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The Sound Of The Spy Who Loved Me
7th August 2012
MI6 uncovers the inspiration behind the soundtrack, from disco to Mozart, and the genesis of 'Nobody Does It Better'...
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First published 20th July 2007
When regular series composer John Barry was not available to work
in the UK for tax reasons, Marvin Hamlisch was brought in by producer
Cubby Broccoli to compose
the score to "The Spy Who
Loved Me", his first film as sole
producer following the split with Harry Saltzman.
Born in New York in 1944, the three-time
Oscar winner Marvin Hamlisch had pre-007 success with the
popular films "The Way We Were" (1973) and "The
Sting" (1973), but was best known for his work on
musicals.
In the summer of 1977, two major cultural
events peaked British interest - the Silver Jubilee and
disco music. Neither would escape reference in the James
Bond film of that year, in fact they would be celebrated
as the Union Jack emblem and calypso percussion would run
rampant throughout "The Spy Who Loved Me", especially its
title sequence.
Hamlisch described the opening to the
film in a 2006 television documentary, "the soundtrack
starts off with a very hot lick, which to be honest, copped
a feel of something that was on a Bee Gees record that
I just loved." |
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Above: Composer Marvin Hamlisch |
But when Bond skis off the mountain for that
infamous stunt - the music stops. Only the whistling of the cold
wind could be heard as cinema audiences held their breath during
the onscreen free fall, until the fanfare of the Bond theme salutes
the Union Jack parachute and 007's ostentatious survival.
"And out of that, after this bombastic
beginning, comes the song", described Hamlisch. "There's something
wonderfully blasé about James
Bond, like when he throws his hat it always hits. He's a man
who just knows that he's got it, no matter what. He's so cool,
he's so together that ... this will be just fine. He doesn't
have to come in blasting, he can just walk in and charm you to
death."
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Above: Original album cover art
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The title and root of the song only came about
by a chance remark by Hamlisch's then wife Carole Bayer Sager.
She recalled, "I said to him, you know I have a great title
for a James Bond film, 'Nobody Does It Better', and
he said 'that's a really good title! I love that title'. So
he ran over to the piano and basically started to play the melody."
Hamlisch described how the song builds, "the melody was very
bluesy So what's nice about that is it has a wonderful place
to grow.
And where it goes... you like
have to make room for the drums!"
A unspecified piece of music composed by Mozart inspired the
melody of the song composed by Hamlisch. Indeed, the film includes
in its score a number of pieces of classical music by such composers
as Johann Sebastian Bach (Air in Orchestral Suite No. 3, BWV
1068), Frédéric Chopin (Nocturne No. 8 in D-Flat,
Op. 27 No. 2), Camille Saint-Saëns (The Aquarium from The
Carnival of the Animals) and also by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,
the Andante second movement of Piano Concerto No. 21 Elvira Madigan.
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Above: Singer Carly Simon
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The producers went for the song, but shot
down its title. Carole Bayer Sager, who wrote the lyrics,
had a plan. "That was one of the things they said,
'where's the title [of the film]?' So I kinda just poked
it in part of the verse: like heaven above me, the
spy who loved me, is keeping all my secrets safe tonight. When
I was writing the song, I was thinking I was writing a
love song to James Bond." Hamlisch agreed, "for
sure, this song was about James Bond. This song is his
bible."
"You're So Vain" singer Carly
Simon performed the track and it charted higher than any
other Bond song before it, entering the US charts on 23
July 1977 and went to No. #2. It stayed there for three
weeks and was in the US charts for 25 consecutive weeks.
It entered the charts in the UK on 6 August 1977 and peaked
at the No. #7 position. The song in the USA also achieved
the classification of being a Gold Single. The soundtrack
album charted in the USA on 27 August 1977 and went to
the No. #40 rank. |
Despite being the first Bond song that
did not share its title with marketed film, it was so successful
that the title "Nobody Does It Better" has become
part of James Bond universe phraseology. At that time,
it was also the only song in the series that was about
James Bond. In 2004, the song was honoured by the American
Film Institute as the 67th greatest song as part of their
100 Years Series.
The movie received Three Academy Award
Nominations - the most ever received by a James Bond
movie to date. These were for Best Art Direction - Set
Decoration, Best Score, and Best Song - "Nobody
Does It Better". |
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Above: Nobody does it better |
Related Articles
The
Spy Who Loved Me - Movie Coverage
The
Spy Who Loved Me - Soundtrack
