From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"James Bond Theme" premiered in the film Dr. No written by Monty Norman and performed by the John Barry Orchestra

The "James Bond Theme" is a jazz instrumental tune, the main signature theme of the James Bond films, being featured in every one of the "official" films since Dr. No in one form or another. The piece is used in conjunction with the James Bond gun barrel sequence as the film's initial introduction in every series entry except the 2006 version of Casino Royale.

The "James Bond Theme" has been used as part of the actual opening credit sequence only once, as part of the medley that opens Dr. No. It has been used as the closing music for a number of films, most recently the 2006 version of Casino Royale.

Monty Norman has been credited with writing the "James Bond Theme", and has received royalties since 1962. For Dr. No, the song was orchestrated by John Barry who would later go on to compose the soundtrack for 11 future Bond films. Courts have ruled twice that the theme was written by Monty Norman despite claims and testimony by Barry that he had actually written the theme. Norman has consequently won two libel actions against publishers for claiming that Barry wrote the theme, most recently against The Sunday Times in 2001. It is generally acknowledged that Barry came up with the arrangement used in Dr. No.

Norman describes the distinctive rhythm in the first few bars of the "James Bond Theme" as "Dum di-di dum dum". He claims that it was inspired by the song "Good Sign Bad Sign" sung by Indian characters in A House for Mr Biswas, a musical he composed based on a novel by V.S. Naipaul set in the Indian community in Trinidad. In 2005, Norman released an album called Completing the Circle that features "Good Sign Bad Sign", the "James Bond Theme," and a similar sounding song titled "Dum Di-Di Dum Dum." For these songs Norman added lyrics that explains the origin and history of the "James Bond Theme."

The distinctive guitar riff heard in the original recording of the theme was played by Vic Flick, who would later play guitar on the original recording of Ron Grainer's famous theme music from the 1967 television series, The Prisoner.

The "James Bond Theme" has been used or adapted in a number of non-Bond films including The Beatles' film Help!, and Steven Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can. It has also been remixed by Moby for Tomorrow Never Dies, by Paul Oakenfold for Die Another Day, and by Art of Noise, among many others. It is also the signature tune of the all-female pop-influenced classical string quartet, Bond.

Within the Bond films themselves, many different arrangements of the theme have been used, often reflecting musical tastes of the times. The electric guitar version of the theme is most associated with the Sean Connery era although it was also used in some Roger Moore films. Most mid-to-late period Moore films as well as Timothy Dalton's first, Barry-scored film The Living Daylights, used a symphonic version with the melody played on strings. The George Lazenby film, On Her Majesty's Secret Service used a unique high-pitched arrangement with the melody played on a Moog synthsizer. The gun barrel of the Pierce Brosnan film GoldenEye opened with a synthesized arrangement by Eric Serra (a more traditional rendition by John Altman is heard in the film during the tank chase in St. Petersburg; this version of the "James Bond Theme" is not included in the GoldenEye soundtrack). David Arnold's gun barrel arrangements in Tomorrow Never Dies and The World Is Not Enough dropped the melody line jumping straight from the tune's opening to its concluding bars. The The World Is Not Enough gun barrel has an electonical rhythm. The Die Another Day gun barrel sounds like the version in From Russia with Love but with more techno-influenced rhythm. It also contains the typical "James Bond guitar". The theme from The Spy Who Loved Me, titled Bond 77 featured a distinctive funky disco sound, reflecting a style of music which was very popular at the time.

For every Bond movie that John Barry scored, he orchestrated a slightly different version of the Bond theme, as can be heard during the gun barrel sequence. These specialized Bond themes reflected the style and locations featured in the movie, and the actor playing Bond.

Most of John Barry's Bond movies feature a different sounding Bond theme from the last. For "From Russia, With Love", the Bond theme can be found on the soundtrack in the track, 'James Bond with Bongos'. It's a slower, jazzier sounding Bond theme than the original conception. In "Goldfinger", the Bond theme can be heard on the soundtrack in the track, 'Bond Back in Action Again'. The Bond theme for this movie is heavily influenced by the brassy, jazzy theme song sung by Shirley Bassey. Each successive movie after these featured decidedly different sounding versions of the Bond theme, especially for the film "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", where the Bond theme ditched the traditional bass line and the twangy guitar in place of synthesizers. This new Bond theme reflected the more violent and younger George Lazenby in the role of Bond. When Roger Moore came to the roll, the Bond theme became a string orchestra driven piece.

The tune has been inserted into many of the films' soundtracks at various places as part of an action sequence. One unusual instance, which broke the "fourth wall" in reverse, occurred in Octopussy, when a snake charmer played a few notes of the tune for Roger Moore's James Bond.

A second piece of music called "The James Bond Theme" was written by Monty Norman for use in Dr. No prior to the composition of the more famous piece of music. A blues melody, this earlier version was not used but was included in the soundtrack album, as was a fast-paced variation called "Twisting with James" which is one of the best known James Bond melodies never to have been used in a Bond film.

The James Bond theme and it's many different variations found in the movies are played during many different types of scenes. Early in the series, the theme provided background music to Connery's Bond being cool. It wasn't until "Goldfinger" that John Barry began to use the theme as an action cue. Since then, the Bond theme's primary use has been with action scenes.

The latest James Bond film, Casino Royale, does not feature the James Bond theme in its entirety until the very end of the movie during a climatic scene. However, this is not uncommon in Bond movies. In "From Russia, With Love", John Barry did not intend on using the version of the Bond theme recorded for "Dr. No" at all. It was later edited in by producers when Bond first checks into his hotel in Istanbul and is checking his room. This happened two more times, in "You Only Live Twice", during the Little Nellie flight scene, and in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", when it was edited into the climatic fight scene at Piz Gloria. John Barry was the only composer to shy away from using the Bond theme, which is ironic, being he is credited with making the 'definitive' orchestration of the theme.