"Live and Let Die" is the

theme song Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at s ...

of the 1973

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, 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 19 ...

film of the same name, performed by the British–American rock band

Wings A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is exp ...

. Written by English musician

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. On ...

and his wife

Linda McCartney Linda Louise McCartney, Lady McCartney ( Eastman; September 24, 1941 – April 17, 1998) was an American photographer, musician, animal rights activist, vegetarian cookbook author and advocate, and entrepreneur. She was the keyboardist in th ...

, it reunited McCartney with former Beatles producer

George Martin Sir George Henry Martin (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, and musician. He was commonly referred to as the " Fifth Beatle" because of his extensive involvement in each of the B ...

, who produced the song and arranged the orchestra. McCartney was contacted to write the song by the film's producers

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 De ...

and Albert R. Broccoli before the screenplay was finished. Wings recorded "Live and Let Die" during the sessions for ''

Red Rose Speedway ''Red Rose Speedway'' is the second studio album by the British–American rock band Wings, although credited to "Paul McCartney and Wings". The album was released by Beatles-owned label Apple Records in April 1973, preceded by its lead single, ...

'' in October 1972 at

AIR Studios Associated Independent Recording (AIR) is an independent recording company founded in London in 1965 by record producer Sir George Martin and his business partner John Burgess, after their departure from Parlophone. The studio complex was founded ...

. It was also the first rock song to open a Bond film. Another version by B. J. Arnau also appears in the film. Upon release, "Live and Let Die" was the most successful

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 ...

up to that point, reaching No. 1 on two of the three major US charts (though it only reached No. 2 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100) and No. 9 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 ...

. The song also received positive reviews from music critics and continues to be praised as one of McCartney's best songs. It became the first Bond theme song to be nominated for the

Academy Award for Best Original Song The Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is presented to the ''songwriters'' who have composed t ...

, but ultimately lost the award to

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers awar ...

's "

The Way We Were ''The Way We Were'' is a 1973 American romantic drama film directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford. Arthur Laurents wrote both the novel and screenplay based on his college days at Cornell University and hi ...

". It won the

Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) The Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by ma ...

at the

16th Annual Grammy Awards The 16th Annual Grammy Awards were held March 2, 1974, and were broadcast live on American television. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1973. Award winners * Record of the Year ** Joel Dorn (producer) & Roberta Flack ...

in 1974. Wings performed "Live and Let Die" live during their concert tours and McCartney continues to play it on his solo tours, often using pyrotechnics during the instrumental breaks. It has been covered by several bands, including

Guns N' Roses Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1985. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band comprised vocalist Axl Rose, lead guitarist Slash, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff ...

, whose version appears on their 1991 album ''

Use Your Illusion I ''Use Your Illusion I'' is the third studio album by American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, released on September 17, 1991, the same day as its counterpart ''Use Your Illusion II''. Both albums were released in conjunction with the Use Your Ill ...

''. One of the more popular covers of the song, their version was nominated for the

Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance The Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance was an award presented to recording artists at the Grammy Awards until 2011. The academy recognized hard rock music artists for the first time at the 31st Grammy Awards (1989). The category was ori ...

at the

35th Annual Grammy Awards The 35th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 24, 1993 and recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year. The nominations were announced on January 7, 1993. The evening's host was the American stand-up comedian Garry Shand ...

in 1993. In 2012, McCartney was awarded the Million-Air Award from

Broadcast Music, Inc. Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) is a performance rights organization in the United States. It collects blanket license fees from businesses that use music, entitling those businesses to play or sync any songs from BMI's repertoire of over 20.6 milli ...

(BMI), for more than 4 million performances of the song in the US.

Background and recording

Even before

Tom Mankiewicz Thomas Frank Mankiewicz (June 1, 1942 – July 31, 2010) was an American screenwriter, director, and producer of motion pictures and television whose credits included ''James Bond'' films and his contributions to '' Superman: The Movie'' (1978) a ...

had finished writing the screenplay to '' Live and Let Die,'' producers

and Albert R. Broccoli invited McCartney to write the theme song. McCartney asked to be sent a copy of Ian Fleming's

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

. "I read it and thought it was pretty good. That afternoon I wrote the song and went in the next week and did it ... It was a job of work for me in a way because writing a song around a title like that's not the easiest thing going." Originally, Saltzman was interested in having

Shirley Bassey Dame Shirley Veronica Bassey (; born 8 January 1937) is a Welsh singer. Best known for her career longevity, powerful voice and recording the theme songs to three James Bond films, Bassey is widely regarded as one of the most popular vocalist ...

