Your 5 Favourite Bond Title Songs?

2

Comments

  • Posts: 17,756
    j_w_pepper wrote: »
    This is a tricky one. If excluding On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and The Look of Love, which would have ranked very high on my list if not excluding instrumentals and TLOL for not being a title song after all – my list looks something like this these days:

    1. Diamonds Are Forever (I highly doubt this ranking will ever change – it's the perfect title song, IMO)
    2. A View To A Kill
    3. Nobody Does It Better
    4. You Only Live Twice
    5. The World Is Not Enough

    I also love Diamonds Are Forever, but it just barely misses my top five of 26 or so. I also think that Moonraker is great and unfairly put down by most (including, I'm afraid, Shirley Bassey herself).

    I'm not the biggest fan of Moonraker, to be honest (both the song and the film). It's a great performance by Shirley Bassey though – as always.
  • GoldenGunGoldenGun Per ora e per il momento che verrà
    Posts: 7,131
    j_w_pepper wrote: »
    GoldenGun wrote: »
    chrisisall wrote: »
    DAF is a brilliant track and the movie is undeserving of it.
    If not for John Barry, DAF would have been just another NSNA.

    I like both to be honest :))

    I’m also one of the few people who actually likes Legrand’s score, but that’s another discussion of course.
    I ultimately agree with you on both points, but regarding the scores, there is no doubt that Barry's DAF score (along with the dialogue) really saved that movie from being a total mess. Legrand's score didn't need to rescue anything, since contrary to common wisdom on this board, I find NSNA to be quite an entertaining movie anyway.

    Agreed. I probably like DAF’s overall package more than you, but it’s hard to deny that it benefits greatly from a phenomenal Barry score. NSNA doesn’t need much saving for me either, even though I think Legrand’s jazzy tunes fit it nicely.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,800
    GoldenGun wrote: »
    j_w_pepper wrote: »
    GoldenGun wrote: »
    chrisisall wrote: »
    DAF is a brilliant track and the movie is undeserving of it.
    If not for John Barry, DAF would have been just another NSNA.

    I like both to be honest :))

    I’m also one of the few people who actually likes Legrand’s score, but that’s another discussion of course.
    I ultimately agree with you on both points, but regarding the scores, there is no doubt that Barry's DAF score (along with the dialogue) really saved that movie from being a total mess. Legrand's score didn't need to rescue anything, since contrary to common wisdom on this board, I find NSNA to be quite an entertaining movie anyway.

    Agreed. I probably like DAF’s overall package more than you, but it’s hard to deny that it benefits greatly from a phenomenal Barry score. NSNA doesn’t need much saving for me either, even though I think Legrand’s jazzy tunes fit it nicely.

    Legrand did okay except for the end. Tumultuous Barry commando raid music would have made it work so much better IMO.
  • echoecho 007 in New York
    Posts: 6,304
    Nobody Does It Better
    You Only Live Twice
    Diamonds Are Forever
    Goldfinger
    You Know My Name

    Also, Goldfinger segueing into Into Miami is the best stretch of music the films will ever see.
  • SIS_HQSIS_HQ At the Vauxhall Headquarters
    edited March 2023 Posts: 3,789
    j_w_pepper wrote: »
    This is a tricky one. If excluding On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and The Look of Love, which would have ranked very high on my list if not excluding instrumentals and TLOL for not being a title song after all – my list looks something like this these days:

    1. Diamonds Are Forever (I highly doubt this ranking will ever change – it's the perfect title song, IMO)
    2. A View To A Kill
    3. Nobody Does It Better
    4. You Only Live Twice
    5. The World Is Not Enough

    I also love Diamonds Are Forever, but it just barely misses my top five of 26 or so. I also think that Moonraker is great and unfairly put down by most (including, I'm afraid, Shirley Bassey herself).

    I'm not the biggest fan of Moonraker, to be honest (both the song and the film). It's a great performance by Shirley Bassey though – as always.

