I always thought from the time when it was released, that George Harrison’s “(The) Art of Dying” had a Bond sound and feel to it, particularly at the time (1970). Even the title sounds Bondian to me. The Hinduism-influenced lyrics might have been problematic for a Bond film, however.
I guess not many of you are aware how "Rise like a Phoenix" (which is THE quintessential Bond song that never was one) came to be.
In short, the story goes something like this: Some Austrian music producers wanted to do an album with Shirley Bassey appr. around 2010 and wrote a number of songs for that album, amongst them a certain Bond-sounding piece called "Rise like a Phoenix" - I mean how could you do an album with Bassey and let that opportunity pass?!
Anyhow, the album never came to be and the songs landed in the drawer... where they collected dust until there was need for an Austrian entry for the prestigious (and at the same time sort of campy) Eurovision Song Contest in 2014. Re-enter "Rise like a Phoenix"!
The fact that it was sung by a drag queen with a full beard who called him (her?)self "Wurst" , meaning "sausage" in German, as a stage name may make some people here think it was meant as a spoof or parody or something, which in fact it wasn't at all (and Austria won the contest in a landslide).
You don't believe it fits Bond like a glove? Just go to youtube and seach for "rise like a phoenix skyfall":
Incredible match of visuals and music, wouldn't you agree? If you forget the ridiculous appearance of the singer it should give you serious goosebumps...
(NB: Some time after 2014 he/she dropped the "Wurst", just calling himself "Conchita". Only one week ago he was diagnosed with HIV.)
Someone must have mentioned "Wurst" elsewhere around here, or maybe it was a thumbnail on YouTube above that Samoan(?) guy in a swimming pool (or was that the Pacific Ocean?) singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."
Anyway, the Phoenix song definitely has a Skyfall vibe about it (visuals aside).
Here are my two picks for songs that sounded like they are for a Bond film. The first one by Rob Dugan from his Furious Angels cd called Will You follow Me? doesn’t have any lyrics but a Bondian theme.
And the second one is from Two Steps From Hell from their Unleashed album called Step Into the Light.
The visuals sell that piece more than the music itself does, but then I largely associate Two Steps from Hell's music with fanmade football highlight videos. ("Soccer", not American Chuckball).
Perhaps a big stretch, but I could imagine this song over the opening credits in that third, never-released Timothy Dalton 007 film.
Siouxsie's even dancing with a flaming backdrop starting at 2:34.
"We found you hiding, we found you lying Choking on the dirt and sand Your former glories and all the stories Dragged and washed with eager hands But oh, your city lies in dust, my friend But oh, your city lies in dust, my friend Your city lies in dust..."
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"Hot and burning in your nostrils Pouring down your gaping mouth Your molten bodies, blanket of cinders Caught in the throes And oh, your city lies in dust, my friend Oh, your city lies in dust, my friend Oh, your city lies in dust, my friend Oh, your city lies in dust, my friend Your city lies in dust, my friend Oh, your city lies in dust, my friend..."
I don't know how I managed to forget this one (or maybe I or someone else posted it and I simply did not remember--in which case, sorry about that), but it's all sorts of terrific. It even has the right kind of title!
Amy Winehouse would have been so perfect. Such a shame that she never got to record her song. I just checked the Jon Burlingame book, and he points out that Arnold originally wrote the 6 note Quantum of Solace theme for the abandoned Winehouse song, which she never finished writing and never showed up to record. Arnold later used it in the film's score, and then built the song "No Good About Goodbye" around it.
Her sound was undeniably Bond. Here, someone took her hit "Back to Black" and synched it up with the Casino Royale credits.
From day one I've heard "Love is a Losing Game" as a Bond song. What an incredible talent. She should have had a longer and better life.
Perhaps a little off-topic but hear me out. Maybe it is a stretch but am I the only one who thinks that the song that ends the Joel Goldsmith soundtrack Diamonds sounds like a song that easily could have been the song theme for a James Bond parody. The song in mind is Keeps This World Alive performed by Peter Noone and written by Nicholas Dodd and Rick Chadock. Produced by Joel Goldsmith, Nicholas Dodd and Rick Chadock.
Anyway I really like it but to my ears it sounds like something that could have wrritten for a James Bond spoof.
