In the next of Mike Solof’s guest posts on the blog, we
have his exhaustive investigation into songs which were submitted to the
producers of the James Bond films, but which were rejected in favour of those
which went on to be forever associated with the franchise. Mike’s main work contains 59 tracks, and, as always, contains a detailed PDF with the background on each song, but to ease you in here is a sampler of that massive work, with notes extracted from his PDF. So over to Mike....
I love James Bond themes. Absolutely adore them, they're
some of my favorite songs. So it should go without saying that I find their
history and backstory even more interesting. But I think the most intriguing
thing about James Bond themes, however, is not the ones that actually made it
into the movie, but the themes that don't make it into a film. So over the past
few months (since a little while before SPECTRE) I've been collecting as many
rejected themes as possible, and I'm going to lay them out here, because who
wouldn't want to know about these gems? I'll go through the films in release
order, and I've included songs here that I can definitely confirm were
rejected, and I'll cite my sources for that.
Thunderball 1965
‘Thunderball' was the fourth Bond film released, and as
Shirley Bassey's rendition of 'Goldfinger' really solidified what a Bond theme
should be, it should not be a surprise, then, that she was asked to return for 'Thunderball'. John Barry wrote this piece after seriously considering that he
could not write a theme with the phrase 'Thunderball' in the title. It was
simply too vague for him. So he teamed up with Leslie Bricusse and wrote this 'Goldfinger'-esque piece that focused on Bond rather than the film. The name of
the song comes from an Italian journalist, who apparently dubbed James Bond
'Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang'. However, there were some issues with Bassey's
singing, and so Barry turned to Dionne Warwick to re-record the same theme, and
expanded on the instrumental opening to time the lyrics with Binder's opening
sequence. Saltzmann and Broccoli heard the song and decided, with very little
evidence, that a Bond theme that didn't use the title of the movie would not
succeed, and the song was briefly relegated to the closing titles, until Bassey
sued and the song was removed. Instrumental versions of 'Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang
Bang' can still be found on the 'Thunderball' soundtrack.
You Only Live Twice 1967
'You Only Live Twice' actually had a rather rapid theme
selection process. As with 'Thunderball' the theme was written pretty early,
and the only rejected song comes from a different singer than the final
version, except for this one. No one really knows where it came from,
apparently Lorraine Chandler recorded it in the 70's, and then in mid-80's RCA was digging through its archives and turned up this recording, and when
they released it on vinyl it became a cult hit.
The Man With the Golden Gun 1974
This is one of the more famous rejected themes, for
varying reasons, not the least of which was that it was performed by Alice
Cooper. But the story behind this song is interesting. John Barry did not
return to score 'Live And Let Die', and from what I can gather it was a combination
of him being busy, and a disagreement with Saltzman over 'Diamonds Are Forever',
and he returned to the series with 'The Man With The Golden Gun'. He set forth
immediately writing the title theme, later filled in with lyrics by Don Black
and performed by Lulu. It's not a favorite of the franchise, and Barry had
consistently stated that it was his least favorite Bond soundtrack. While the
producers were courting people to create the title theme, Alice Cooper decided
to give it a shot. He would claim for a while that his theme was supposed to be
the actual title theme, until it was snatched away at the last minute by Lulu.,
but this claim seems to be unsubstantiated, and since then Cooper has gone on
to say that his song wasn't actually finished by the time the producers signed
their contract with Lulu.
For Your Eyes Only 1981
This is one of the strangest rejected themes, as when it
came time to write the score for 'For Your Eyes Only', John Barry was
unfortunately unable to participate, as he was
dealing with some tax issues, and suggested Bill Conti instead. Produces
wanted Debbie Harry to sing a Conti-penned theme, but she refused and wrote her
own theme with her bandmates. When it was pitched to Conti, he was less than
impressed, turning it down and going on to write his own, originally intended
for Donna Summer, but United Artists suggested Sheena Easton, and so a theme
was born.
Never Say Never Again 1983
Prior to the release of 'Never Say Never Again' in 1983,
Stephen Forsyth and Jim Ryan wrote what was intended to be the film's theme
song, but their tune was axed when Michel Legrand, who created the film's
score, threatened to sue. Originally Warner Brothers had informed Forsyth and
Ryan's attorney that the song was to be used as the title song in the picture,
but shortly before its release they were informed that the song could not be
used because Michel Legrand, who wrote the score, threatened to sue them,
claiming that contractually he had the right to the title song. Phyllis Hyman
was their first choice to sing the song, and after hearing it sung to her while
she was having breakfast in her manager’s office, she agreed to sing it, and
without any rehearsal, and only having heard the song sung once at the
breakfast audition, delivered it in one perfect take.
The Living Daylights 1987
The title song of the film was recorded by Norwegian pop
group A-ha, but originally British pop duo Pet Shop Boys was asked to compose
the soundtrack, but backed out when they learned that they should not provide a
complete soundtrack but merely the opening theme song. In a departure from
conventions of previous Bond films, the film used different songs over the
opening and end credits, and the song heard over the end credits, 'If There Was
A Man' by the Pretenders, had originally been considered as film's title song.
However, the producers had been pleased with the commercial success of Duran
Duran's 'A View to a Kill', and felt that a-ha would be more likely to make an
impact in the charts, so 'If There Was A Man' was relegated to the closing
theme.
GoldenEye 1995
'GoldenEye' was sort of a pseudo-reboot of the series.