    I liked Moonraker the film for the characters (sans/except Jaws and Dolly!) they're likeable and engaging, but the plot is what I'm not a fan of.

    Shirley Bassey's MR song, I think was pretty decent, it's in the mid tier of my rankings, I liked the way she sang it and of course Barry's score, it may not be one of the best, but it's also not one of the worst, well truth to be told, I liked it moreso than Diamonds Are Forever, well i felt was repetitive and lacked any depth, and I felt the way Shirley Bassey performed the song was like overacting, but that's just me, maybe, I guess.
  • Posts: 17,756
    SIS_HQ wrote: »
    j_w_pepper wrote: »
    This is a tricky one. If excluding On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and The Look of Love, which would have ranked very high on my list if not excluding instrumentals and TLOL for not being a title song after all – my list looks something like this these days:

    1. Diamonds Are Forever (I highly doubt this ranking will ever change – it's the perfect title song, IMO)
    2. A View To A Kill
    3. Nobody Does It Better
    4. You Only Live Twice
    5. The World Is Not Enough

    I also love Diamonds Are Forever, but it just barely misses my top five of 26 or so. I also think that Moonraker is great and unfairly put down by most (including, I'm afraid, Shirley Bassey herself).

    I'm not the biggest fan of Moonraker, to be honest (both the song and the film). It's a great performance by Shirley Bassey though – as always.

    I liked Moonraker the film for the characters (sans/except Jaws and Dolly!) they're likeable and engaging, but the plot is what I'm not a fan of.

    Shirley Bassey's MR song, I think was pretty decent, it's in the mid tier of my rankings, I liked the way she sang it and of course Barry's score, it may not be one of the best, but it's also not one of the worst, well truth to be told, I liked it moreso than Diamonds Are Forever, well i felt was repetitive and lacked any depth, and I felt the way Shirley Bassey performed the song was like overacting, but that's just me, maybe, I guess.

    MR has a lot of things that should amount to a great Bond film, IMO, but I've always found it to be one of the weaker entries. Still very enjoyable, though - much like the theme song!
  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou, but I now hear a new dog barkin'
    Posts: 9,038
    I think the score is one of the strong aspects of MR, one of the best that JB ever delivered. And the theme is part of that score. Other than that, MR has grown from something I totally rejected initially (what? Bond doing Star Wars?) to one of my favourite rewatch films...not saying this equals cinematic excellence. But don't diss the music, including the theme. They're perfect.
  • edited March 2023 Posts: 16,167
    1. Nobody Does It Better
    2. A View to a Kill
    3. Goldfinger
    4. You Only Live Twice
    5. Live and Let Die
  • No time to die
    Writings on the wall
    Skyfall
    Thunderball
    Goldeneye
  • Jordo007Jordo007 Merseyside
    Posts: 2,641
    1. You Know My Name
    2. A View To A Kill
    3. Live And Let Die
    4. Skyfall
    5. Diamonds Are Forever

    The instrumental of YOLT is one of the most beautiful pieces of music I've ever heard.
  • LeonardPineLeonardPine The Bar on the Beach
    Posts: 4,002
    1. You Only Live Twice
    2. You Know My name
    3. Nobody Does It Better
    4. Live And Let Die
    5. Diamonds Are Forever

  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou, but I now hear a new dog barkin'
    Posts: 9,038
    And so, what have we gained from this thread so far? The realization that everyone has different tastes. Does anyone care to compound the responses so far (and any yet to come) into a statistic (say: No. 1 equalling five points, and then down to No. 5 equalling one point) to have a somewhat homogenized result from this? I'm afraid it won't be me, though. But I would find it interesting.
  • DwayneDwayne New York City
    edited March 2023 Posts: 2,847
    @j_w_pepper. While most folks have listed their selections in ranked order, I wouldn't assume that everyone has (or will). It, therefore, might be better to tabulate the number of times a song has been mentioned.

