| The Spy Who Loved Me | ||||
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| Released | 1977 | |||
| Recorded | April 1977 | |||
| Label | EMI | |||
| Producer | Frank Collura(Reissue) | |||
| Marvin Hamlisch chronology | ||||
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| James Bond soundtrack chronology | ||||
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| Singles from The Spy Who Loved Me | ||||
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The Spy Who Loved Me is the 1977 soundtrack for the tenthJames Bond filmThe Spy Who Loved Me. The soundtrack is one of only twoBond soundtracks to be nominated for theAcademy Award forBest Original Score at the50th Academy Awards. The other score nominated wasSkyfall (2012) at the85th Academy Awards.
The filmThe Spy Who Loved Me's theme song "Nobody Does It Better" was composed byMarvin Hamlisch with lyrics byCarole Bayer Sager, and was performed byCarly Simon. It was nominated forAcademy Award for Best Original Song at the50th Academy Awards but lost to "You Light Up My Life" from thefilm of the same name. It is one of six Bond theme songs to be nominated for the award, alongsidePaul McCartney and Wings' "Live and Let Die" from thefilm of the same name in 1973,Sheena Easton's "For Your Eyes Only" from thefilm of the same name in 1981,Adele's "Skyfall" from thefilm of the same name in 2012,Sam Smith's "Writing's on the Wall" fromSpectre in 2015 andBillie Eilish's "No Time to Die" from thefilm of the same name in 2021. "Skyfall" went on to win the award in 2013, "Writing's on the Wall" in 2016 and "No Time to Die" in 2021. Additionally, "The Look of Love" from the 1967 Bond parody filmCasino Royale was also nominated in this category.
It was the first theme song with a title different from the film's, although the phrase "the spy who loved me" is in the lyrics. Hamlisch states in the documentary on the film's DVD that the song's opening bars were influenced by a riff in aWolfgang Amadeus Mozart tune. The drivingdisco rhythm to "Bond '77" is very similar to theBee Gees' 1976 single "You Should Be Dancing".
The theme song became a hit that is still popular today and has been featured in numerous films includingLost in Translation (2003),Little Black Book (2004),Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004) andMr. & Mrs. Smith (2005). In 2004, the song was honoured by theAmerican Film Institute as the 67th greatest film song as part of their100 Years...100 Songs countdown.
It also featured in a UK TV commercial for the England-basedUnigate Dairy powdered milk brand Five Pints where, as the commercial tailed out, the relevant session singers could be heard singing "Five Pints...you're the best".
The film's soundtrack was composed by Marvin Hamlisch, who filled in for usual Bond composerJohn Barry, as Barry was unavailable for work in theUnited Kingdom due to tax reasons. The soundtrack, in comparison to other Bond films of the time, is more disco-oriented and included a new disco rendition of the "James Bond Theme", titled "Bond 77" which Hamlisch said was influenced by "You Should Be Dancing" by The Bee Gees[2]
An element of the Barry style remains in the suspenseful film sequence in whichJames Bond (Roger Moore) andAnya Amasova (Barbara Bach) try to track downJaws (Richard Kiel) at an antiquated site in Egypt. The accompanying Hamlisch music echoes Barry's "Stalking," from the pre-credit fantasy sequence ofFrom Russia with Love, featuring Bond (Sean Connery) and villain Red Grant (Robert Shaw).
A large percentage of the music in the film was re-recorded for the soundtrack album and, therefore, does not sound exactly like the music in the film, the track "Bond '77" being the most obvious. It is a cue that was recorded several times specifically for different moments of the film (the opening ski chase, the car chase on land, then underwater and the gun battle with the troops on the Liparus). The soundtrack album uses a different 'medley' version, slower in pace, which features aspects of most of the variations of the track used throughout the film, compiled into one piece. This version was also released as a 7" single onUnited Artists Records (the track "Ride to Atlantis" was the b-side). The main theme by Simon also differs in the film; it has a fade out on the album/single but in the film's opening titles, it has a more abrupt ending, finishing with a long electronic note. The track "Anya" on the album does not feature in the film. There are also many cues used in the film that have yet to appear on any soundtrack release.
In addition, Hamlisch incorporates into his score several pieces of classical music. AsKarl Stromberg (Curd Jürgens) feeds his duplicitous secretary Kate Chapman (Marilyn Galsworthy) to a shark, the villain playsJohann Sebastian Bach's "Air on the G String". He then plays the second movement's opening string section, Andante, of Mozart'sPiano Concerto No. 21 as Atlantis rises from the sea.[citation needed]
"Nocturne No. 8 in D-Flat, Op. 27 No. 2" byFrédéric Chopin crops up later, when Bond first meets Stromberg, as reportedly does an excerpt fromCamille Saint-Saëns' "The Aquarium" fromThe Carnival of the Animals.[citation needed]
Finally, Hamlisch segued his score into an excerpt from that ofDavid Lean's 1962 filmLawrence of Arabia when Bond and Anya Amasova are wandering through the desert; according to a documentary on the DVD, this idea was originally a joke by one of the film editors who played the music over thedailies of the scene. It became a trend, with the subsequent two films in the series similarly referencing 'classic' film music within their scores."Mojave Club", "The Tanker" and "Eastern Lights" were written byPaul Buckmaster, who also contributed with arrangements and orchestrations.[citation needed]
| Chart (1977/78) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia (Kent Music Report)[3] | 56 |
