"For Your Eyes Only" is the theme to the 12th

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

movie of the same name, written by

Bill Conti William Conti (born April 13, 1942) is an American composer and conductor, best known for his film scores, including ''Rocky'' (and four of its sequels), ''The Karate Kid'' (and all of its sequels), '' For Your Eyes Only'', ''Dynasty'' (and its ...

and Mick Leeson, and performed by Scottish singer

Sheena Easton Sheena Shirley Easton (; born 27 April 1959) is a Scottish singer and actress. Easton came into the public eye in an episode of the first British musical reality television programme '' The Big Time: Pop Singer'', which recorded her attempts to ...

. The song reached number four on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and number eight on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. It was nominated for

Best Original Song This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

at the

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

s in

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

Background

Conti – who was also responsible for the film's score – had originally written the song thinking about

Donna Summer LaDonna Adrian Gaines (December 31, 1948May 17, 2012), known professionally as Donna Summer, was an American singer and songwriter. She gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s and became known as the " Queen of Disco", while her mus ...

Dusty Springfield Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien (16 April 1939 – 2 March 1999), known professionally as Dusty Springfield, was an English singer. With her distinctive mezzo-soprano sound, she was a popular singer of blue-eyed soul, Pop music, p ...

, singers he thought "fit the Bond style". Film studio

United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the studi ...

suggested Sheena Easton, an up-and-coming singer who had recently scored a No.1 hit in America with " Morning Train". Conti heard Easton's debut album ''

Take My Time ''Take My Time'' is the debut album by UK pop singer Sheena Easton. Released in January 1981, the album reached #17 in the UK and earned her a Gold Disc. Two months later, a ten track version of the album was released in the USA and Canada as ''S ...

'' and felt unimpressed but decided to work with her in the song after meeting Easton in person. Leeson's lyrics originally used "for your eyes only" only as the final line, as the lyricist felt he could only use the phrase as a conclusion. After credit sequence artist

Maurice Binder Maurice Binder (December 4, 1918 – April 9, 1991) was an American film title designer best known for his work on 16 James Bond films including the first, '' Dr. No'' (1962) and for Stanley Donen's films from 1958. Early work He was born in Ne ...

complained about having to synchronize the unveiling of the title with it being said in the theme song, Conti decided to work with Leeson to write lyrics that opened with "for your eyes only". The US band Blondie had previously been asked to write the title song but it was rejected in favour of Conti's by the Bond producers. (Blondie's finished recording, a completely different song also called "For Your Eyes Only", appeared on their 1982 album ''The Hunter''). Easton is the only artist (to date) to be seen singing the theme song to a Bond movie during its opening titles, as Maurice Binder liked Easton's appearance and decided to add her to the credits. Her seductive appearance in these clips was, according to

Roger Moore Sir Roger George Moore (14 October 192723 May 2017) was an English actor. He was the third actor to portray fictional British secret agent James Bond in the Eon Productions film series, playing the character in seven feature films between 19 ...

, more sexy than any of the

Bond girls A Bond girl is a character who is a love interest or female companion of James Bond in a novel, film or video game. Bond girls occasionally have names that are double entendres or puns, such as Pussy Galore, Plenty O'Toole, Xenia Onatopp, or ...

, although Easton herself states that the filming process was very unglamorous. In particular, Binder had to attach Easton to a chair so she would be immobile during a take where the camera zooms on the singer's lips. This was one of the few Bond themes not to have a contribution by John Barry. The song was produced by

Christopher Neil Christopher Neil (born 1948) is an Irish-born British record producer, songwriter, singer, and actor. He has produced records for A-ha, Amazulu, Bonnie Tyler, Celine Dion, Cher, Dollar, Edyta Górniak, Gerry Rafferty, Jennifer Rush, José C ...

, who was Easton's regular producer at the time. The song was released as a single in June 1981, at the same time as the film's launch. It became a worldwide hit, reaching the top ten in the UK, number 1 in the Netherlands and top five in the US. It remains one of Easton's biggest hits and is included on compilation soundtrack albums.

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

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Music video

Two different music videos for the song were released. The first was the Maurice Binder title sequence from the film, but with the credits removed (therefore just showing Easton performing the song). The second was more conventional and was directed by

Steve Barron Steven Barron (born 4 May 1956) is an Irish-British filmmaker. He is best known for directing the music videos for the songs "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson, "Summer of '69" and " Run to You" by Bryan Adams, " Money for Nothing" by Dire Stra ...

Chart history

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References