    If this is OK with everyone, I'll try to put something together tonight (NYC time).
  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou, but I now hear a new dog barkin'
    Posts: 9,038
    Thanks, @Dwayne. My impression is that most of the posters have actually numbered their choices, and the rest gives the impression they mean it the same way. But surely you should go ahead. I'll be glad to read it tomorrow (Central European Summer Time).
  • DwayneDwayne New York City
    edited March 2023 Posts: 2,847
    Thru LeonardPine we have had 22 participants - and assuming that each person actually ranked their five picks - I assigned 5 pts to their 1st rank 1, 4 pts to their 2nd rank, etc.. Sorry about the formatting.
    Film/Song/#Mentions/Points
    1. TSWLM (Nobody Does It Better) - Carly Simon 13 / 46
    2. LALD - Paul Mccartney & Wings 16 / 42
    3. CR (You Know My Name) - Chris Cornell 11 / 37
    4. YOLT - Nancy Sinatra 10 / 36
    5. GF - Shirley Bassey 10 / 30
    6. AVTAK - Duran Duran 8 / 30
    7. DAF - Shirley Bassey 9 / 25
    8. SF - Adele 8 / 23
    9. TLD - A-Ha 3 / 10
    10. TB - Tom Jones 3 / 8
    11. LTK - Gladys Knight 3 / 8
    12. No Time to Die - Billie Eilish 2 / 6
    13. OHMSS - John Barry 1 / 5
    14. GE - Tina Turner 3 / 5
    15. SP (The Writing's On the Wall) - Sam Smith 1 / 4
    16. NSNA - Lani Hall 1 / 3
    17. TND - Sheryl Crow 1 / 3
    18. TWINE - Garbage 2 / 3
    19. From Russia With Love - Matt Monro 1 / 2
    20. OP (All Time High) - Rita Coolidge 2 / 2
    21. DAD - Madonna 1 / 1
    22. QoS (Another Way To Die) - Jack White/Alicia Keys 1 / 1
    23. DN - John Barry 0 / 0
    24. TMWTGG - Lulu 0 / 0
    25. MR - Shirley Bassey 0 / 0
    26. FYEO - Sheena Easton 0 / 0

    Clearly no love for Lulu or Sheena Easton here. =((
  • LeonardPineLeonardPine The Bar on the Beach
    Posts: 4,002
    Dwayne wrote: »
    Thru LeonardPine we have had 22 participants - and assuming that each person actually ranked their five picks - I assigned 5 pts to their 1st rank 1, 4 pts to their 2nd rank, etc.. Sorry about the formatting.
    Film/Song/#Mentions/Points
    1. TSWLM (Nobody Does It Better) - Carly Simon 13 / 46
    2. LALD - Paul Mccartney & Wings 16 / 42
    3. CR (You Know My Name) - Chris Cornell 11 / 37
    4. YOLT - Nancy Sinatra 10 / 36
    5. GF - Shirley Bassey 10 / 30
    6. AVTAK - Duran Duran 8 / 30
    7. DAF - Shirley Bassey 9 / 25
    8. SF - Adele 8 / 23
    9. TLD - A-Ha 3 / 10
    10. TB - Tom Jones 3 / 8
    11. LTK - Gladys Knight 3 / 8
    12. No Time to Die - Billie Eilish 2 / 6
    13. OHMSS - John Barry 1 / 5
    14. GE - Tina Turner 3 / 5
    15. SP (The Writing's On the Wall) - Sam Smith 1 / 4
    16. NSNA - Lani Hall 1 / 3
    17. TND - Sheryl Crow 1 / 3
    18. TWINE - Garbage 2 / 3
    19. From Russia With Love - Matt Monro 1 / 2
    20. OP (All Time High) - Rita Coolidge 2 / 2
    21. DAD - Madonna 1 / 1
    22. QoS (Another Way To Die) - Jack White/Alicia Keys 1 / 1
    23. DN - John Barry 0 / 0
    24. TMWTGG - Lulu 0 / 0
    25. MR - Shirley Bassey 0 / 0
    26. FYEO - Sheena Easton 0 / 0

