License to Sing

Among the many days that have traditional names ascribed to them (e.g. New Year’s Day, Shrove Tuesday, Mother’s Day) is Spy Wednesday, which is today. It’s the name given to the Wednesday before Easter Sunday and marks the day that Judas Iscariot decided to betray Jesus, as recorded in the Bible. Some Christian denominations still mark this day in their services.

So, as I did a few years ago I’ll mark Spy Wednesday by writing about the world’s most famous spy, James Bond. My intention was to write about the gay artist who designed many of the original book covers, but I had already done a bit about that last time. What I hadn’t done is write about the Bond themes and their lgbt+ connections. This is the first of two articles about the music of 007.

Music has always been a significant element of the Bond films, especially the title songs and the iconic Bond theme itself. I’m a fan of the Bond themes (except the bland Daniel Craig songs). Over the years a handful of lgbt+ singers and songwriters who have contributed to the Bond franchise. Some of the songs and music were rejected or used elsewhere, and these will also be covered.

Here is the chronological list of known lgbt+ singers and songwriters from the pre-Daniel Craig era.

“From Russia With Love” (1963) – The second Bond film and the first to include the film’s title in the theme song. He writer of the song was Lionel Bart (1930-1999), perhaps best known for writing the musical “Oliver!”

It may sound strange to some of you, but Lionel Bart is one of the many songwriters and musicians (like Elton John and Paul McCartney) who can’t read or write music, but could play an instrument (it’s like speaking without knowing how to read or write, as long as you make the right sound). Lionel would play the song on piano, perhaps record it, and a fellow musician would convert what he or she heard into musical notation. In the case of “From Russia With Love” it appears that John Barry, the main Bond composer of the 1960s, wrote down Lionel’s song and gave it the full orchestral arrangement for the film. That is why John Barry is often given a co-writing credit for the song.

“Thunderball” (1965) – Several other artists recorded a theme song, including Johnny Cash, which were all rejected. Twelve years ago, some 47 years after the film was released, a rejected theme for “Thunderball” by the above-mentioned Lionel Bart was rediscovered by Bond music expert Jon Burlingame.

As well as the title song, Bart also composed several variations which were probably intended to be used as incidental music. These all may have been demo recordings and not submitted officially to the Bond producers.

“Casino Royale” (1967) – Although not a part of the official James Bond franchise, this spoof film has become something of a cult. The film score was composed by music legend Burt Bacharach who, with his lyricist Hal David, came up with what is regarded as the film’s signature song, “The Look of Love”. In fact, the song almost never made it into the film at all.

The sequence in which “The Look of Love” features was directed by James McGrath. He played the song “The Girl From Ipanema” on set many times. When he came to shoot the seduction sequence with Peter Sellers and Ursula Andress he felt “The Girl From Ipanema” fitted the scene. However, the producers thought this would be too “arty” and threatened to cut the scene out altogether. So, McGrath asked Bacharach and David to come up with a song that gave the same feeling. They came up with “The Look of Love”. Thank goodness McGrath decided to keep the scene against the producer’s wishes or we wouldn’t have had the pleasure of hearing one of the best Bond songs ever.

Credit for the success of the song must also be given to its singer, the lesbian icon Dusty Springfield (1949-1999). A favourite singer of Burt Bacharach, Dusty’s smoky voice emphasises the sensual nature of the scene. Bacharach always referred to “The Look of Love” as a sexual song, not a love song. Fortunately for all concerned, the song was a massive hit and was nominated for an Oscar (it lost to “Talk to the Animals” from “Doctor Doolittle”).

“The Living Daylights” (1987) – It would be another 20 years and 12 films later that any lgbt+ singer or songwriter is known to have written for Bond. However, this time the song never made the film. It also connects us quite neatly with Dusty Springfield, because the group whose song was rejected was the Pet Shop Boys, featuring openly gay Neil Tennant (b.1954). The Pet Shop Boys are often wrongly credited with bringing Dusty Springfield out of “retirement” in 1987, when in fact Richard Carpenter had done so several months beforehand with the song “Something In Your Eyes”, but that’s another story.

The Pet Shop Boys wrote their “The Living Daylights” theme song in 1986. The story goes that someone connected with the production of the film had remarked that the group may be approached to write the theme song. The identity of that production crew member is uncertain, as is the exact nature of the “approach”. Perhaps it was just a rumour, or a case of the Pet Shop Boys being one of many names mentioned informally as a possibly suitable commercial choice. In the end the Pet Shop Boys wrote their song and recorded it, only to find that the band A-ha had been chosen instead.

Not letting a good song go to waste, the Pet Shop Boys reworked the song into a track called “This Must Be The Place I Waited Years To Leave”. It was featured on their 1990 album “Behaviour”. Recording the theme song for a Bond film only to have it rejected is not uncommon.

“Tomorrow Never Dies” (1997) – Moving on another ten years, we come to the film with one accepted and one rejected son featuring lgbt+ artists.

Not all Bond films have their signature song played over the opening credits. One or two are played over the closing credits. The most famous of these is “We have All the Time In the World” (“On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”). One less well-known end credit song is overshadowed by the opening credit title song in “Tomorrow Never Dies”. The end credit song is sung by another lesbian icon, k. d. lang (b.1961).

Unlike many other Bond songs, the producers of this film let it be known that they would be willing to accept any prospective Bond theme from any artist and writer. This led to more possible Bond songs that before, 12 in all, officially. One of the songs was written and sung by Marc Almond (b.1957). Unfortunately, his song is one of several that has never been released commercially or has been reworked and recorded fro public release, so we may never hear it.

The story of how k. d. lang ended up singing the closing theme and not the opening one was different. In 1997 British film composer David Arnold (“Stargate”, “Independence Day”, and the London 2012 Olympic opening ceremony, amongst other projects) produced a Bond music tribute album called “Shaken and Stirred”, consisting of Bond songs covered by other artists. For “Diamonds Are Forever” Arnold chose gay singer-songwriter David McAlmont (b.1967). The Bond producers heard the album and offered Arnold the job of scoring the whole “Tomorrow Never Dies” film. However, the first thing Arnold did was to ask McAlmont to co-write the theme song. Basically, the melody is McAlmont’s, the arrangement is Arnold’s, and the lyrics are by Bond legend Don Black. McAlmont was the singer on the demo tape.

However, the Bond producer’s had decided that none of the artists who submitted songs would be commercial enough to use, so they chose a popular singer of that period, Cheryl Crow, to write and perform the eventual Bond opening song instead.

Not to be outdone, Arnold rescored his theme, now retitled “Surrender”, with k. d. lang as the singer. The producers agreed to put the song at the end of the film over the closing credits. It’s a typical Bond song, with blaring trumpets, strong bass chords, and soaring vocals. I wonder it wasn’t chosen for the opening titles precisely because it too stereotypically Bond.

There’s actually a video on YouTube in which someone has put k.d. lang’s “Surrender” over the opening credits of “Tomorrow Never Dies” (below). I think you’ll agree, you can’t get any more “Bondy” than that.

That’s about it for today. I’ll continue this look at 007’s queer music in May.