You Only Live Twice | ||||
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Soundtrack album by | ||||
Released | July 1967 | |||
Recorded | April 1967 | |||
Length | 34:12 | |||
Label | United Artists | |||
Producer | John Barry Lukas Kendall (2003 Reissue) | |||
John Barry chronology | ||||
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James Bond soundtrack chronology | ||||
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Singles from You Only Live Twice | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [1] |
You Only Live Twice is the soundtrack for the fifth James Bond film of the same name. It was composed by Bond veteran John Barry. At the time,this was his fourth credited Bond film. The theme song,"You Only Live Twice",was sung by Nancy Sinatra,the first non-British vocalist of the series,with music by Barry and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse. The soundtrack has previously been available in two versions on CD –the first,a straight reissue of the LP soundtrack,and the second,an expanded reissue including several previously unreleased tracks. The film soundtrack was recorded at CTS Studios,London. It debuted on the top 40 Billboard 200 album chart on August 19,1967,and went up to 27. [2]
An earlier version of the theme song with a similar arrangement and lyrics but different melody (and without the distinctive cascading strings),sung by an uncredited Julie Rogers,was included in the James Bond 30th Anniversary 2-CD boxed set,cited as a "demo". Rogers never thought it was a demo,but a finished version for the film. [3] [4] After this version was recorded,the producers sought out Nancy Sinatra for the vocal and Barry reorchestrated the song to suit her range. [5] An alternative example of the title song (also called "You Only Live Twice" and sung by Lorraine Chandler) can be found on compilations such as Rare,Collectable,and Soulful Vol. 2. [6]
Tracks 13 to 19 were added later, as a bonus, to the complete version of the original soundtrack upon its digitally remastered CD rerelease.
"Twice Is the Only Way to Live" was the final track on the soundtrack's original UK version. It was also included on the United Artists soundtrack compilation Ten Golden Years (1968). On certain releases of the You Only Live Twice soundtrack album, the "007 Theme" is included. It is heard within the film when Little Nellie is being constructed and continues to play until three or four SPECTRE helicopters encounter Bond, at which point the music changes to the "James Bond Theme". Giving the score a Japanese flavour, John Leach played the koto in the film, [7]
Nancy Sinatra recorded a record chart version of "You Only Live Twice" for Reprise Records that was arranged by guitarist Billy Strange who released several records of cover versions of Bond musical themes. Lee Hazlewood felt Barry's lush instrumental backing was not suitable for a chart single. On the Reprise version Sinatra's voice is double tracked giving not only an unusual sound but a pun on the title. [8] The record was released with a cover of Johnny Cash and June Carter's "Jackson" performed by Nancy Sinatra and Hazlewood.
Soft Cell’s cover of You Only Live Twice was the B side to their single Soul Inside in September 1983.
The theme "Kronos Unveiled" from the score of Pixar's 2004 film The Incredibles bears a close resemblance to the track "Capsule in Space" (reprised in "Soviet Capsule"), while the film's trailer had used Barry's original On Her Majesty's Secret Service theme.
Propellerheads' cover of Barry's On Her Majesty's Secret Service with David Arnold also incorporates, in its full 9-minute version, "Capsule in Space" as a central segue.
"You Only Live Twice" appeared at the end of Mad Men episode "The Phantom".
Little Anthony & The Imperials recorded a cover version of the song for United Artists Records. It appeared on their 1967 album, Movie Grabbers on the label's Veep Records subsidiary that year, and was released as a single from that album.
Nancy Sandra Sinatra is an American singer. She is the elder daughter of Frank Sinatra and Nancy Sinatra, known for her 1965 signature hit "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'".
The Best of Bond... James Bond is the title of various compilation albums of music used in the James Bond films made by Eon Productions up to that time. The album was originally released in 1992 as The Best of James Bond, as a one-disc compilation and a two-disc 30th Anniversary Limited Edition compilation with songs that had, at that point, never been released to the public. The single disc compilation was later updated five times in 1999, 2002, 2008, 2012, and 2021. The 2008 version was augmented with the addition of a DVD featuring music videos and a documentary. Another two-disc edition, this time containing 50 tracks for the 50th anniversary of the franchise, was released in 2012.
Since its inception in 1962, the James Bond film series from Eon Productions has featured many musical compositions, many of which are now considered classic pieces of British film music. The best known piece is the "James Bond Theme" composed by Monty Norman. Other instrumentals, such as "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", and various songs performed by British or American artists such as Shirley Bassey's "Goldfinger", Nancy Sinatra's "You Only Live Twice", Paul McCartney's "Live and Let Die", Carly Simon's "Nobody Does It Better", Sheena Easton's "For Your Eyes Only", Duran Duran's "A View to a Kill", Tina Turner's "GoldenEye" also become identified with the series.