    Clearly no love for Lulu or Sheena Easton here. =((

    I love the FYEO song...it just isn't in my top 5 😁
  • Posts: 7,427
    Dwayne wrote: »
    Thru LeonardPine we have had 22 participants - and assuming that each person actually ranked their five picks - I assigned 5 pts to their 1st rank 1, 4 pts to their 2nd rank, etc.. Sorry about the formatting.
    Film/Song/#Mentions/Points
    1. TSWLM (Nobody Does It Better) - Carly Simon 13 / 46
    2. LALD - Paul Mccartney & Wings 16 / 42
    3. CR (You Know My Name) - Chris Cornell 11 / 37
    4. YOLT - Nancy Sinatra 10 / 36
    5. GF - Shirley Bassey 10 / 30
    6. AVTAK - Duran Duran 8 / 30
    7. DAF - Shirley Bassey 9 / 25
    8. SF - Adele 8 / 23
    9. TLD - A-Ha 3 / 10
    10. TB - Tom Jones 3 / 8
    11. LTK - Gladys Knight 3 / 8
    12. No Time to Die - Billie Eilish 2 / 6
    13. OHMSS - John Barry 1 / 5
    14. GE - Tina Turner 3 / 5
    15. SP (The Writing's On the Wall) - Sam Smith 1 / 4
    16. NSNA - Lani Hall 1 / 3
    17. TND - Sheryl Crow 1 / 3
    18. TWINE - Garbage 2 / 3
    19. From Russia With Love - Matt Monro 1 / 2
    20. OP (All Time High) - Rita Coolidge 2 / 2
    21. DAD - Madonna 1 / 1
    22. QoS (Another Way To Die) - Jack White/Alicia Keys 1 / 1
    23. DN - John Barry 0 / 0
    24. TMWTGG - Lulu 0 / 0
    25. MR - Shirley Bassey 0 / 0
    26. FYEO - Sheena Easton 0 / 0

    Clearly no love for Lulu or Sheena Easton here. =((

    I love the FYEO song...it just isn't in my top 5 😁

    Ditto, also, my list wasnt in any particular order. Love the majority of Bond themes, there would only be a few I really dislike ( Hello DAD, SF, GE, TND!)
  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou, but I now hear a new dog barkin'
    Posts: 9,038
    I'm surprised about the apparently widespread love for NDIB. My impression from several years on this board was that I was one of relatively few who thinks it's at the top or at least near the top of the list of Bond songs. Interesting also that none of the top 3 was composed by John Barry.

    However, I would put both MR (see my earlier posts) and FYEO - both actually tied with DN and TMWTGG for No. 23 - far higher up. Somewhere in the middle, but not too near the top 5. But then we're only counting the top 5 here, so the picture is a bit distorted. If everyone agreed on the same No. 6, it still wouldn't get any points.
  • LeonardPineLeonardPine The Bar on the Beach
    Posts: 4,002
    Mathis1 wrote: »
    Dwayne wrote: »
    Thru LeonardPine we have had 22 participants - and assuming that each person actually ranked their five picks - I assigned 5 pts to their 1st rank 1, 4 pts to their 2nd rank, etc.. Sorry about the formatting.
    Film/Song/#Mentions/Points
    1. TSWLM (Nobody Does It Better) - Carly Simon 13 / 46
    2. LALD - Paul Mccartney & Wings 16 / 42
    3. CR (You Know My Name) - Chris Cornell 11 / 37
    4. YOLT - Nancy Sinatra 10 / 36
    5. GF - Shirley Bassey 10 / 30
    6. AVTAK - Duran Duran 8 / 30
    7. DAF - Shirley Bassey 9 / 25
    8. SF - Adele 8 / 23
    9. TLD - A-Ha 3 / 10
    10. TB - Tom Jones 3 / 8
    11. LTK - Gladys Knight 3 / 8
    12. No Time to Die - Billie Eilish 2 / 6
    13. OHMSS - John Barry 1 / 5
    14. GE - Tina Turner 3 / 5
    15. SP (The Writing's On the Wall) - Sam Smith 1 / 4
    16. NSNA - Lani Hall 1 / 3
    17. TND - Sheryl Crow 1 / 3
    18. TWINE - Garbage 2 / 3
    19. From Russia With Love - Matt Monro 1 / 2
    20. OP (All Time High) - Rita Coolidge 2 / 2
    21. DAD - Madonna 1 / 1
    22. QoS (Another Way To Die) - Jack White/Alicia Keys 1 / 1
    23. DN - John Barry 0 / 0
    24. TMWTGG - Lulu 0 / 0
    25. MR - Shirley Bassey 0 / 0
    26. FYEO - Sheena Easton 0 / 0

