''From Russia with Love'' is the soundtrack for the second

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 hav ...

film, '' From Russia With Love''. This is the first series film with John Barry as the primary soundtrack composer. John Barry, arranger of

Monty Norman Monty Norman (''né'' Noserovitch; 4 April 1928 – 11 July 2022) was a British composer, musician and singer. A contributor to West End musicals in the 1950s and 1960s, he is best known for composing the " James Bond Theme", first heard in t ...

's "

James Bond Theme The "James Bond Theme" is the main signature theme music of the James Bond films and has featured in every Eon Productions Bond film since '' Dr. No'', released in 1962. Composed by Monty Norman (with arrangements for film provided by John Bar ...

" for '' Dr. No'', would be the dominant Bond series composer for most of its history and the inspiration for fellow series composer, David Arnold (who uses cues from this soundtrack in his own for ''

Tomorrow Never Dies ''Tomorrow Never Dies'' is a 1997 spy film, the eighteenth in the ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions and the second to star Pierce Brosnan as fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Directed by Roger Spottiswoode from a screenplay ...

''). The theme song was composed by

Lionel Bart Lionel Bart (1 August 1930 – 3 April 1999) was a British writer and composer of pop music and musicals. He wrote Tommy Steele's " Rock with the Caveman" and was the sole creator of the musical ''Oliver!'' (1960). With ''Oliver!'' and his wor ...

of ''

Oliver! ''Oliver!'' is a Coming-of-age story, coming-of-age Musical theatre, stage musical, with book, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the 1838 novel ''Oliver Twist'' by Charles Dickens. It premiered at the Wimbledon Theatre ...

'' fame and sung by Matt Monro.

Production

Following the decision of the producers not to use

, though keeping his "

Harry Saltzman Herschel Saltzman (; – ), known as Harry Saltzman, was a Canadian theatre and film producer. He is best remembered for co-producing the first nine of the ''James Bond'' film series with Albert R. Broccoli. He lived most of his life in Den ...

decided on using the then popular

of ''

'' fame. Bart was unable to read or write music, but he offered to compose the music and lyrics for a title song to the film. The producers chose John Barry to score the film. Barry had not only arranged and conducted the "

" from the previous film, but had already scored some films such as ''

Beat Girl ''Beat Girl'' is a 1960 British teen exploitation film directed by Edmond T. Gréville. The film was released in the United States under the title ''Wild for Kicks''. The title character of ''Beat Girl'' was played by starlet Gillian Hills, w ...

'' and ''

Never Let Go ''Never Let Go'' is a 1960 British thriller film starring Richard Todd, Peter Sellers and Elizabeth Sellars. It concerns a man's attempt to recover his stolen Ford Anglia car. Sellers plays a London villain, in one of his rare serious roles. P ...

''. Barry's group also charted at 13 in the November 1962 UK charts with a different arrangement of the Bond theme from that heard in the film. The title song was sung by Matt Monro. Monro's vocal version is played during the film (as source music on a radio) and properly over the film's end titles. The title credit music is a lively instrumental version of the tune preceded by a brief Barry-composed " James Bond Is Back" then segueing into the "

". On the original film soundtrack,

Alan Haven Alan Haven (1 April 1935 – 7 January 2016), born in Prestwich, Lancashire, United Kingdom, was an English jazz organist. His original name was Alan Halpern and he was Jewish. He lived off Kings Road and attended Kings Road School, Prestwich. H ...

played a jazzy organ over the theme but this version was not released on the soundtrack album. The tune also appears in a soft string arrangement as a theme for Tania. In Germany, the original release featured an end title track cover version called ''Die Wolga ist Weit'' sung by

Ruthe Berlé Johann Friedrich Ruthe Ruthé or von Ruthe (16 April 1788 in Eggenstädt, near Hildesheim – 24 August 1859 in Berlin) was a German teacher (Oberlehrer), botanist and entomologist. In the field of entomology he specialised in Hymenoptera and D ...

. Originally planning to use local Turkish music as Norman had used Jamaican music on ''Dr. No'', Barry accompanied the film crew to Istanbul, however he found nothing suitable for the film. Recalling his visit to Istanbul, John Barry said, "It was like no place I'd ever been in my life. he Tripwas supposedly to seep up the music, so Noel Rogers and I used to go 'round to these nightclubs and listen to all this stuff. We had the strangest week, and really came away with nothing, except a lot of ridiculous stories. We went back, talked to Lionel, and then he wrote 'From Russia with Love.''

Album and cover versions

The soundtrack's original recordings are thought to be lost and did not appear when the Bond soundtrack albums were issued in remastered form on CD. The album is different from the film with the album's recording of the main titles sounding slower and not featuring the organ played by

. Several tracks on the album do not appear in the completed film. The album was the last of the Bond soundtrack albums to feature more than the usual six tracks per record side. The soundtrack album reached 28 on the ''Variety'' charts in March 1964 with the title song becoming Unart Music's most recorded song.p.125 Lindner, Christop ''The James Bond Phenonomon: A Critical Reader'' 2004 Manchester University Press Other cover versions of the "James Bond Theme" were also released to coincide with the film. Barry also released different cover versions of the title song and " 007" on his Ember records for the pop charts. The Roland Shaw Orchestra performed cover versions of most of the music of Barry's soundtrack on several albums.

Track listing

# "Opening Titles: James Bond Is Back/From Russia with Love/

" (different arrangement from that heard in the film) # "Tania Meets Klebb" # "Meeting in St. Sophia" # "The Golden Horn" * # "Girl Trouble" # "Bond Meets Tania" # " 007" * # "Gypsy Camp" # "Death of Grant" # "From Russia with Love" – Matt Monro # "Spectre Island" # "Guitar Lament" * # "Man Overboard/SMERSH in Action" # "James Bond with Bongos"contains the "

", originally composed for the ''Dr. No'' soundtrack # "Stalking" # "Leila Dances" * # "Death of Kerim" # "007 Takes the Lektor" * Not heard in the film

Outside the film

* In 1965,

KYW-TV KYW-TV (channel 3) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside CW affiliate WPSG (channel 57 ...

in Philadelphia adopted the "007 Takes The Lektor" track as its longtime theme for its ''

Eyewitness News ''Eyewitness News'' is a style of television news presentation that emphasizes visual elements and action video, replacing the older "man-on-camera" newscast. History Pioneered by Westinghouse The earliest known use of the ''Eyewitness New ...

'' format. It went on to be used in other Group W stations in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

and

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

for their newscasts. Two years later, "007 Takes The Lektor" would be recycled for further Bond use, in the autogyro scene in '' You Only Live Twice''. * The podcast ''

Mueller, She Wrote ''Mueller, She Wrote'' is a political podcast hosted by Allison Gill, a military veteran who worked at the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. It mixes comedy, legal commentary and political analysis, from a liberal perspective, and ce ...

'' uses an instrumental version of the theme song as its intro and outro theme music. This serves as a humorous theme, as the podcast centres on Russian relations to the presidential campaign for Donald Trump in 2016, and the following special counsel investigation led by Robert S. Mueller III.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:From Russia With Love (Soundtrack) Soundtrack albums from James Bond films

Soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...