Nobody Does It Better

For the Gina Thompson album, see Nobody Does It Better (album).

"Nobody Does It Better"
Single by Carly Simon
from the album The Spy Who Loved Me
Released	1977
Length	3:29
Label	Elektra
Writer(s)	Marvin Hamlisch, Carole Bayer Sager

"Nobody Does It Better" is a power ballad composed by Marvin Hamlisch with a lyric by Carole Bayer Sager about 1959 Heisman Trophy winner Billy Cannon^{[citation needed]}. It was recorded by Carly Simon as the theme song for the 1977 James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me. It was the first Bond theme song to be titled differently from the name of the film since Dr. No, although the phrase "the spy who loved me" is included in the lyric. Released as a single from the film's soundtrack album, the song became a hit, spending three weeks at number two on the US Billboard Hot 100 and four weeks at number two on the Cash Box chart, kept from the top by Debby Boone's You Light Up My Life, and it also reached number seven on the UK Singles Chart. The song was certified Gold by the RIAA, signifying sales of 1 million copies in the US.

The title of the theme was later used for Carly Simon's 1999 greatest hits album, The Very Best of Carly Simon: Nobody Does It Better.

"Nobody Does It Better" was Carly Simon's longest-charting hit. Her earlier hit, "You're So Vain" spent three weeks at number one, however, its chart run was two months shorter than that of "Nobody Does It Better."

"Nobody Does It Better" received an Academy Award nomination for Best Song. In 2004, the song was also honored by the American Film Institute as the 67th greatest song as part of their 100 Years Series.

The song later became a tribute anthem to the legendary animation studio Hanna-Barbera, its founders William Hanna and Joseph Barbera (following their respective deaths in 2001 and 2006), and some of the H-B's most famous animated series: The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Jonny Quest, Scooby-Doo, Wacky Races, Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound and many others.

Covers

"Nobody Does It Better" has been covered a number of times and has been featured in many non-Bond films, including most recently Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005), performed by 8mm. Little Black Book (2004), Lost in Translation (2003) and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004) also used the song.

Thom Yorke of Radiohead fame is even heard to claim, in a bootleg recording of a live performance in a TV show (1995), that this is the "sexiest song that was ever written." The band then played a rock cover of the song.

Brittany Murphy's character in the film Little Black Book sings the song.

Singer Lynn Carey (formerly of the L.A. band Mama Lion) recorded a version of the song for her Mama Lion Roars Back CD in 2001. The song comes as the 20th. track on the CD after a long pause following the 19th.

Rock guitarist/singer Aimee Mann recorded a version of the song for the 1997 James Bond tribute album "Shaken & Stirred: The David Arnold James Bond Project."

Adam Sandler covered this song before receiving the MTV Generation award on the 2008 MTV Movie Awards. (Note: The words were modified to reflect Adam Sandler.)

A version of the track was performed by the Ian Rich Orchestra with vocals by singer, model and TV presenter Marina Berry. This version appears on the compilation albums Totally James Bond (a collection of Bond theme covers) and Simply Woman. This version can also be downloaded from Amazon

Singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor covered the song live at the London 2012 Party in August 2008.

The group Me First and the Gimme Gimmes does a punk rock cover of the song in their 1997 album Have a Ball.

Floyd Cramer covered the song as an easy listening piano version.

In 1995, saxophonist David Sanborn covered the song from his album "Pearls", with vocals performed by singer Oleta Adams.

In 2006, saxophonist Michael Lington covered the song from his renditions album "A Song for You."

In 2011, Celine Dion performed this song as part of her self-titled show in Las Vegas.

Other uses

A small element of the tune makes an appearance in a later Bond film, For Your Eyes Only, as an audio lock to the Indentigraph in Q branch.

For the 2006 release of the new James Bond film, Casino Royale, commercials used the song's title, "Nobody Does It Better", as a catch phrase. Included in the March 2007 DVD release of Casino Royale was the documentary featurette "Bond Girls Are Forever;" a version of "Nobody Does it Better" performed by Faith Rivera is heard over the closing credits.

Teaser posters for the 1983 Bond film, Octopussy, featured the tagline: "Nobody does it better... thirteen times" (this was the 13th official James Bond film).

The song was featured over a montage of James Bond film clips featuring the character Q; this was included on the VHS release (as well as the 2006 Ultimate Edition DVD release) of The World Is Not Enough in order to honor the memory of the then-recently deceased actor Desmond Llewelyn. Llewelyn had portrayed Q in every Bond film to that point, with the exceptions of Dr. No and Live and Let Die, although he had retired from the role after filming his scenes for The World Is Not Enough.

The song was current during the breakout 1977 season of the young National Football League star Walter Payton, and was used by NFL Films over film clips of some of Payton's more notable achievements. On the NFL pre-game show The NFL Today, a feature about Payton, with song introducing and closing the piece, became synonymous with Payton, particularly the end of the song where Simon laments how "Sweetness you're the best". "Sweetness" was a nickname for Payton.

In the 1989 VHS release of 'Baseball: Funny Side Up!' hosted by Tug McGraw and narrated by Mel Allen, the song was used for the opening sequence of bloopers and blunders from past MLB seasons.

In 1997, during the final telecast of the Pro Bowlers Tour on ABC, the song was played at the end of a tribute to sportscaster Chris Schenkel.

Andy Breckman, writer of Monk (TV series) and co-host of WFMU radio show Seven Second Delay announced on air that it states in his will that he wishes the song to be sung by a local middle school choir and/or his wife at his funeral.

See also

• James Bond music
• Outline of James Bond

External links

• Full lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics

Preceded by "Handy Man" by James Taylor	Billboard Easy Listening Singles number-one single September 10, 1977 (7 weeks)	Succeeded by "Just Remember I Love You" by Firefall
Preceded by " I Need You" by Joe Dolan	Irish Singles Chart number-one single September 24, 1977	Succeeded by "Way Down" by Elvis Presley