    Clearly no love for Lulu or Sheena Easton here. =((

    I love the FYEO song...it just isn't in my top 5 😁

    Ditto, also, my list wasnt in any particular order. Love the majority of Bond themes, there would only be a few I really dislike ( Hello DAD, SF, GE, TND!)

    Yeah, I like most of them. It's only a few that I find a bit meh.
  • GoldenGunGoldenGun Per ora e per il momento che verrà
    Posts: 7,131
    Mathis1 wrote: »
    Dwayne wrote: »
    Thru LeonardPine we have had 22 participants - and assuming that each person actually ranked their five picks - I assigned 5 pts to their 1st rank 1, 4 pts to their 2nd rank, etc.. Sorry about the formatting.
    Film/Song/#Mentions/Points
    1. TSWLM (Nobody Does It Better) - Carly Simon 13 / 46
    2. LALD - Paul Mccartney & Wings 16 / 42
    3. CR (You Know My Name) - Chris Cornell 11 / 37
    4. YOLT - Nancy Sinatra 10 / 36
    5. GF - Shirley Bassey 10 / 30
    6. AVTAK - Duran Duran 8 / 30
    7. DAF - Shirley Bassey 9 / 25
    8. SF - Adele 8 / 23
    9. TLD - A-Ha 3 / 10
    10. TB - Tom Jones 3 / 8
    11. LTK - Gladys Knight 3 / 8
    12. No Time to Die - Billie Eilish 2 / 6
    13. OHMSS - John Barry 1 / 5
    14. GE - Tina Turner 3 / 5
    15. SP (The Writing's On the Wall) - Sam Smith 1 / 4
    16. NSNA - Lani Hall 1 / 3
    17. TND - Sheryl Crow 1 / 3
    18. TWINE - Garbage 2 / 3
    19. From Russia With Love - Matt Monro 1 / 2
    20. OP (All Time High) - Rita Coolidge 2 / 2
    21. DAD - Madonna 1 / 1
    22. QoS (Another Way To Die) - Jack White/Alicia Keys 1 / 1
    23. DN - John Barry 0 / 0
    24. TMWTGG - Lulu 0 / 0
    25. MR - Shirley Bassey 0 / 0
    26. FYEO - Sheena Easton 0 / 0

    Clearly no love for Lulu or Sheena Easton here. =((

    I love the FYEO song...it just isn't in my top 5 😁

    Ditto, also, my list wasnt in any particular order. Love the majority of Bond themes, there would only be a few I really dislike ( Hello DAD, SF, GE, TND!)

    Yeah, I like most of them. It's only a few that I find a bit meh.

    I don't dislike any of them really. They're not all phenomenal of course, but for me they're all at least acceptable.
  • conradhankersconradhankers Underground
    Posts: 229
    In no particular order...Nobody Does it Better, Live and Let Die, You Know My Name, We have all the time in the world, Another Way To Die..
  • My Top 5;

    1. The Living Daylights
    2. Live and Let Die
    3. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
    4. You Know My Name
    5. The World Is Not Enough
  • DwayneDwayne New York City
    Posts: 2,847
    I will update my spreadsheet as new postings come in. With @007ClassicBondFan's selections, Live and Let Die is now tied with Nobody does It Better.

