A View to a Kill (song)

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"A View to a Kill"
Song
B-side"That Fatal Kiss"

"A View to a Kill" is the thirteenth single by Duran Duran, released in May 1985.

It was a stand-alone single, created for the James Bond movie A View to a Kill, and it remains the only James Bond theme song to have reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100; it also made it to number 2 for three weeks on the UK Singles Chart.[1][2] In 1986, John Barry and Duran Duran were nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song for A View to a Kill.

The song was the last track that the original five members of Duran Duran recorded together until their reunion sixteen years later, in 2001. It was played at their final 1985 performance together before splitting for the very first time, at Live Aid in Philadelphia. The single was at number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 at the time they performed it on that historic event.

About the song

The song was written by Duran Duran and John Barry, and recorded at Maison Rouge Studio and CTS Studio in London with a 60-piece orchestra.

Duran Duran were chosen to do the song after bassist John Taylor (a lifelong Bond fan) approached producer Cubby Broccoli at a party, and somewhat drunkenly asked "When are you going to get someone decent to do one of your theme songs?"[3][4] This inauspicious beginning led to some serious talks, and the band was introduced to Bond composer John Barry, and also Jonathan Elias (whom Duran Duran members would later work with many times). An early writing meeting at Taylor's flat in Knightsbridge led to everyone getting drunk instead of composing.[5]

Singer Simon Le Bon said of Barry: "He didn't really come up with any of the basic musical ideas. He heard what we came up with and he put them into an order. And that's why it happened so quickly because he was able to separate the good ideas from the bad ones, and he arranged them. He has a great way of working brilliant chord arrangements. He was working with us as virtually a sixth member of the group, but not really getting on our backs at all."[6]

The song was finally completed in April 1985, and was released in May 1985, and on July 13 it hit number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, and still currently remains the only Bond theme to do so.

Music video

The song was accompanied by a tongue-in-cheek video filmed in June 1985. It was directed by the duo Godley & Creme (who had also directed their 1981 video for "Girls on Film.") The video cast the band members as spies and assassins scampering all over the Eiffel Tower, in a rather tangled thicket of half-sketched storylines. Band members execute many actions: Roger Taylor sends out his probe-cams from inside his mobile HQ to patrol around the whole Eiffel Tower, Nick Rhodes takes pictures with his spy cam, John Taylor supposedly gives a "helping hand" to Bond (Roger Moore) by shooting at May Day (Grace Jones) with his hidden "binnoculars-camouflaged" gun while Andy Taylor directs his sonic accordion attacks upon Nick as Simon Le Bon wanders about, using a portable cassette player to set off a series of explosions elsewhere in the world. These shots are intercut with a few scenes taken from the A View to a Kill film, including those featuring Moore and Jones on the Eiffel Tower, so that it appears the actors and the band are participating in the same storyline.

At the end of the video, a woman approaches Le Bon asking him "Excuse me! Aren't you...?", then he finishes with a spoof of Bond's signature introduction, smarmily introducing himself: "Bon. Simon Le Bon." After saying this, he looks at his fake cassette player only to notice that it is programmed to make the Eiffel Tower explode immediately. However, instead of the entire tower collapsing, a postcard with a picture of Eiffel Tower that is being sold at a tourist stand on the ground floor explodes as a gun barrel closes to end the video.

B-sides, bonus tracks and remixes

The b-side was an instrumental piece orchestrated by John Barry, titled "A View To A Kill (That Fatal Kiss)."

It is thought that there was no 12" remix for the song because the band ran out of time. However, Capitol Records did commission and receive at least one remix of the track.[citation needed]

In addition BBC Radio 1 (in the UK) played one extended version of the track which included the well-known "I expect you to die" quote from 1964's Goldfinger as a one-off promotion around the time the single was released. An unofficial DJ Service remix called "A View to a kill (Art of Mix)" has appeared on various DJ and bootleg compilations. There is also a fan-made remix which combines the whole Duran Duran's version with some sampled scores from its film and an orchestral score completely based upon that of the band's. It was named as "A View To A Kill (Saint Ken Extended Remix)."

Covers, samples, and media references

Cover versions have been recorded by popular Welsh band Lostprophets, Canadian punk band Gob, and Australian band Custard. In 2006 the Chilean band Los MOX! recorded a new and heavier version of the song for their album titled "... con cover" [7] Another cover version of the song was created in 1985 by a euro disco group called DJ's Factory. This cover of A View to a Kill has a more disco/house sound as compared to that of Duran Duran's.

Shirley Bassey covered the song for an album of Bond theme songs, however, she wasn't satisfied with the quality, so the album was withdrawn from sale.

Finnish Melodic Death Metal band Diablo has covered the song, so has Finnish symphonic metal cover supergroup Northern Kings. In 2008, the song was covered with a bossa feeling by former Morcheeba singer Skye on the cover album Hollywood Mon Amour.

Måns Zelmerlöw performed a live version of the song at the beginning of the Andra Chansen round of Melodifestivalen 2010 in Örebro, Sweden.

In 2011, Dutch artist Danny Vera performed a shortened version of the song during the football programme "Voetbal International" on Dutch television.

Chart positions

Country Peak
position
United Kingdom 2
US Billboard Hot 100 1
Canada 1
Sweden 1
Ireland 2
Italy 1
Norway 2
Australia 6
Austria 6
Switzerland 7
Germany 9
France 11

Track listing

7": EMI DURAN 007 (UK)

  1. "A View to a Kill" (3:34)
  2. "A View to a Kill (That Fatal Kiss)" (2:28)
  • Also released in a gatefold sleeve (DURANG007)

CD: Part of "Singles Box Set 1981-1985" boxset

  1. "A View to a Kill" (3:34)
  2. "A View to a Kill (That Fatal Kiss)" (2:28)

Other appearances

Albums:

The Toronto Blue Jays take the field to "A View to a Kill."

The band performed it as part of American Express's UNSTAGED series on YouTube. Duran Duran's appearance on UNSTAGED was directed by David Lynch.

Personnel

  • Nick Rhodes: Keyboards
  • Simon Le Bon: Vocals
  • Andy Taylor: Guitars
  • John Taylor: Bass
  • Roger Taylor: Drums
  • John Barry: Orchestra

See also

References

  1. ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums. London: Guinness World Records Limited
  2. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2006). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits. Billboard Books
  3. ^ Malins, Steve. (2005) Notorious: The Unauthorized Biography, André Deutsch/Carlton Publishing, UK (ISBN 0-233-00137-9). pp 161-162
  4. ^ Paul Gambaccini Interview with John Taylor, 1985, Greatest DVD extras.
  5. ^ Pattenden, Sian. "Blame It on Rio." Deluxe Magazine, December 1998 (pp 125-129)
  6. ^ Leonard, Geoff. Bond By Barry: The Story of James Bond Music.
  7. ^ www.myspace.com/losmox
Preceded by Canadian RPM Singles Chart number-one single
June 29, 1985 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Billboard Hot 100 number one single
July 13, 1985 - July 20, 1985 		Succeeded by
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