Barry's quoted in the other current Bond thread about his intention to score Tomorrow Never Dies -- which he ultimately turned-down because Eon wanted someone else to write the title song...
I expect he would have turned-down The Living Daylights if he was likewise not involved in writing the title song.
It has always been my understanding that Paul (Waaktaar, a-ha's guitarist and main songwriter) wrote the song.
If Barry was only the arranger of "Living Daylights", the credit would not read "Written by John Barry & a-ha". Arrangers aren't credited as writers (even in cases where they practically are).
Barry went on to compose a far better song for the film, 'If There Was A Man' with lyrics by Chrissie Hynde.
IF memory is right...wasn't the Chrissie Hynde song suppose to be the Bond Song? And The Vegetable Producer and Daughter thinking that A-ha was hot for a split 15 minutes and decided to bring them A-ha boys on board!!!!
a-ha will release a 2 disc “Deluxe Version” of their third album ‘Stay On These Roads’ on Friday 23 October. Of particular interest to Barry fans here might be the Demo Version of ‘The Living Daylights’ included on Disc 2. As Barry has a writing credit for the track, it could be interesting to hear it prior to whatever he added. Depending on which version they choose to include of course.
I just published a Norwegian book on the Bond films (with the great title: The Big Book on James Bond).
Well, point is we got to interview Paul Waaktaar about the song for The Living Daylights.
To sum up a thorough talk on the song, he told us he got the title, nothing more. The title gave him the riff and melody at once. He decided it was to be a pop song, not a love song. Then he showed the song idea to the other two in the group, who liked it. They then made the demo in Oslo and heard nothing, think ing they did not get the gig. Albert Broccoli liked the song and they got hired. They had John Barry come in to the studio - not many times, mostly talking about the good old days - and they got quite stressed that he took up too much time on the session. He added some instrumentation, mostly some deep strings the Waaktaar said has like a hum going through the whole song, and gave it mass and scope. He also suggested and inserted a different tone here and there. Waaaktaar said his contribution was minimal, and that they were very suprised to learn that he had a stipulation in his contract saying he should share credit for the song, no matter the extent of his contribution. But a-ha was fine with that, he says, and was very suprised that John Barry bad mouthed them years later. Did never knew were that came from, although Waaktaar says they had to go back and change a semi-tone that did not work, and that Barry was not happy with that. Waaktaar had heard about the gripe Barry had about the band not attending the premiere. Well, the story was that a-ha was playing on Iceland, and was invited to the premiere that was at the same time. The bands management did not work it out - and they probably should have, says WAaktaar, but they would have liked to have been there. So, that is the story.
Norwegian readers can read more in the interview - in the book. Buy it! Lots of them!
Thanks for that, Morten. I have another book (authorised biography of a-ha) and Paul relates much the same story about the song. Should be interesting to hear the demo.
I like how the lyrics point to a movie about vampires. But if James Bond is a vampire, it explains a few things...
RE: Contractually Co-Writing Credit: I'm sure Barry had been similarly protecting his interests for ages after what he feels happened to him over the JB Theme.
TLD is a softer song than I like to hear over my JB titles, but prefer it over the Hynde songs (both fine songs) for the titles.
I've been listening to the demo version on the new a-ha release as I previously mentioned. If it is the genuine untouched demo, then as a-ha have said all along it's difficult to see how Barry deserved the songwriting credit. The melody and structure of the song is the same, with a different lyric (albeit under developed beyond the verses) and much the same tempo. It's obvious where Barry came in with the orchestral track and the brass jabs, but other than that there's little change. It clearly seems to me from listening to this demo that was his main involvement. The individual track is available for download and may possibly be on Youtube for anyone who is interested.
It's worth remembering that 'demo' means many things. Once the lyrics and arrangement have been finalised, there's still a 'demo' of the piece as adapted. It all depends on how far into the creative process the particular test run is taken.
My guess is that Barry tolerated the situation with the title songs on A View To A Kill and The Living Daylights out of respect and loyalty to Cubby Broccoli. By the time the Tomorrow Never Dies song arose in 1997, Cubby had sadly died the previous year, and so Barry walked. Pure speculation but not beyond the realms of possibility.
It's worth remembering that 'demo' means many things. Once the lyrics and arrangement have been finalised, there's still a 'demo' of the piece as adapted. It all depends on how far into the creative process the particular test run is taken.
This sounds exactly the same as the version included on Stay On These Roads.
No, it’s not the demo version. The demo is completely different. That is the rerecorded version for ‘Stay On These Roads’ album. Incidentally, it had to be rerecorded as the band wanted the song on their next album, but were surprised to be told they didn’t hold the rights to include it so they decided to record it again.
Yeah, I defer to Thomas for in-depth a-ha trivia. But "The Living Daylights" has always sounded like a classic a-ha song through and through. The only trace of Barry is in some of the arrangement.
tHE MAIN PROBLEM, TO MY EARS ,is performance of the song. Had they put the enthusiasm they infused into "Take On Me" it would have been much more compelling brm
Barry went on to compose a far better song for the film, 'If There Was A Man' with lyrics by Chrissie Hynde.
Great song, I also love 'Where Has Everybody Gone' which became source music on the bad guys radio.
Both songs are better than a~ha's.
Hell NO! "If there was a man" is okay and "Where has everybody gone" is godawful. Add to that Chrissie uses her voice for singing in such a way that it can only be enjoyed in sign language. Add to that the screeching guitars, a sound I hate beyond hate. Whenever I copy the CD to computer, the firs thing I do is to throw away the "everybody song".