    Question for the group: How strictly do you want to enforce the "song" requirement, as the theme to OHMSS is not a vocal?
  • edited April 2023 Posts: 2,270
    Dwayne wrote: »
    I will update my spreadsheet as new postings come in. With @007ClassicBondFan's selections, Live and Let Die is now tied with Nobody does It Better.

    Question for the group: How strictly do you want to enforce the "song" requirement, as the theme to OHMSS is not a vocal?

    I was wondering about that myself. I opted not to include The James Bond theme as that’s always going to be the best title track imo, but genuinely felt that OHMSS shouldn’t be ignored.
  • NickTwentyTwoNickTwentyTwo Vancouver, BC, Canada
    Posts: 7,551
    Is there some definition somewhere that "song" has to include lyrics? I know tons and tons of incredible instrumentals.

    OHMSS should be included, as should the opening track of FRWL, to keep things consistent. Bond theme should not be included. But that's just my two cents.
  • Posts: 7,427
    I would have had 'OHMSS' in my top 5, if instrumentals were allowed!
  • edited April 2023 Posts: 2,270
    Mathis1 wrote: »
    I would have had 'OHMSS' in my top 5, if instrumentals were allowed!

    If we’re leaving out Instrumentals, I’m going to add “Thunderball” for my 5th spot. Love that song.
  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou, but I now hear a new dog barkin'
    edited April 2023 Posts: 9,038
    Since we're only talking about "title songs", I think we should disregard instrumentals. Or we might as well consider some of the brilliant non-title songs which are often better than the title songs. Say those Pretenders songs in TLD and, most definitely, k.d. lang's Surrender as opposed to Sheryl Crow's song. Even The Experience of Love is better than at least a third of the official "title songs", though not Tina's (and Bono &The Edge's) "GoldenEye".

    We can always make up a new game with other rules, but I think this one is pretty good because of its concise rules. "Title" (opening credits). "Songs" (musical piece with lyrics). Done.
  • NickTwentyTwoNickTwentyTwo Vancouver, BC, Canada
    edited April 2023 Posts: 7,551
    j_w_pepper wrote: »
    Since we're only talking about "title songs", I think we should disregard instrumentals.

    Don't understand this logic at all.
    j_w_pepper wrote: »
    "Songs" (musical piece with lyrics).

    Crazy definition of "Songs".

    But it's just my opinion; I don't have to participate here.

    EDIT: I looked it up and it does indeed seem like the definition of "song" implies lyrics... insane, what do you call all of classical music? Any other instrumental music? They're not songs??
  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou, but I now hear a new dog barkin'
    Posts: 9,038
    j_w_pepper wrote: »
    Since we're only talking about "title songs", I think we should disregard instrumentals.

    Don't understand this logic at all.
    j_w_pepper wrote: »
    "Songs" (musical piece with lyrics).

    Crazy definition of "Songs".

    But it's just my opinion; I don't have to participate here.

    EDIT: I looked it up and it does indeed seem like the definition of "song" implies lyrics... insane, what do you call all of classical music? Any other instrumental music? They're not songs??

    Thanks for the edit, but "song" translates into the German "Lied", and that is definitely something that has to be "sung" - i. e. with a human voice that sings the lyrics. I have never considered any musical piece that did or does not have a human voice singing some lyrics to be a "song". Not even those pieces in Once Upon a Time in the West and other Morricone greats where Edda Dell'Orso's voice is employed as an instrument.

    And no, instrumental music doesn't include songs. Neither do opera arias, unless you unlock them from the opera itself. "Nessun dorma" is a song, but only because it is often performed regardless of the opera it comes from.
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