"When you were young and your heart was an open book, you used to say live and let live (You know you did, you know you did you know you did). But if this ever-changing world in which we're live in, makes you give in and cry. Say Live and Let Die. Yes carrying on our Bond theme, and my love for Beatles, "Live and Let Die" is the next song to go into the jukebox. I love this track, because for me when I hear the opening lyrics, I can imagine a single figure in the darkness singing them and when they reach the "Live and Let Die", where the thumbing chords and percussion comes in, I see flames appearing as though someone is walking away from the destructions they have caused. It is no wonder that "Live and Let Die" is the theme for the 8th Bond film of the same title and the first film where Roger Moore played Bond.
Paul McCartney was invited to write the theme before the film script was finished in 1973, by the film producers, Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli. But there was some debate from the producers to whether Wings would sing it, until McCartney said that he would only allow them to use the song his band performed it. This was a changed for Bond theme which up to that point had been sung by solo artists. The track was produced by George Martin and went on to be the first Bond theme to be nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Film Song. The song lost out on the Academy Award to the theme song from film "The Way We Were". Unfortunately since 2001 and the trade centre attacks; the song has been on Clear Cast Channel of inappropriate song titles.
Like the song; the film "Live and Let Die", as well introducing Roger Moore as Bond, moved away from the previous plots of megalomaniac super-villains and move its focus onto drug trafficking. The film is set around areas of Harlem and New Orleans, which are African American culture centres as well as the Caribbean Island. It is also the first Bond film to feature a African American Bond Girl Rosie Carver, played by Gloria Hendry. Unlike Goldfinger, I am not too familiar with the film but the theme is a tune which makes me play air guitar and makes me imagine fire trailing behind me. It is a show tune and is a fitting way to introduce a Bond film; that you know will be filled with epic stuns, explosions and villains.
The song would later by covered by Guns N'Roses in 1991, on their Use Your Illusion 1 Album, and released as a single. Their version of "Live and Let Die" lead them to be dominated for a Grammy for their performance of it.
To live the music again listen here:
Or to hear Guns N'Roses' version:
Written by: Paul McCartney and Linda McCartney, 1973
Performed by: Wings
Album: Live and Let Die Soundtrack.
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