The "James Bond Theme" is the main signature theme music of the James Bond films and has featured in every Eon Productions Bond film since Dr. No, released in 1962. Composed in e minor by Monty Norman, the piece has been used as an accompanying fanfare to the gun barrel sequence in every Eon Bond film besides the 2006 reboot Casino Royale.
"These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" is a hit song written by Lee Hazlewood and recorded by American singer Nancy Sinatra. It charted on January 22, 1966, and reached No. 1 in the United States Billboard Hot 100 and in the UK Singles Chart.
Barton Lee Hazlewood was an American country and pop singer, songwriter, and record producer, most widely known for his work with guitarist Duane Eddy during the late 1950s and singer Nancy Sinatra in the 1960s and 1970s. His collaborations with Sinatra as well as his solo output in the late 1960s and early 1970s have been praised as an essential contribution to a sound often described as "cowboy psychedelia" or "saccharine underground". Rolling Stone ranked Lee Hazlewood & Nancy Sinatra No. 9 on its list of the 20 Greatest Duos of All Time.
William Everett Strange was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and an actor. He was a session musician with the famed Wrecking Crew, and was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum as a member of The Wrecking Crew in 2007.
"Jackson" is a song written in 1963 by Billy Edd Wheeler and Jerry Leiber. It was recorded in 1963 by the Kingston Trio, Wheeler, and Flatt and Scruggs. It achieved its most notable popularity with two 1967 releases: a country hit single by Johnny Cash and June Carter, which reached No. 2 on the Billboard Country Singles chart, and a pop hit single by Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood, which reached No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 39 on Easy Listening.
You Only Live Twice is a 1967 spy film and the fifth in the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions, starring Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It is the first Bond film to be directed by Lewis Gilbert, who later directed the 1977 film The Spy Who Loved Me and the 1979 film Moonraker, both starring Roger Moore. The screenplay of You Only Live Twice was written by Roald Dahl, and loosely based on Ian Fleming's 1964 novel of the same name. It is the first James Bond film to discard most of Fleming's plot, using only a few characters and locations from the book as the background for an entirely new story.
"Summer Wind" is a 1965 song, originally released in Germany as "Der Sommerwind" and written by Heinz Meier and German language lyrics by Hans Bradtke. Johnny Mercer re-wrote the song into English along the same themes as the original, which talked of the changing of the seasons using the Southern European sirocco wind as a metaphor. In America, it was first recorded by Wayne Newton and subsequently by Bobby Vinton and Perry Como.
Thunderball is the soundtrack album for the fourth James Bond film Thunderball.
"Goldfinger" is the title song from the 1964 James Bond film Goldfinger. Composed by John Barry and with lyrics by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley, the song was performed by Shirley Bassey for the film's opening and closing title sequences, as well as the soundtrack album release. The single release of the song gave Bassey her only Billboard Hot 100 top forty hit, peaking in the Top 10 at No. 8 and No. 2 for four weeks on the Adult Contemporary chart, and in the United Kingdom the single reached No. 21.
"Summer Wine" is a song written by Lee Hazlewood. It was originally sung by Suzi Jane Hokom and Lee Hazlewood in 1966, but it was made famous by Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood in 1967.
Dr. No is the film score for the 1962 film of the same name composed by Monty Norman.
From Russia with Love is the soundtrack for the second James Bond film, From Russia With Love. This is the first series film with John Barry as the primary soundtrack composer.
Goldfinger is the soundtrack of the 1964 film of the same name, the third film in the James Bond film series, directed by Guy Hamilton. The album was composed by John Barry and distributed by EMI. Two versions were released initially, one in the United States and the United Kingdom, which varied in terms of length and which tracks were within the soundtrack. In 2003, Capitol-EMI records released a remastered version that contained all the tracks within the film.
The soundtrack to Licence to Kill, the 16th Eon Productions James Bond film, was released by MCA Records in 1989.
The Last of the Secret Agents? is a 1966 American comedy film that spoofs the spy film genre, starring the then-popular comedy team of Allen & Rossi.
The Bond Collection, a.k.a. Bassey Sings Bond, is a 1987 studio album by Shirley Bassey, notable for having been released without the artist's consent and subsequently withdrawn from sales by court order.
"You Only Live Twice", performed by Nancy Sinatra, is the theme song to the 1967 James Bond film of the same name. The music was by veteran Bond film composer John Barry, with lyrics by Leslie Bricusse. The song is widely recognized for its striking opening bars, featuring a simple 2-bar theme in the high octaves of the violins and lush harmonies from French horns. It is considered by some to be among the best James Bond theme songs, and has become one of Nancy Sinatra's best known hits. Shortly after Barry's production, Sinatra's producer Lee Hazlewood released a more guitar-based single version.