Live & Let Die - Paul McCartney & Wings (1973) 4/14/21

Interesting backstory about today's "Great Song of 1973:"

The 8th film in the James Bond series was the first to star Roger Moore. The producers of the film, Harry Salzman and Albert Broccoli, thought it would also be a good time to get a little more "modern" with the opening theme song...so they contacted Paul McCartney.

Paul was intrigued, but at the same time, he was a little wary of committing to writing it. First, he wanted to make sure the movie would have a good plot...and second, he felt that writing a song "to order" would be difficult, since he was used to coming up with his own songs with no restrictions.

Well, the producers sent Paul a copy of Ian Fleming's book, "Live and Let Die," and after reading it, he decided he would "give it a try." So he called his old friend and former Beatles producer, George Martin, and got to work.

Then Harry Salzman threw him a curveball: He wanted Shirley Bassey to record it. (She'd done a fantastic job with the theme from "Goldfinger" back in 1964.)

Well, Paul and Mr. Martin would have NONE of it. They issued an ultimatum: The song would be recorded by Paul & Linda McCartney and Wings, or they wouldn't allow it to be used at all.

Salzman backed down, and for the first time in the Bond series, the theme song was sung by a rock band.

The movie was a box office smash, and the song was the highest charting Bond Theme to that point, reaching #2 on both Billboard's Hot 100 and Canada's Top 40.

Sales of the single...and even the sheet music...were brisk, although the published sheet music inadvertently changed the lyric, "ever-changing world in which we're living," to "ever-changing world in which we live in." (Grammar police, take note!)

It was the first Bond Theme to be Oscar nominated for "Best Original Song." (It lost, however, to Barbra Streisand's "The Way We Were.") It was also nominated for a Grammy.

To this day, most music critics call it one of Paul's best songs, and it remains incredibly popular, thanks to classic rock and oldies stations.

In fact, BMI (Broadcast Music Incorporated), the company that keeps track of such things, certified that in 2012, the song had reached 4 MILLION plays on radio stations in the US alone!

In 1996, Guns & Roses covered the song...and it was a hit all over again: #1 in Finland and New Zealand--and in the US, it reached #20 on Billboard's "Album Rock" chart. Their version was also nominated for a Grammy.

"Live and Let Die:" A Great Song of "Double-Oh-73" from Paul, Linda, and Wings--with help from George Martin.

And also Guns & Roses in 1996.