Why Paul McCartney’s James Bond Theme Almost Went to Another Artist
Every James Bond movie has an excellent theme song attached to it. Some of these songs are forgettable, while others became instant classics. “Live and Let Die” by Paul McCartney is one of the most famous James Bond songs, and it almost was utterly different as it could have gone to another artist.
James Bond theme songs have been very successful
In every James Bond movie, there is a song that plays over the lengthy opening credits. It’s typically an original song from a famous singer. The first original song was “Goldfinger” from the movie of the same name, performed by Shirley Bassey. Many of these songs were successful singles outside the movie, and a few have won Academy Awards.
Three James Bond songs went on to win Best Original Song at the Academy Awards: “Skyfall” by Adele, “Writings on the Wall” by Sam Smith from Spectre, and “No Time to Die” by Billie Eilish. However, the most successful Bond theme is “A View to a Kill” by Duran Duran, which peaked at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 and is the only Bond song to achieve this feat.
‘Live and Let Die’ by Paul McCartney almost went to a different artist
Paul McCartney is a legendary rock star, and the James Bond producers wanted someone of his status attached to the theme for Live and Let Die. According to Cinemablend, in the Prime Video documentary The Sound of 007, McCartney and record producer George Martin. Live and Let Die producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman wanted the former Beatle to write the song but wanted a different artist to perform it.
“I said, ‘Ok, send me the book around.’ They didn’t have a script then, I don’t think,” McCartney said in the documentary. “He sent me the Ian Fleming book, and I read it. I read it, I thought it was pretty good, and that afternoon I wrote the song. It was co-produced with George Martin. I worked with George, which I hadn’t done since the Beatles. George took an acetate of it out to, I think it was the Bahamas, where they were filming it. He took it to Harry Saltzman.”
“And I thought, ‘Well, he’s gonna look me over,’” Martin added. “And at the end of it, he said, ‘By the way, who do you think we should get to sing the song?’ I said, ‘Well, you do have Paul McCartney,’ [and he said] ‘Yeah. Yeah. What do you think of Thelma Houston?’ I said, ‘I think she’s great, but Paul…‘How about Aretha Franklin?’ I said, ‘Fantastic.’ But Paul and I had suddenly realized that I had to put it to him, as delicately as I could, that if he didn’t take Paul, he wouldn’t get the song.”
‘Live and Let Die’ wound up being one of the most iconic James Bond songs
Fortunately, McCartney did perform “Live and Let Die,” and the movie and the audience are better off for it. Not only is it a memorable song, but it was successful outside of the movie. It was the first Bond song nominated for an Academy Award, but it lost to Barbra Streisand’s “The Way We Were.”
On the charts, “Live and Let Die” peaked at number two on the US Billboard Hot 100 and reached number nine in the UK. Guns N’ Roses did a cover of the song that ended up being commercially successful, continuing to prove how popular the song was outside of James Bond.
