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 ...
film of the same name.
''Moonraker'' was the third of the three Bond films for which the theme song was performed by Shirley Bassey. Frank Sinatra was considered for the vocals, before Johnny Mathis was approached and offered the opportunity. Mathis was unhappy about the song and withdrew from the project, leaving the producers scrambling for a replacement.
Kate Bush
Catherine Bush (born 30 July 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer and dancer. In 1978, at the age of 19, she topped the UK Singles Chart for four weeks with her debut single " Wuthering Heights", becoming the first female ...
declined as she was due to embark on her British tour, so John Barry offered the song to Bassey just weeks before the release date. As a result, Bassey made the recordings at very short notice and never regarded the song 'as her own' as she had never had the chance to perform it or promote it first. Indeed, Bassey has seldom performed the song live in comparison to her other two Bond themes, " Goldfinger" and " Diamonds Are Forever". The film uses two versions of the title theme song, a ballad version heard over the main titles, and a disco version for the end titles. Confusingly, the
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 stud ...
single release labelled the tracks on the 7" single as "Moonraker (Main Title)" for the version used to close the film and "Moonraker (End Title)" for the track that opened the film. The song failed to make any real impact on the charts, which may partly be attributed to Bassey's failure to promote the single, given the last minute decision and the way in which it was quickly recorded to meet the schedule.
Composition
As with "
We Have All the Time in the World
"We Have All the Time in the World" is a James Bond theme song sung by Louis Armstrong. Its music was composed by John Barry and the lyrics by Hal David. It is a secondary musical theme in the 1969 Bond film '' On Her Majesty's Secret Service'', ...
" in 1969,
Hal David
Harold Lane David (May 25, 1921 – September 1, 2012) was an American lyricist. He grew up in New York City. He was best known for his collaborations with composer Burt Bacharach and his association with Dionne Warwick.
Early life
David ...
wrote the lyrics. Paul Williams's original lyrics were discarded.
Finally in 2005, Bassey sang the song for the first time outside James Bond on stage as part of a medley of her three Bond title songs. An instrumental strings version of the title theme was used in 2007 tourism commercials for the
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...
.
The score for ''Moonraker'' marked a turning point in Barry's output, abandoning the Kentonesque brass of his earlier Bond scores and instead scoring the film with slow, rich string passages—a trend which Barry would continue in the 1980s with scores such as '' Raise the Titanic'', ''
Out of Africa
''Out of Africa'' is a memoir by the Danish author Karen Blixen. The book, first published in 1937, recounts events of the seventeen years when Blixen made her home in Kenya, then called British East Africa. The book is a lyrical meditation on ...
'' and '' Somewhere in Time''.
''Moonraker'' uses for the first time since '' Diamonds Are Forever'' a piece of music called " 007" (briefly, and late in track 7, "Bond Arrives in Rio and Boat Chase"), the secondary Bond theme composed by Barry which was introduced in '' From Russia with Love''. This is the only time when the "007 Theme" is used in a Roger Moore Bond film; it is as of 2021 the last time it has been heard in a Bond film. Another link between the soundtracks of ''Moonraker'' and ''Diamonds Are Forever'' is the inclusion of a track titled "Bond Smells a Rat". The two tracks are not related to each other.
Unusually, the score was recorded in Paris—all of Barry's previous Bond scores had been recorded at London's CTS Studios. The film's production base was in France and it was decided the film would be scored there as well. Like some Bond films, the score for ''Moonraker'' has never received an extended release. The soundtrack is the only official one not to contain the "
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 ...
".
Track listing
# "Moonraker (Main Title)" – Shirley Bassey (3:10)
# "Space Lazer Battle" (2:47)
# "Miss Goodhead Meets Bond" (2:48)
# "Cable Car and Snake Fight" (3:07)
# "Bond Lured to Pyramid" (2:02)
# "Flight into Space" (6:27)
# "Bond Arrives in Rio and Boat Chase" (2:38)
# "Centrifuge and Corrine Put Down" (2:35)
# "Bond Smells a Rat" (2:24)
# "Moonraker (End Title)" – Shirley Bassey (2:27)
Some familiar pieces of music also appear in the film:
* Frédéric Chopin's Prelude no. 15 in D-flat major (op. 28), "Raindrop"): Drax playing a piano when Bond arrives.
* Richard Strauss' "
Also sprach Zarathustra
', Op. 30 (, ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'' or ''Thus Spake Zarathustra'') is a tone poem by Richard Strauss, composed in 1896 and inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophical 1883–1885 novel ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra''.2001: A Space Odyssey''): a hunting horn plays its distinctive first three notes.
*
Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka
, Op. 214, is a polka in A major by Johann Strauss II, written in 1858 after a successful tour of Russia where he performed in the summer concert season at Pavlovsk, Saint Petersburg. It was first performed in a concert in Vienna on 24 November ...
by Johann Strauss II: during the hovercraft scene on Saint Mark's square.
* The alien-contacting theme ''Wild Notes'' from ''
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'' is a 1977 American science fiction film written and directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Richard Dreyfuss, Melinda Dillon, Teri Garr, Bob Balaban, Cary Guffey, and François Truffaut. It tells the story ...
'': as the key-code for a security door.
*
Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...
The Magnificent Seven
''The Magnificent Seven'' is a 1960 American Western film directed by John Sturges. The screenplay by William Roberts is a remake – in an Old West–style – of Akira Kurosawa's 1954 Japanese film ''Seven Samurai'' (itself initially relea ...
'': when Bond appears on horseback in
gaucho
A gaucho () or gaúcho () is a skilled horseman, reputed to be brave and unruly. The figure of the gaucho is a folk symbol of Argentina, Uruguay, Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil, and the south of Chilean Patagonia. Gauchos became greatly admired and ...
clothing.
In popular culture
* The main title's opening notes were used in a 2007 tourism commercial for the
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...
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 ...