◎ Zhang Hailu
With the "For Victory, Shoot at Me" style death farewell at the end of "No Time to Die", Daniel Craig finally proved to the world with 5 Bond movies that he is the same qualified 007 as Sean Connery, Roger Moore, and Pierce Brosnan. Recall that when he debuted in "Casino Royale" in 2006, he was also ridiculed by fans around the world as "the most unattractive and incomprehensible spy". Equally incomprehensible at the time was the subversive soundtrack. Since the first Bond film "Dr. No" in 1962, the iconic brass theme melody that appeared at the beginning of each episode 007, facing the camera, before pulling out the gun, has disappeared. You know, this is a more important 007 signature than "Bond, James Bond" and "Martini, shake well, don't stir"!
In the latest documentary, "The Voice of 007", David Arnold, who is responsible for the soundtrack, faces the camera and proudly shows off his subversive achievements. EON Productions, which owns the rights to the series, is very worried, "How can this 007 have no theme music, it is already a strange Bond, and then how can the audience accept it?" You all have to use the main theme to remind everyone who he is, right? David insisted, "Bond in the film is gradually confirming his identity and cannot be preconceived." Director David Campbell also ridiculed the trite elements of dressing and drinking in past Bond movies. Until the end of "Casino Royale", when the villain who was knocked to the ground asked "who are you", the familiar lines that the audience had waited for more than two hours finally arrived, "Bond, James Bond", the iconic theme melody of the drum horn sounded with a bass guitar gushing out, and the stunned audience with rising letters was very excited, Bond followed the golden melody and really returned!
This Bond theme comes from British pop singer-songwriter Monty Norman. In 1961, a producer asked him to go to Jamaica on a business trip, "We just bought the rights to the 007 series of novels, do you want to do the soundtrack?" Bring your wife and all expenses will be reimbursed. "This is like a spy in a novel, how can you refuse?" During World War II, as a naval intelligence officer, Ian Fleming, because he had nothing to do on the cozy Caribbean Sea, imagined the all-powerful charm Bond while creating his own mansion "Golden Eye". On a mysterious tropical island, Monty remembered that she had written an Indian-style song for the East Indies community based on Naipaul's famous work "Mr. Bisworth's House". Switching a sitar to a guitar seems wonderful, but it's not dynamic enough. The producer who is not short of money has found the soundtrack star John Barry, and with his musical intuition and jazzy arrangement, Monty's lazy Indian melody has completely become a thrilling and sexy dynamic melody.
It's hard to get started. The glory of the theme melody is given to Monty Norman, and the rest is given to John Barry, who has opened it. Since the second 007 "Russian Love", in six consecutive Bond movies, John's excellent work can be regarded as a thorough "tone" for this series, making the spy during the Cold War truly great under the performance interpretation of Sean Connery. Each 007 theme song that follows the theme melody can be very different in style, but it brings taboo temptation to the audience (listeners) as much as possible. "Casino Royale" composer David Arnold decided that the blueprint for the theme song was drawn by John Barry and singer Shirley Bessie, that is, the theme song of the third 007 "Goldfinger" in 1964. This is a strange melody portraying the villain's big character, handed over to the wide vocal range of Shirley Bessie's voice, and the image of the big bad who turns stones into gold immediately stands out above the notes. The composer asked the female singer to breathlessly, climbing step by step to reach the highest point of the vocal range, the sullen Shirley simply took off her corset, and comfortably roared the melody motive of the theme song "He Loves Gold", and since then has also followed the whole film, driving emotions, and gradually shaping the pattern of eight strands of Bond films, the plot is old-fashioned, the method is fixed, but it definitely works.
As the director who has filmed documentaries about the careers of Oasis, Coldplay and other bands, as well as the biopic "Bond's Past and Present", Matt Wyclos is a perfect fit to direct this 007 music documentary. The routine is safe, and it can be seen that it is also the director principle it pursues. The collection and selection of historical materials, accompanied by a large interview between Hans Zimmer, the latest "No Time to Die" composer Hans Zimmer and popular supernova Billie Eilish, as well as this series of praise and praise among the living, directly and effectively tells the musical story of Bond.
Of course, there are regrets, such as Daniel Craig becoming the only 007 actor who "works and sells", such as leaving the focus of music history in the 60s and 80s when John Barry held the baton, and not criticizing some unqualified Bond songs through current big data or media research.
In a recent Variety magazine report on 007 music, "Bond Theme Song, Bad to Good", the first (worst) is the 2015 "Spectre" theme song "The Oath That Cannot Be Erased", from Sam Smith, the most popular of those years. Now it sounds like this song has nothing to do with the series of movies, either in terms of melodic rhythm or emotional atmosphere, but this song also won the Oscar for Best Original Song that year.
It seems to be a helpless insinuation, in the documentary, "Spectre" director Sam Mendes told that he originally found Radiohead, and the song "Man of War" is extremely suitable, but the 007 series from production to Oscar selection, requires that the theme song must be freshly created for the movie, and then Sam has to be found. Soon after, Radio Headmaster Tom York handed over another completely freshly baked "Spectre", which is more in line with the film's temperament, but unfortunately the iconic MV of the series of movies has been produced with Sam's song. All kinds of marriage mistakes have also made this episode 007 regarded as one of the worst in the series in some selections, and has become the failure of the famous director Sam Mendes.
After all, with a history of 60 years, any new Bond film will inevitably pay tribute to its predecessors. "No Time to Die" is similar to 1969's "The Queen's Secret Envoy", which makes it difficult for the flower spy to face his feelings. At the tragic end of "The Queen's Secret Envoy", Bond emotionally hugs his deceased wife and laments "Don't worry, we have the time of the world". Jazz singer Louis Armstrong, whose life is running out, sang the golden song of the same name "We Have Time in the World" with grief. The lines that are most out of line with Bond's personality and the love song that are least in line with the theme of the series freeze 007's most affectionate moments. Inheriting the nostalgia of heartbreak and also signaling the end of romance, in "No Time to Die", the Bond girl played by Léa Seydoux sits happily in the passenger seat of the sports car, asking Bond to drive faster, and the spy in the farewell replied, "No hurry, we have the world's time." ”