Tag: Live and Let Die

My Favorite 20th Century James Bond Movies…

I love James Bond movies. I’ve watched a few of the new ones, but they mostly miss an essential ingredient of why I like James Bond. The gadgets…I love the gadgets and they are few and far between in the new movies…so my favorites will be the 20th-century movies. I have watched the new ones…but not enough to rank them. I do like them like Skyfall and others. I just know the older ones better…and would that surprise any of my readers? Plus…to me…Sean Connery has never been topped.

I’m not going into big detail…but what I remember the most about them.

What are your favorites?

10. Live and Let Die (1974) 

This was Roger Moore’s debut in the role. It does have a Blaxploitation movie feel to it because of when it was made…and a killer theme song. I love the speedboat chases of this one.

9. Diamonds Are Forever (1971)

This is one that Connery came back after being absent in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Not as good as his 1960’s Bond films but as always…a fun movie to watch.

8. Thunderball (1965)

Not as good as the top 3 of this list but the lavish sets work. I also love the Astin Martin with the bullet shield. The jetpack is pretty cool also.

7. The Living Daylights (1987)

Timothy Dalton played Bond in an intense way and it worked. I like Dalton’s Bond. He was a little more serious and it worked great.

6. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969)

George Lazenby’s one-shot at James Bond was great. I’m sure his agent was fired after telling him one was enough…he would be typecast. What a dumb decision that was! Good one where James Bond gets married.

5. You Only Live Twice (1967)

I loved the small one-man helicopter named “Little Nellie” in this one. Connery was a badass in this one. I also like the giant lair of Blofeld.

4. The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

For me, this was Roger Moore’s best Bond movie. You see a young Barbara Bach who would marry Ringo Starr a little later on. The opening squence may be my favorite of any of them.

3. From Russia With Love (1963)

This one could have been number 1 easily also with me. The top 3 are hard to beat. This one is a little longer but never gets boring.

2. Goldfinger (1964)

Goldfinger is usually on top of every list I’ve seen and it could have been on this one also but Ursula Andress tipped the scales for…

1. Dr. No (1962)

In 1962…I can’t imagine the impact Ursula Andress walking out of the water must have had on audiences. It is burned into my brain. I would love to live where Doctor No did.

Paul McCartney – Live and Let Die

I’ve seen Paul in concert twice. Some performers you go and see and you may know a lot of their songs but with Paul…it’s nearly 3 hours of songs that you have heard all of your life.

Paul McCartney was given a copy of the Ian Fleming novel to read and he read the book one Saturday, during a break from sessions for the Red Rose Speedway album before writing the song on the following day.

Live and Let Die was the title song for the eighth James Bond film. It was the first to star Roger Moore as Bond.

George Martin produced this song for Paul, they hadn’t worked together since Abbey Road. The song was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song but lost to Barbra Streisand’s The Way We Were, but George Martin won a Grammy for his work on the song.

“Live and Let Die” was not featured on a McCartney album until the Wings Greatest compilation in 1978.

Live and Let Die peaked at #2 in the Billboard 100, #2 in Canada, #9 in the UK, and #20 in New Zealand.

Denny Seiwell  (Wings Drummer) “Everybody thought it was cool that we were doing something for James Bond. I remember what Paul told us – he said a couple weeks before we did the actual recording, he said they wanted him to write the theme to the next James Bond movie, and they sent him the book to read. And we were up at the house one day and he had just read the book the night before, and he sat down at the piano and said, ‘James Bond… James Bond… da-da-dum!’, and he started screwing around at the piano. Within 10 minutes, he had that song written. It was awesome, really. Just to watch him get in there and write the song was really something I’ll remember the rest of my life.” 

 

From Songfacts

The former Beatle recalled the writing of the song in an interview with the October 2010 edition of Mojo magazine: “I got the book and it’s a very fast read. On the Sunday, I sat down and thought, OK, the hardest thing to do here is to work in that title. I mean, later I really pitied who had the job of writing Quantum Of Solace. So I thought, Live And Let Die, OK, really what they mean is live and let live and there’s the switch.

So I came at it from the very obvious angle. I just thought, ‘When you were younger you used to say that, but now you say this.'”

George Martin produced this and arranged the orchestra. Martin produced most of The Beatles work, so this was McCartney’s chance to work with him again.

This was the most successful Bond theme up to that point. Other hits from James Bond movies include “Nobody Does It Better” by Carly Simon (from The Spy Who Loved Me), “For Your Eyes Only” by Sheena Easton, and “A View To A Kill” by Duran Duran.

McCartney performed this on his solo tours in 1989-1990 and 1993.

Live and Let Die

When you were young
And your heart was an open book
You used to say live and let live
You know you did
You know you did
You know you did
But if this ever changin’ world
In which we live in
Makes you give in and cry
Say live and let die (live and let die)
Live and let die (live and let die)

What does it matter to ya
When you got a job to do you got to do it well
You got to give the other fella hell

You used to say live and let live
You know you did
You know you did
You know you did
But if this ever changin’ world
In which we live in
Makes you give in and cry
Say live and let die (live and let die)
Live and let die (live and let die)