Skip to main content

Paul McCartney began writing songs in the late 1950s and hasn’t stopped since. It’s why he’s written more than 1,000 songs in his career, though the real total is probably higher. He has dozens of No. 1 hits to his name with and without The Beatles, but Paul set an unbreakable record when he wrote “Live and Let Die.”

Paul McCartney playing piano during an April 1972 television appearance.
Paul McCartney | Bettmann/Contributor

Paul McCartney set an unbreakable record with an Oscar nomination for “Live and Let Die”

There was one Beatles song Paul never wanted released (“The Long and Winding Road”), but the plan for “Live and Let Die,” his 1973 song with Wings, was always to have it go global. 

The theme song to the James Bond movie of the same name came to life in 1972. Then-Apple Records head, Ron Kass, knew someone connected with the Bond franchise. Kass called Paul and asked if he wanted to do a Bond theme song. Paul tried not to seem too enthusiastic when he said he’d probably be interested.

Paul said writing the song proved difficult because of the title and his need to include those words in the lyrics He added the challenge with the song’s structure. He started “Live and Let Die” as a ballad before switching to an anthem. It was a restriction that upped the difficulty.

Those two factors, plus knowing millions of people would hear the song, led to Paul enduring some self-doubt. He didn’t feel “Live and Let Die” was one of the best Bond theme songs. Time proved how crazy he was. 

Related

Paul McCartney’s Kids Told Their Friends He Wrote ‘Live and Let Die,’ but No One Believed Them

What record did Paul set with “Live and Let Die?” He was the first songwriter to score an Academy Awards nomination for a Bond theme song. Even “Goldfinger,” the other tune in the running for best Bond theme, couldn’t manage that feat.

By earning an Oscar nomination for “Live and Let Die,” Paul gave legitimacy to Bond theme songs. He broke new ground. Macca wasn’t sure his tune could live up to 1960s Bond tunes such as “Goldfinger” or “From Russia With Love.” When Paul penned “Live and Let Die,” all other Bond themes suddenly had to live up to his song.

In the years after Paul earned his Academy Awards nomination, famous musicians followed in his footsteps. 

Carly Simon sang “Nobody Does It Better” from The Spy Who Loved Me, which earned an Oscar nod in 1978. Sheena Easton sang “For Your Eyes Only,” a 1982 nominee. Neither of those performers wrote those Bond songs as Paul and Linda McCartney did for  “Live and Let Die.” For that, you have to fast forward 50 years, when Adele won an Oscar for “Skyfall.” After Adele, Sam Smith and Billie Eilish won Academy Awards for their Bond theme songs.

He went home empty-handed, but Paul McCartney set an unbreakable record when “Live and Let Die” became the first James Bond theme song to earn an Oscar nomination. He was the trailblazer. Paul will always be the first musician to have has name called out at the Academy Awards. (We don’t count Burt Bacharach’s theme for the 1967 version of Casino Royale since the slapstick movie falls outside the umbrella of Broccoli family productions). Paul’s breakthrough opened the door for other popular musicians to earn Oscar nominations and wins years later. 

For more on the entertainment world and exclusive interviews, subscribe to Showbiz Cheat Sheet’s YouTube channel.

Best in Music