"You Only Live Twice", performed by Nancy Sinatra, is the theme song to the 1967 James Bond film of the same name. The music was by veteran Bond film composer John Barry, with lyrics by Leslie Bricusse. The song is widely recognized for its striking opening bars, featuring a simple 2-bar theme in the high

octave In music, an octave ( la, octavus: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is the interval between one musical pitch and another with double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been refer ...

s of the violins and lush harmonies from French horns. It is considered by some to be among the best James Bond theme songs, and has become one of Nancy Sinatra's best known hits. Shortly after Barry's production, Sinatra's producer Lee Hazlewood released a more guitar-based single version. The song has been covered by many artists including Coldplay, Soft Cell,

Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct three-octave vocal range and eccentric persona, she has de ...

and

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 vocalists ...

. In 1998, Robbie Williams re-recorded portions of the song (including the opening strings) for use in his UK number one single " Millennium".

Background

James Bond veteran John Barry returned to the franchise to produce the score. The lyrics were by Leslie Bricusse, who had previously cowritten the lyrics for the theme to '' Goldfinger''. An initial version of the song was performed by

Julie Rogers Julie Rogers (born Julie Rolls, 6 April 1943, Bermondsey, London, England) is an English pop singer. She is best known for her multi-million selling song, " The Wedding". Career Rogers, the youngest of five children, had piano lessons and star ...

and recorded with a 50 or 60 piece orchestra at CTS Studios. However, this version was not used since Barry decided to re-write and re-record the song: "It was usually the producers that said 'this isn't working, there's a certain something that it needed'. If that energy wasn't there, if that mysterioso kind of thing wasn't there, then it wasn't going to work for the movie." The Rogers song shares only two lines with the final version, "You only live twice", and "you’ll pay the price". Although there are many similarities in the harmony and orchestration with the final version, it is essentially a different song, with a less lush and more ethnic character. The film's producer Cubby Broccoli, wanted his friend

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...

to perform the song. Frank suggested that they use his daughter instead. Barry wanted to use

Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Referred to as the " Queen of Soul", she has twice been placed ninth in ''Rolling Stone''s "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". With ...

, but the producers insisted that he use Nancy instead, who was enjoying great popularity in the wake of her single, " These Boots Are Made for Walkin'". The final version (2:46) featured in the film's opening title sequence and on the soundtrack LP is in the key of B and has a single vocal track. The song was recorded with a 60 piece orchestra on 2 May 1967 at the CTS Studios in

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, London. Sinatra later recalled that she was incredibly nervous during the recording, and it took around 30 takes to acquire enough material. Producer John Barry eventually created the final version by incorporating vocals from 25 takes. In UK the soundtrack had been released but while soundtracks such as ''Doctor Zhivago'' and ''Fiddler on the Roof'' hit the Top 20, ''You Only Live Twice'' was less successful. Nancy Sinatra's single version squeezed into the Top 20 for two weeks only. Barry also released an instrumental version but this failed to chart. In Japan, the soundtrack was released in a gatefold with images from the film and a plot summary.

Critical reception

Roy Wood described Barry's string introduction to his song "You Only Live Twice" as "absolute perfection". Mark Monahan of '' The Daily Telegraph'' described the lyrics as "mysterious, romantically ''carpe diem'' ... at once velvety, brittle and quite bewitching". David Ehrlich of '' Rolling Stone'' ranked "You Only Live Twice" the third best James Bond theme song, calling it "a classic."

Cover versions

The song is one of the most covered Bond themes. * Nancy Sinatra recorded a different chart version produced by Lee Hazlewood and arranged by

session guitarist Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...

Billy Strange William Everett Strange (September 29, 1930 – February 22, 2012) was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and an actor. He was a session musician with the famed Wrecking Crew, and was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Mus ...

featuring a guitar backing with Sinatra's voice double tracked as a pun on the word "Twice". * Little Anthony and the Imperials included a cover of the song on their album ''Movie Grabbers''. * English

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duo Soft Cell included a cover on the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

of their 1984 single "Soul Inside". * Australian band the Scientists released a heavy guitar version of the song as a single in 1985. * Robbie Williams re-recorded portions of the song (including the opening strings) for use in his 1998 single " Millennium". * Coldplay released their cover as a B-side on their " Don't Panic" single. *

, the vocalist for the title songs from the Bond films '' Goldfinger'', '' Diamonds Are Forever'' and '' Moonraker'', performed the song on her 2007 album '' Get the Party Started''. * Indie-pop group the Postmarks recorded a version for their 2008 album '' By the Numbers''. * Bill Frisell covered it on his 2016 album ''When You Wish Upon a Star'', an album devoted to covers of songs from films and television. This version is sung by Petra Haden, the daughter of Frisell's frequent collaborator bassist Charlie Haden. * In 2014, Taiwanese-American singer-songwriter

Joanna Wang Joanna Wang () is a Taiwanese-American singer-songwriter, daughter of renowned music producer Wang Zhi-ping (王治平). Born in Taipei but raised in Los Angeles, California, Wang dropped out from Gabrielino High School when she was 16. Her de ...

covered the song on her album ''Midnight Cinema''. * The duo Beulahbelle (

Kaitlyn Dever Kaitlyn Rochelle Dever (; born December 21, 1996) is an American actress. She gained recognition for her roles in the FX crime drama television series '' Justified'' (2011–2015), the ABC/Fox sitcom '' Last Man Standing'' (2011–2021), the Net ...

and Mady Dever) performed a cover of the song on the soundtrack to the 2018 film '' Tully''. *

Mark Lanegan Mark William Lanegan (November 25, 1964 – February 22, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter, and poet. First becoming prominent as the lead singer for the early grunge band Screaming Trees, he was also known as a member of Queens of the St ...

covered the song on his 2013 album ''Imitations''.

In popular culture

The song was used in the closing montage of '' Mad Mens season five finale, " The Phantom". It was used as entrance music for Japanese professional wrestler Osamu Nishimura in ECW.

Charts

References