Thelma Houston Thelma Houston ( Jackson; born May 7, 1946) Retrieved . is an American singer. Beginning her recording career in the late 1960s, Houston scored a number-one hit record in 1977 with her recording of " Don't Leave Me This Way", which won the Gramm ...

perform it instead of Wings. Martin said McCartney would allow the song to be used in the movie only if Wings was able to perform the song in the opening credits. The recording contract specified that McCartney would "perform the title song under the opening titles". A second version of the song, performed by B. J. Arnau, also appears in the film. Arnau's performance originally was meant for the group Fifth Dimension. The Arnau version of the song appears on the soundtrack album as a component in a medley that also contains two George Martin-composed instrumental pieces, "Fillet of Soul – New Orleans" and "Fillet of Soul – Harlem". It was also released by

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also ...

as a single in late June 1973. Wings recorded "Live and Let Die" during the sessions for the ''

'' album, in October 1972. The song was recorded at

, with Ray Cooper providing percussion instruments.

Release and aftermath

"Live and Let Die" was previewed in the 1973 television special ''

James Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. ...

'', which aired on 16 April in the United States and 10 May in the United Kingdom. In the segment, McCartney and Wings were shown performing the song in his studio, while clips of the film were shown, before the film's US theatrical release on 27 June.
/ref> In his contemporary review of the single for the ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'',

Ian MacDonald Ian MacCormick (known by the pseudonym Ian MacDonald; 3 October 1948 – 20 August 2003) was a British music critic and author, best known for both '' Revolution in the Head'', his critical history of the Beatles which borrowed techniques from ...

wrote: "McCartney's fairly reasonable solution to the given problem 'Write, in less than 25 bars, a theme-tune for the new James Bond movie' is to 'Let It Be' for the first half, wailing absently and with a curious notion of grammar, about this 'ever changing world in which we live in', before sitting back to let a 3,000-piece orchestra do a man-in-the-street's impression of John Barry. It's not intrinsically very interesting, but the film will help to sell it and vice versa." ''Billboard'''s contemporary review called it "the best 007 movie theme" to that time and one of McCartney's most satisfying singles, by combining sweet melody, symphonic bombast and some reggae into one song. '' Cash Box'' said that the song was "absolutely magnificent in every respect". "Live and Let Die" reached No. 1 on two of the three major US charts, though only reached No. 2 on the US Hot 100 for three weeks. It was kept from the No. 1 spot each week by three different songs, " The Morning After" by

Maureen McGovern Maureen Therese McGovern (born July 27, 1949) is an American singer and Broadway actress, well known for her renditions of the songs " The Morning After" from the 1972 film '' The Poseidon Adventure''; " We May Never Love Like This Again" from ' ...

, "

Touch Me in the Morning "Touch Me in the Morning" is a song recorded by Diana Ross on the Motown label. It was written by Ron Miller and Michael Masser, and produced by the latter and Tom Baird. It was released on May 3, 1973 as the first single from her album of th ...

" by

Diana Ross Diana Ross (born March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. She rose to fame as the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown's most successful act during the 1960s and one of the world's best-selling girl groups o ...

, and " Brother Louie" by Stories. "Live and Let Die" also peaked at No. 9 in the UK. The single was certified Gold by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...

for sales of over one million copies. Sales of the single release and of the sheet music were "solid." The sheet music used the line "in this ever-changing world in which we live in" as part of the opening verse of the song. In the ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large na ...

'' interview more than 30 years later, McCartney told the interviewer, "I don't think about the lyric when I sing it. I think it's 'in which we're living', or it could be 'in which we live in', and that's kind of, sort of, wronger but cuter," before deciding that it was "in which we're living". "Live and Let Die" was not featured on a McCartney album until the '' Wings Greatest'' compilation in 1978, and was included again on 1987's '' All the Best!'', 2001's '' Wingspan: Hits and History'', 2016's '' Pure McCartney'', and in 2018 as a restored bonus track on a reissue of ''

''. The entire soundtrack also was released in

quadrophonic Quadraphonic (or quadrophonic and sometimes quadrasonic) sound – equivalent to what is now called 4.0 surround sound – uses four audio channels in which speakers are positioned at the four corners of a listening space. The system allows for th ...

