But it’s one of the most-covered Bond songs all the same. “We Have All the Time in the World” is technically the second theme for On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, as the instrumental title track plays over the opening title sequence. #23. Fun Lovin’ Criminals – We Have All the Time in the World (Louis Armstrong cover) Iconic Bond composer John Barry liked the album so much, he hired Barry to score Tomorrow Never Dies and four subsequent Bond films. British film scorer David Arnold curated a 1997 Bond covers album featuring everyone from Iggy Pop to Pulp. This one, and a couple others, comes from a tribute album that doubled as a job application. Natacha Atlas – From Russia with Love (Matt Munro cover) So we left it out of the main list, but rounded up a bunch our favorite versions as honorable mentions.
#Bond bond song series
No, which didn’t get its own song – it doesn’t quite count as it’s also become the theme for the series as a whole.
#Bond bond song movie
Though technically this instrumental was a theme for a specific Bond movie – the first, Dr. Tokyo Panorama Mambo Boys – James Bond Theme Graeme Norgate & Grant Kirkhope – James Bond Theme My Bloody Valentine’s Bond cover didn’t make it, but Coldplay’s did.Īnd without further ado, here are the all time highs of James Bond cover songs….ĭeadbolt – James Bond Theme įanfare Ciocarlia – James Bond Theme * We made no attempt to include big names, but neither did we fetishize the obscure. There are quite a few good surf-rock covers of these that are worth seeking out though for those interested, and quite a few bad lounge-electronica ones. * We excluded instrumental versions, unless the original was also instrumental. Chris Cornell’s “You Know My Name” was a lousy song that has generated lousy covers, so we are not going to include one at the expense of a classic “You Only Live Twice.” Spectre is the 24th official Bond movie (no, we don’t count Sean Connery’s abysmal 1980s comeback Never Say Never Again, made by another company), so we picked 24 covers.Ī few rules, since we take these sorts of things far more seriously than we should: So in honor of the new Bond movie Spectre coming out this week, with its own tradition-minded Sam Smith song, we present a ranked list of the best James Bond song covers of all time. Some of the most iconic songs were sung by singers who rarely topped the charts elsewhere – three by Shirley Bassey alone – whereas attempts to grab zeitgiesty performers have flopped.
And there’s a prevailing sense artists are chosen for abilities beyond just star-power, despite plenty of counterexamples over the years. James Bond songs might even have a higher batting average than James Bond movies (and certainly higher than James Bond actors). Giving their music to sell a product is something musicians regularly do, but rarely take as a career honor.īut given the track record Bond theme songs have had, the appeal makes sense. Many movies need songs, but you never see articles wondering who will do the next Fast and the Furious song (even though more people would likely hear your song there than in Bond). For a musician, the honor getting to sing the James Bond theme song is in its own category.