The Spy Who Loved Me (soundtrack)
| The Spy Who Loved Me | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Soundtrack album by Marvin Hamlisch | |||||||||||||||||||
| Released | 1977 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Recorded | April 1977 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Label | EMI | ||||||||||||||||||
| Producer | Frank Collura (Reissue) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Marvin Hamlisch chronology | |||||||||||||||||||
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The Spy Who Loved Me is the soundtrack for the 10th James Bond film of the same name.
The theme song "Nobody Does It Better" was composed by Marvin Hamlisch with lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager and was performed by Carly Simon. It was the first theme song with a title different from the movie, although the phrase "the spy who loved me" is in the lyrics.
The song became a hit that is still popular today and has been featured in numerous movies including the recently released Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005), Little Black Book (2004), Lost in Translation and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004).
In 2004, the song was honoured by the American Film Institute as the 67th greatest movie song as part of their 100 Years... 100 Songs countdown.
The soundtrack to the movie was composed by Marvin Hamlisch, who filled in for veteran John Barry due to his being unavailable for work in the United Kingdom due to tax reasons. The soundtrack, in comparison to other Bond films of the time, is more disco-oriented and included a new disco rendition of the "James Bond Theme", entitled "Bond 77".
An element of the Barry style remains in the suspenseful film sequence in which Bond and Amasova try to track down Jaws at an antiquated site in Egypt. The accompanying Hamlisch music echoes Barry's "Stalking," from the pre-credit fantasy sequence of From Russia with Love, featuring Bond (Sean Connery) and villain Red Grant (Robert Shaw).
[edit] Track listing
- "Nobody Does It Better (Main Title)" – Carly Simon – 3:29
- "Bond 77" – 4:19
- "Ride to Atlantis" – 3:28
- "Mojave Club" – 2:13
- "Nobody Does It Better (Instrumental)" – 4:43
- "Anya" – 3:19
- "The Tanker" – 4:24
- "The Pyramids" – 1:37
- "Eastern Lights" – 3:22
- "Conclusion" – 1:37
- "Nobody Does It Better (End Title)" – Carly Simon – 3:25
In addition, Hamlisch incorporates into his score several pieces of classical music. As Stromberg feeds his duplicitous secretary to a shark, the villain plays Bach's "Air on the G String". He then plays the opening string section of the second movement, Andante, of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21 'Elvira Madigan' as Atlantis rises from the sea.
"Nocturne No. 8 in D-Flat, Op. 27 No. 2" by Chopin crops up later, as reportedly does an excerpt from Saint-Saëns' "The Aquarium" from The Carnival of the Animals.
Finally, Hamlisch cheekily segues his score into an excerpt from that for David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia when Bond and Anya Amasova are wandering through the desert; according to a documentary on the DVD, this idea was originally a joke by one of the film editors who played the music over the dailies of the scene. It became a trend, with the subsequent two films in the series similarly referencing 'classic' film music within their scores.