They weren't calling it a reboot, but it was the first film made after the fall
of longtime Bond enemy, the Soviet Union. Hence Bond needed to be brought into
the modern era, and while looking for a theme for the movie, Ace of Base
submitted a demo. Ace of Base were a pretty well known band now, but when 'GoldenEye' was in production it had only been a year since their debut album. It
appears that they were really banking on this film being a success to kind of
kickstart their career, but their label had other plans, and forced the band to
withdraw the submission, since they strongly believed the film would flop and
ruin Ace of Base. How wrong they were.
Tomorrow Never Dies 1997
This was the first Bond film to be scored by David Arnold,
probably the second most prolific Bond soundtrack composer, after John Barry,
and he intended to write a full, brassy, Bassey-eque Bond theme. The producers
wanted a more well known name for the theme, and in the end we got Sheryl Crow,
but for this movie the producers opened the door for anyone to submit a theme
to the movie, receiving offers from, among others, Pulp, Saint Etienne, Swan Lee, The Fixx,
Duran Duran, and the one featured here by k.d. lang, which is everything a
classic Bond theme should be. It's bold, brassy and sultry, and after the
producers chose the new theme, they moved this one to the end credits. Chris
Rea was also in contention with his song, 'Shadows Of The Big Man', as the
producers were keen to hear from anyone who thought they might have a song
worthy of inclusion.
The World is Not Enough 1999
Let's be honest, whatever you think of 'The World is Not
Enough', Garbage was a pretty leftfield choice to begin with, but Straw were an
indie rock band who only ever released one album, and who submitted this piece
for consideration. It was rejected in the end, probably because composer David
Arnold and resident Bond lyricist Don Black finally had their chance to write
their own Bond theme after the 'Surrender'/'Tomorrow Never Dies' experiment.
Die Another Day 2002
While the opportunity to provide the theme song for 'Die
Another Die' eventually went to Madonna, there was a submission by synth-pop
duo Red Flag, and although I should mention that I can't confirm this was
actually rejected for 'Die Another Day', the evidence certainly points that
way, as the production title of 'Die Another Day' was 'Beyond The Ice', and
there is also the blatant Bond
references in the lyrics, such as "You only live twice" and
"licence to thrill".
Casino Royale 2006
This song was submitted by Sandra, a German singer who covered the song 'Sleep With
Me', originally recorded by Edyta Górniak, and re-titled it 'Casino Royale'. It
was apparently up against two other offerings by different artists, but it was one of the ones to be rejected,
with Chris Connell eventually getting the gig with 'You Know My Name', which is
a shame as it definitely has that 'Bond' feel to it.
Quantum of Solace 2008
For 'Quantum Of Solace' the producers had three great
songs to choose from, with this one from Jo Harrop, as well as Eva Almer's
'Forever' and Shirley Bassey's 'No Good About Goodbye', but they decided to go
for 'Another Way To Die' by Alicia Keys and Jack White. However, this is a
great song with very much of a 'Bond' feel to it, and it even managed to
feature the unusual title in the lyrics.
Skyfall 2012
When Muse recorded 'Supremacy' for their 'The 2nd Law'
album, drummer Dominic Howard told The Sun that their track should lead the way
for a new Bond flick, as it had a little bit of a Bond vibe – with a crazy
'Live And Let Die' part in the middle. In his view it should be used for
the next James Bond film, even hinting that it had been submitted to the
filmmakers. However, according to the producers, Adele had always been their
first choice, and they've denied that Muse’s 'Supremacy' was ever in contention
for the coveted spot.
SPECTRE 2015
Radiohead have said that they were asked to record a Bond theme for SPECTRE and it just didn't work out, as it's likely that it didn't quite capture the theme the studio wanted for the film. Sam Mendes attempted to use the song elsewhere in the film, but decided it would be too distracting, saying it was
"an utter nightmare ... we had this beautiful song and we weren't able to
use it. But it's somehow cooler for Radiohead to have written a song that
wasn't used."
Track listing
01 Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang - Dionne Warwick (Thunderball
1965)
02 You Only Live Twice - Lorraine Chandler (You Only Live
Twice 1967)
03 The Man With The Golden Gun - Alice Cooper (The Man
With The Golden Gun 1974)
04 For Your Eyes Only - Blondie (For Your Eyes Only 1981)
05 Never Say Never Again - Phyllis Hyman (Never Say Never
Again 1983)
06 Where Has Everybody Gone - The Pretenders (The Living
Daylights 1987)
07 The Golden Eye - Ace Of Bass (GoldenEye 1995)
08 Surrender - k.d. lang (Tomorrow Never Dies 1997)
09 Shadows Of The Big Man - Chris Rea (Tomorrow Never Dies
1997)
10 The World Is Not Enough - Straw (The World Is Not
Enough 1999)
11 Beyond The Ice - Red Flag (Die Another Day 2002)
12 Casino Royale - Sandra (Casino Royale 2006)
13 Quantum Of Solace - Jo Harrop (Quantum Of Solace 2008)
14 Supremacy - Muse (Skyfall 2012)
15 SPECTRE - Radiohead (SPECTRE 2015)
This post is really just a sampler of Mike's full
collection, which runs to 59 tracks, and covers many more songs from these and other films, as well as some from the related video games. His full album is also in the folder, under his title of
'James Band's Greatest Misses, Rarities...And Moore', so after the taster, dive
in for the main course.
Soulseek hint shaken aiwe
