe film of the same name would also win Oscars for Best Original Song at the88th Academy Awards and94th Academy Awards respectively.

Duran Duran and John Barry's "A View To A Kill" topped the singles charts in the U.S.Billboard Hot 100, the only Bond theme to hitNo. 1 in the United States.[5] No James Bond theme had topped the charts in the UK until Sam Smith's "Writing's on the Wall" entered the charts at number one on 2 October 2015.^[10]

Several of the later films have alternative theme songs, often during theclosing credits.The Living Daylights featuredThe Pretenders performing "If There Was a Man," composed by John Barry withChrissie Hynde.Licence to Kill has "If You Asked Me To" sung byPatti LaBelle.GoldenEye featured Éric Serra's "The Experience of Love".Tomorrow Never Dies includedk.d. lang's "Surrender" during the closing credits, a song which was originally proposed by composer David Arnold to be the title sequence theme instead of theSheryl Crowtitle song. The "Surrender" theme is heard throughout the score while the melody of Sheryl Crow's song is not used again during the film. This harks back to theThunderball soundtrack, where "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" was originally proposed as the opening credits music, only to be replaced by the eponymous title track as sung byTom Jones.^[11]

On Her Majesty's Secret Service featured an instrumental theme tune, something which remains unique amongst the post–From Russia with Love films, and included a vocal theme in the form ofLouis Armstrong's performance of "We Have All the Time in the World", written by John Barry andHal David.

• A song titled "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" sung by Shirley Bassey was originally slated to be the theme song ofThunderball. It was re-recorded byDionne Warwick, butAlbert R. Broccoli insisted the theme song must include the film's title and also decided that the lyrics should not start before the film's titleThunderball appears on-screen. A new song was composed and recorded at the eleventh hour titled "Thunderball", performed by Tom Jones. The melody of "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" remains a major component of the film score.^[13]
• The songs "Three Blind Mice" (Dr. No), "All Time High" (Octopussy), "You Know My Name" (Casino Royale), "Another Way to Die" (Quantum of Solace) and "Writing's on the Wall" (Spectre) do not feature the title of its film either in the song title or lyrics (although "Another Way to Die" features the word "solace" in the second stanza). While not named after the film, "Nobody Does It Better" does feature the line "the spy who loved me" in its lyrics.^[14]
• "You Know My Name", "Skyfall",^[15] and "Writing's on the Wall" do not appear on their respective films' soundtrack albums, having been released as standalone singles instead.
• "No Time to Die" was released in February 2020 when the movie was scheduled to be released in April 2020. The movie release was delayed during theCOVID-19 pandemic to Fall of 2021.

A number of Bond films include one (or more) additional songs in the soundtrack. Some of these pieces of music, such as "We Have All the Time in the World" byLouis Armstrong, have gone on to become as well known as the main themes, while other songs remain exclusively linked to the film in which they appear.

• Matt Monro's vocal rendition of "From Russia with Love" is often considered the official theme song for that film, even though the opening credits use an instrumental version that also incorporates the "James Bond Theme". Monro's version isn't heard until about 15 minutes into the film over a radio as source music, and again over the closing titles.
• Dionne Warwick's performance of "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" is never actually heard inThunderball; it was originally intended to have been the opening credits theme, but this was changed when Albert R. Broccoli decreed the theme had to include the film's title. The melody of "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" is heard throughout the film; Warwick's version was finally released in the 1990s.
• The original end title theme toThe World Is Not Enough was "Only Myself to Blame", composed by David Arnold andDon Black, and sung byScott Walker, but was left out of the final film and replaced by an Arnold arrangement of the "James Bond Theme". "Blame" was, however, left onThe World Is Not Enough soundtrack album, and its melody, representing theElektra King (Sophie Marceau) character, appears throughoutThe World Is Not Enough score, most prominently in the tracks "Casino" and "Elektra's Theme".

Some songs have been dubbed for the foreign versions of the films.

• "Goldfinger" was sung in Spanish byKarina (María Isabel Llaudes Santiago), a French version was sung by both John William and Catherine Elia and an Italian version was recorded by Vanna Scotti.
• "Feuerball" sung by Alan Corb was, in 1965, the German cover version of "Thunderball" (sung by Tom Jones). The B-side of the single contained a German version, also sung by Alan Corb, of "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" with that title, creating the bizarre situation that a vocal 'cover' version of the song was published before the original vocal version(s) (sung by both by Shirley Bassey and Dionne Warwick), which were both published in the early 1990s withThe Best of Bond... James Bond 30th Anniversary and 30th Anniversary Limited Edition albums.
• "Man Lebt Nur Zweimal" sung by Gissy André was, in 1967, the German cover version of "You Only Live Twice" (sung byNancy Sinatra).
• "Tu vivras deux fois" sung byLucky Blondo was, in 1967, the French cover version of "You Only Live Twice" (sung by Nancy Sinatra).
• "In Deinen Augen", sung by Sollie Nero, was, in 1981, the German cover version of "For Your Eyes Only" (sung by Sheena Easton).

