James Bond

007 James Bond
I have the honest to God hardest time pinning down what exactly is so unmistakable about James Bond music. There's the chick factor, of course, and what a line-up: Shirley Bassey (the Bond girl), Nancy Sinatra, Tina Turner, Lulu, Gladys Knight, Carly Simon, Sheena Easton, Rita Coolidge (don't that make your brown eyes blue?), Sheryl Crow, Shirley Manson (do I have to say Garbage?), Tom Jones, Paul McCartney, a-ha, Duran Duran. Wait a minute. But that's just the glam factor; essential, though not musical. What is it? Horns come and go. Strings come and go. Twangy guitar comes and goes. Synth keybs and beatboxes come and go. Well, that swooping, soaring, swelling, impossibly sweet and drunken kind of thing is usually there, most often opening big on the chorus. Maybe that's it. But I have a feeling there's something technical in the songwriting too -- certain chord changes, or something about minor keys. I just don't have the vocabulary. P.S. BTW FYI Caveat and something you should know: I can't stand the movies, the few that I've seen. Sorry about that, chief.

Carly Simon, "Nobody Does It Better" (1977, #2) (3:29)
Garbage, "The World Is Not Enough" (1999) (3:56)
Gladys Knight, "Licence to Kill" (1989) Floats in like a big boat. (5:15)
John Barry Orchestra, "James Bond Theme" (1962) The shit. From Dr. No. (1:47)
John Barry Orchestra, "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" (1969) Mental. Only theme that's an instrumental. (2:35)
Louis Armstrong, "We Have All the Time in the World" (1969) This one sneaks up on you. (3:15)
My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult, "Sex on Wheelz" (1992) I'm including this because somehow it sounds like a James Bond theme to me (admittedly distorted and perverted). Maybe it uses the same mysterious musical thing? Maybe I'm just wrong? (4:59)
Nancy Sinatra, "You Only Live Twice" (1967) (2:46)

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