My Favourite James Bond Songs
Ten terrific title tracks from 007 films
Following my piece earlier this week on my favourite John Barry James Bond scores, and to celebrate the release of No Time to Die, here are my ten favourite James Bond title songs.
It is worth noting that half of these songs were the superb result of collaboration with Barry. Sometimes he worked well with the artists on this list, but occasionally… well, I won’t get ahead of myself.
Although the first Bond film Dr No utilises a few songs — most importantly Kingston Calypso (Three Blind Mice) by Byron Lee & the Dragonaires, used in the latter part of the titles, and Underneath the Mango Tree by Diana Coupland, later in the film — the tradition of the all-important title track wasn’t firmly established until From Russia with Love. In that film, Matt Munro’s song plays over a background radio during a romantic interlude near the beginning, and over the end credits.
Shirley Bassey — Goldfinger (1964)
In Goldfinger, the tradition was solidified, with Shirley Bassey’s famously epic title song is used over the opening credits; a tradition that remained throughout most of the subsequent Bond films. Here’s Bassey’s belter; my first choice for this list.