A number of songs have been recorded for Bond films but not used.

• "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" by Dionne Warwick and Shirley Bassey was written forThunderball. Its title refers to a nickname given to Bond by an Italian journalist in 1962. Warwick and Bassey both recorded versions, but halfway through the scoring process, producer Albert R. Broccoli decided that the film's title must appear in the lyrics, so "Thunderball" was commissioned. The song's melody still plays a prominent role in the score and both singers' versions have appeared on compilations in the 1990s.^[16]
• "Thunderball" byJohnny Cash^[17]
• "Run James Run" byBrian Wilson, intended as a Bond theme, but ultimately released asthe eponymous track on theBeach Boys' albumPet Sounds.
• "You Only Live Twice" byJulie Rogers is included on the 30th-anniversary release ofThe Best of Bond... James Bond.^[16]
• "You Only Live Twice" byLorraine Chandler appears onR(are) C(ollectable) A(nd Soulful) Volume 2.^[16]
• "The Man with the Golden Gun" byAlice Cooper appears on their 1973 albumMuscle of Love^[16]
• "For Your Eyes Only" byBlondie was written for the film of the same name, but rejected. Blondie's version of their song appears on their 1982 albumThe Hunter.^[16]
• "The Living Daylights" byPet Shop Boys was adapted from a demo theme forThe Living Daylights, later reworked as "This Must Be the Place I Waited Years to Leave". It appears on their 1990 albumBehaviour.^[18]
• "The Juvenile" byAce of Base was originally written in 1995 as "The Goldeneye", then rewritten as "The Juvenile" and released in 2002 onDa Capo.^[16]
• "Tomorrow Never Lies" byPulp, originally titled "Tomorrow Never Dies", was released as a B-side on their 1997 single "Help the Aged", and on the vinyl version of their 1998 albumThis Is Hardcore.^[16]
• "Tomorrow Never Dies" bySaint Etienne appears on theirBuilt on Sand album. The liner notes state thatPierce Brosnan kept the master tape of the song. Other artists who submittedTomorrow Never Dies themes includeMarc Almond,Swan Lee, theCardigans andSpace.
• Radiohead submitted "Man of War" forSpectre, but it was rejected as it had been written years prior, making it ineligible for an Academy Award for Best Original Song.^[19][20] Radiohead submitted another song, "Spectre", but it was rejected as too melancholic.^[21]

Bond music has inspired a number ofcover albums in a variety of genres, including the 2007 albumMister Bond – A Jazzy Cocktail of Ice Cold Themes (lounge) andShaken and Stirred: The David Arnold James Bond Project, the latter of which features David Arnold collaborating with several contemporary artists. TheCity of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra recorded several albums with Bond music and performs in premieres and special events of Bond films. Britain'sRoyal Philharmonic Orchestra released an album of several Bond songs performances calledBest Of James Bond, some of which were used on the menus of "Ultimate Edition" DVD releases.Billy Strange released "Secret Agent File" in 1965. In 2004,The Cavaliers played a show titled007 using Bond music such as "GoldenEye", "For Your Eyes Only", "Live and Let Die", "Hovercraft Chase", "Welcome to Cuba" and "Paris and Bond". Some of them areItalo disco-like rhythms and soundtrack albums promote hits that matches the film's theme. In 2000, An Electronika Tribute to James Bond' album was released adding yet another genre to the Bond fandom.

• The closing credits ofCasino Royale use a vocal version of "Casino Royale" sung byMike Redway, who remained uncredited until the release of the 2012 45th anniversary edition of the soundtrack.

• The soundtrack to the 1967 spoofCasino Royale also included two short comedic songs sung in a 1920s style. One led into an instrumental version of "The Look of Love" and began with the line "James Bond playing at Casino Royale..."; later, this tune was reprised as "Seven James Bonds at Casino Royale", which leads into a lyrical version of the theme sung by Mike Redway that played over the closing credits.
• "The Look of Love" was the first song from any Bond film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the40th Academy Awards, six years before the first nomination from an Eon Bond film. It remains the only song from a non-Eon Bond film so nominated.

• "Never Say Never Again" byPhyllis Hyman was intended forNever Say Never Again.

With the increase in audio quality forvideo game consoles andpersonal computers, in addition to the continued popularity ofcomputer and video games,publisherElectronic Arts as well asActivision (since 2008) has included opening themes and film-style credit sequences to some of its more recentJames Bond video games & spin offs.

The 2008 continuation novelDevil May Care bySebastian Faulks was the first James Bond novel to receive its own theme song. Also called "Devil May Care", the song was written and recorded by Cardiff band SAL and was available on the UK audiobook release of the novel.^[22]

• Outline of James Bond

• montynorman.com
• Detailed account of a court proceeding between Monty Norman and John Barry re: The "James Bond Theme", including musicological breakdowns of the theme itself.

• James Bond music
• James Bond lists
• Music by media franchise

• CS1: unfit URL
• CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list
• CS1 maint: location
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use British English from August 2020
• All Wikipedia articles written in British English
• Use dmy dates from August 2020
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from January 2022