. It was also included on '' The 7" Singles Box'' in 2022. United Artists promoted the song in trade advertisements for Academy Award consideration, though producer Broccoli opposed the marketing tactic as unnecessary. The song became the first James Bond theme song to be nominated for an

(garnering McCartney his second Academy Award nomination and Linda her first). In the Academy Award performance of the song, entertainer

Connie Stevens Connie Stevens (born Concetta Rosalie Ann Ingolia; August 8, 1938) is an American actress and singer. Born in Brooklyn, New York City to musician parents, Stevens was raised there until age 12, when she was sent to live with family friends in r ...

dressed in a "silver- lamé outfit" with a Native American-looking headdress "descended from the ceiling" and then was "variously lifted and tossed about" by dancers dressed in various colours until she left the scene. The song lost to the eponymous theme song from the musical film ''

''. In Wings' live performances of the song, the instrumental break featured flashpots and a

laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The firs ...

light show. McCartney has continued to play the song on his solo tours, often using pyrotechnics. "Live and Let Die" is the only song to appear on all of McCartney's live albums (except for the acoustic-based '' Unplugged''). Following the

9/11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

, the song was placed on Clear Channels list of inappropriate song titles. The song with an extended introduction was included in the movie ''

Shrek The Third ''Shrek the Third'' (also known as ''Shrek 3'') is a 2007 American computer-animated comedy film loosely based on the 1990 picture book ''Shrek!'' by William Steig, produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The s ...

'' (2007) and on its soundtrack. It was also used to underscore the montage celebrating the 60th anniversary of the James Bond franchise, as presented at the

94th Academy Awards The 94th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), took place on March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. The awards were scheduled after its usual late February dat ...

in 2022.

Personnel

– lead vocals, piano *

– backing vocals, keyboard *

Denny Laine Denny Laine (born Brian Frederick Hines, 29 October 1944) is an English musician, singer, and songwriter, known as a founder of two major rock bands: the Moody Blues, with whom he played from 1964 to 1966, and Wings, with whom he played from ...

– backing vocals, bass guitar *

Henry McCullough Henry Campbell Liken McCullough (21 July 1943 – 14 June 2016) was a Northern Irish guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was best known for his work as a member of Spooky Tooth, The Grease Band and Paul McCartney and Wings. He also perf ...

– lead guitar * Denny Seiwell – drums *

Ray Cooper Raymond Cooper (born 19 September 1947) is an English musician who has worked as a session and road-tour percussionist. During his career, Cooper has worked and toured with numerous musically diverse bands and artists including Elton John (as ...

– percussion *

– orchestral arrangement

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Unreleased "Weird Al" Yankovic parody

In 1984, McCartney asked

"Weird Al" Yankovic Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American singer, musician, songwriter, record producer, actor and author. He is best known for creating comedy songs that make light of pop culture and often parody specifi ...

when he was going to parody one of his songs. In 1992, Yankovic asked for permission to put his parody "

Chicken Pot Pie "Chicken Pot Pie" is an unreleased parody song written by "Weird Al" Yankovic. It was written as a parody of " Live and Let Die" by Paul McCartney and Wings; however, Yankovic voluntarily decided not to release it after McCartney declined to s ...

" on an album. McCartney denied the use because he is a vegetarian and did not want to promote the consumption of meat. Yankovic, a vegetarian himself, said he respected the decision; however, he has performed the song live in the 1990s as part of a food-themed medley.

Guns N' Roses version

American rock band

covered "Live and Let Die" in 1991. It was released as the second single from their 1991 album, ''

'', and the fourth out of all the ''

Use Your Illusion ''Use Your Illusion'' is a 1998 compilation album by American rock band Guns N' Roses, drawing from the ''Use Your Illusion I'' and '' II'' studio albums. It was only released in the United States, and was primarily sold at Walmart and Kmart, tw ...

