Quote:
Originally Posted by Eisenwurst
(Post 2753808)
Many thanks Moonlight and Catfish for the positive feedback.
More trivia....
The original version of the theme song was meant to be sung by Julie Rogers, but for whatever reason, Nancy Sinatra got the gig. Don't get me wrong I love Nancy's version, but the original has a lot of appeal too....more in keeping with the book and not the movie.
Here Julie Rogers sings the original version ( note:- wrongly credited....doesn't matter ).
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You Only Live Twice was a bit of a mismatch of song and singer when it comes to Nancy Sinatra; she was known in the music biz here in Hollywood as a bit of a weak singer, with a rather limited dynamic range; the reason she probably got the gig was what has become the 'norm' for Bond film theme songs: get an artist who is hot at the moment the film is to be released, a sort of 'flavor of the month' situation; don't be surprised if Billie Eilish isn't the next Bond theme singer...
If you listen to the YOLT clip carefully, it is easy to recognize some of the 'tricks' used by recording engineers and producers to disguise a weak voice; double (or more) tracking of the lead vocal was that eras version of auto-tuning, using the lusher mixture of tracks to hide a flat voice; the inclusion of a prominent vocal chorus when the time came to hit the higher registers or to 'strain' the voice is another trick...
So why did Nancy get the nod? Well, aside from the fact she was hot on the charts with her little
These Boots Are Made For Walikn' ditty, making her the current flavor of the month, her father being Frank Sinatra likely didn't hurt, either; Frank was in a career upswing at the time and very bankable, with a lot of pull in the recording and film industries; it is likely MGM, the releasing studio, would have been interested in getting on Frank's good side and signing Nancy as a Bond theme singer would have gone a long way to that end; there were certainly far, far beter singers than Nancy available, and, at the time of the film/song release, not a few in Hollywood were scratching their heads wondering about the wisdom of the choice of singer...
I believe the whole Bond theme mythos started when there was the jaw-dropping performance of
Goldfinger by Shirley Bassey, a performance that was the absolute benchmark by which following themes would, and will be, measured; the whole
Goldfinger project was a serendipitous situation with the right story, the right stars, the right theme song, the perfect opening title visuals, and the perfect singer all coming together; the film was also the gelling of the James Bond canon and the real blueprint for the films that followed, the previous films being so pale in comparison, some people actually believe
Goldfinger was the first of the Bond films...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6D1nK7q2i8I
There you have it: no double/multi-tracking, no assisting vocal choruses (particularly when belting in the higher registers), no mixing down the vocal into the backing tracks; Bassey's voice is singular, unadorned, mixed way up front, and given free rein; the backing arrangement seems almost reverent of her voice, trying not to diminish its power; indeed, one of the most famous and classic film themes ever...
..one might even say, her performance is a
Gold Standard...
[EDIT]: Re my Billie Eilish comment; I haven't been following the machinations of the most recent Bond film and, out of curiosity, I search for the new film, and lo and behold, Eilish is the singer of the new bond theme; flavor of the month continues...
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