Today’s feature is quite likely my favourite James Bond theme song. It was released in the United States on this day in 1973. Coincidentally, the release date coincides with the songwriter’s birthday. Happy birthday to the great Sir Paul McCartney, who turns 77 today.
In almost a year and a half of Ted Tocks, Paul McCartney and the Beatles have come up well over 30 times. This number would likely be closer to 50 if I included solo releases by members of the Beatles. Songs like ‘Live and Let Die’ by Paul McCartney.
‘Live and Let Die’ was commissioned specifically for the release of the 1973 James Bond film of the same name. James Bond producers Harry Saltzman and Albert Broccoli invited McCartney to write the theme song. In order to get a feel for the story they sent him a copy of the Ian Fleming novel. It was a workmanlike process for the focused songwriter. Here is his account.
“I read it and thought it was pretty good. That afternoon I wrote the song and went in the next week and did it … It was a job of work for me in a way because writing a song around a title like that’s not the easiest thing going.”
Paul McCartney
One of the most notable aspects of ‘Live and Let Die’ was the fact it reunited McCartney with producer George Martin. Once it was written and arranged Saltzman liked it but remarkably he considered offering the song to Shirley Bassey or Thelma Houston. Seriously? Who would like to have been a fly on the wall when that conversation took place?
“Paul, we like your work. We think your songwriting has potential. Take a seat and we will see if we can find somebody to take it to the next level.”
Okay, I only made up that piece of the conversation but how would one approach that topic and expect any other result than what eventually happened? McCartney insisted that if the song was to be used it would have to be performed by Paul McCartney and Wings. Having said that, it should be noted that in the film there was a version of the song performed by B.J. Arnau. It is also well documented that the song was offered to Fifth Dimension for inclusion on the movie soundtrack.
Here is the more soul based B.J. Arnau version. When you hear this, you get a better sense of what Saltzman was thinking. It is phenomenal.
What this version also speaks to, is how adaptable the songwriting of Paul McCartney was, and continues to be.
‘Live and Let Die’ was exposed to the public in a few phases. It was previewed in a TV special called James Paul McCartney in mid-April of 1973. This version is the one I shared at the outset. It served as a tease for the upcoming Bond film. The advance single was released in early June in the U.K and, as mentioned, on this day in 1973 in North America. The movie was released on June 27th. All of these releases resulted in resounding success. At the time ‘Live and Let Die’ was the most successful Bond theme song. Interestingly, it did not appear on a Paul McCartney album until five years later when McCartney released a Wings Greatest Hits compilation. To this day ‘Live and Let Die’ stands as one of Paul McCartney’s finest compositions.
Earlier in this post I mentioned the incredible adaptability of Paul McCartney compositions. Today’s primary cover version speaks exactly to that point. In late 1991 Guns N’ Roses released their cover as the second single from their ‘Use Your Illusion’ album. It was accompanied with a video that showed them performing live along with video clips and old band photos. The release met with huge critical success and received a Grammy nomination for Best Hard Rock performance in 1993. This release coincided with a turbulent time in the band’s history. It was released just before the departure of rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin. Other personnel included Matt McKagan on horns. Matt is the brother of G’nR bassist, Duff McKagan. On backing vocals, you get the one and only Shannon Hoon of Blind Melon. I love Blind Melon. But that’s another story…
Have a great day!
Ted Tocks Covers 
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Originally posted on June 18, 2019
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