'' singles. This cover was commercially successful and was nominated for the

at the

in 1993.

Background

In the April 1992 issue of ''Guitar for the Practicing Musician'', Slash explained to John Stix how the group came to record the song: In his 2007 memoir, Slash credits Rose for his synthesizer work on the track, writing, "When we did 'Live and Let Die', it was all synths – those horns are not horns. What Axl did there was really complex; he spent hours dialing all that shit in, getting the nuances just right, and I have to give him that."

Chart performance

Guns N' Roses' cover charted at No. 20 on the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' Album Rock Tracks chart and No. 33 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Worldwide, the single reached the top five in Ireland, Norway, and the United Kingdom. In Finland, it became the third consecutive number-one single from the ''Use Your Illusion'' albums, and it also reached No. 1 in New Zealand for two weeks.

Music video

A music video was made in November 1991 featuring the band playing live on stage and showing old pictures. The video also was made shortly before

Izzy Stradlin Jeffrey Dean Isbell (born April 8, 1962), best known as Izzy Stradlin, is an American guitarist. He was a co-founder and rhythm guitarist of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, which he left at the height of their fame in 1991, and with whom he ...

's departure, and it is the last video in which he appears.

In popular culture

Guns N' Roses' version of this song appears on the soundtrack of the 1997 movie ''

Grosse Pointe Blank ''Grosse Pointe Blank'' is a 1997 American black comedy action film directed by George Armitage from a screenplay by Tom Jankiewicz, D. V. DeVincentis, Steve Pink and John Cusack. It stars Cusack, Minnie Driver, Alan Arkin and Dan Aykroyd and follo ...

''. All proceeds from sales of the t-shirt were donated to the Recording Academy's

MusiCares MusiCares Foundation is a non-profit organization established in 1989 and incorporated in 1993 by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Meant for musicians to have a place to turn in times of financial, personal, or medical crisis, ...

, which provides services and resources to those in need in the music community.

Track listing

# "Live and Let Die" – 2:59 # "Live and Let Die" – 3:37 # "Shadow of Your Love" – 2:50

Personnel

Guns N' Roses * W. Axl Rose – lead vocals, keyboard, programming, backing vocals *

Slash Slash may refer to: * Slash (punctuation), the "/" character Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Slash (Marvel Comics) * Slash (''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'') Music * Harry Slash & The Slashtones, an American rock band * Nash th ...

– lead guitar, 6-string bass *

– rhythm guitar *

Duff McKagan Michael Andrew "Duff" McKagan (born February 5, 1964), sometimes credited as Duff "Rose" McKagan, is an American musician. He played bass for twelve years in the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late ...

– bass *

Matt Sorum Matthew William Sorum (born November 19, 1960) is an American drummer. He is best known as both a former member of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he recorded three studio albums, and as a member of the supergroup Velvet Revolver. ...

– drums *

Dizzy Reed Darren Arthur Reed (born June 18, 1963), better known by his stage name Dizzy Reed, is an American musician and occasional actor. He is best known as the keyboardist for the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he has played, toured, and reco ...

– keyboards Additional musicians *

Shannon Hoon Richard Shannon Hoon (September 26, 1967 – October 21, 1995) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He was the lead singer of the band Blind Melon from 1990 until his death in 1995. Early life Richard Shannon Hoon was born on Septe ...

– backing vocals * Johann Langlie – programming * Jon Trautwein – horn * Matthew McKagan – horn * Rachel West – horn * Robert Clark – horn

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

General * {{Authority control 1970s ballads 1973 singles 1991 singles Apple Records singles Cashbox number-one singles Geffen Records singles Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) Guns N' Roses songs Live and Let Die (film) Music published by MPL Music Publishing Number-one singles in Finland Number-one singles in New Zealand Paul McCartney and Wings songs Paul McCartney songs Rock ballads Song recordings produced by George Martin Songs from James Bond films Songs written by Linda McCartney Songs written by Paul McCartney Symphonic rock songs

Background and recording

Release and aftermath

Personnel

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Unreleased "Weird Al" Yankovic parody

Guns N' Roses version

Background

Chart performance

Music video

In popular culture

Track listing

Personnel

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

See also

References