Sir Paul McCartney shared how he came up with his James Bond theme for Roger Moore's Live and Let Die in a new 50th anniversary interview. (Toread the full interview click on McCartney.com)
"It's always very weird when you get these kind of anniversaries because I don't keep count. I have no idea if it's coming up for fifty or sixty years or whatever."
“It’s shocking really, but in a nice way. I think, ‘Where did the time go?’ It’s nice that the song has lasted though, and people still enjoy it.”
“It felt like an important historical thing, writing a Bond song. The idea was suggested to me by Ron Cass, who was a guy who ran Apple Records at the time. He said, ‘Have you ever considered doing a Bond film?’ And I said, ‘Well, I would. But no one has asked!’. So, he spoke to the film’s producers, and then they came back and gave me the title Live and Let Die.
“I went away and started thinking about that phrase. To me, obviously what happens is you think of the usual saying, ‘live and let live’. And then think about how you’re going to get to the opposite which is, ‘live and let die’. It was a little conundrum, but I enjoy those; it's like putting together a short story or something. I got the book the film was going to be based on, read it, and did the song the next day.”
Question 2: Did you always know that the song would lend itself to the pyrotechnics in the live shows? Was this in your mind when you wrote the song?
Paul: No, not really. I thought it would just end up on the soundtrack of the film, as it did. But when we started performing it to big audiences, we got a bit creative and thought of all the explosions in Bond films. That’s what they’re all about! So, we got our pyrotechnics guy – who is amazingly called ‘Shaky’ – and together we worked it up. He did the explosions, and then we got our lighting guys to come in and add some sympathetic lighting to it, then our stage designer did the film that comes up behind us where we kind of blow up the Houses of Parliament and stuff like that. It all came together as a really nice moment in the show.
By adding these big explosions, you know it's going to make people jump out of their seat, and what we all love to do as a band is watch the front row. You can see the people who haven't been to the show before because it shocks them! If it’s a couple, they look at each other, and go, ‘Oh my God, did you see that?’ Which amuses us.
Performed with his former band, Wings, Live and Let Die is one of the most iconic Bond themes of all time, matched only by Shirley Bassey’s Goldfinger, Adele’s Skyfall, and Carly Simon’s ‘Nobody Does it Better’ from The Spy Who Loved Me.
Speaking to The Guardian, Kozinn stated, “This has been a longstanding story in the music world – the producers of Live and Let Die wanted to replace McCartney with a female singer. Actually, the internal communications revealed that it was always in the contract that there would be two versions of the song”.
In his memoir, All You Need is Ears, Martin recalled playing McCartney’s recording to Harry Saltzman, who produced the Bond films with Albert “Cubby” Broccoli: “He sat me down and said, ‘Great. Like what you did, very nice record, like the score. Now tell me, who do you think we should get to sing it?’ That took me completely aback. After all, he was holding the Paul McCartney recording we had made. And Paul McCartney was – Paul McCartney. But he was clearly treating it as a demo disc. ‘I don’t follow. You’ve got Paul McCartney,’ I said. ‘Yeah, yeah, that’s good. But who are we going to get to sing it for the film?’ ‘I’m sorry. I still don’t follow,’ I said, feeling that maybe there was something I hadn’t been told. ‘You know – we’ve got to have a girl, haven’t we?’”
McCartney said: “The film producers found a record player. After the record had finished they said to George, ‘That’s great, a wonderful demo. Now when are you going to make the real track, and who shall we get to sing it?’ And George said, ‘What? This is the real track’.”
In one of the documents, Ron Kass, former head of Beatles label Apple Records employed by Eon, wrote to Saltzman: “Paul McCartney has agreed to write the title song entitled Live and Let Die. He and his musical group Wings will perform the title song under the opening titles."
Other Sources: ( The Express /The Guardian/ NME/Faroutmagazine)
