Ker-SPLATT!!: “Live And Let Die” by Wings

When I was young and my brain was a more open book, I had always assumed that “Live And Let Die” was a one-off collaboration between Paul McCartney and John Barry, PMac providing the song and JB the action-packed orchestral section but actually this was the first Bond theme since Dr No not to have been composed, even in part, by Barry – Paul and Linda wrote the song and producer George Martin scored the orchestra.

Live And Let Die, the movie, was the first to star Roger Moore as Bond, although producers Saltzman and Broccoli had made previous overtures to people like Burt Reynolds and even Adam West – Batman as Bond? Shurely shome mishtake – and while Saltzman was keen on having McCartney write the theme song, he thought of it being sung by Bond theme stalwart Shirley Bassey, or perhaps Thelma Houston. However, McCartney insisted that Saltzman could only have the song if he allowed Wings to perform it under the opening credits. Recalling how he had passed up the opportunity to produce A Hard Day’s Night nine years earlier, Saltzman relented and agreed.

“Live And Let Die,” the song, plays like an early seventies update of the Long Medley on Abbey Road; the regretful “You Never Give Me Your Money” balladism, the climactic crunch of the chorus, the fast-track orchestral section, strings swirling as though “A Day In The Life” had been swallowed up by the blades of Mr Big’s helicopter, and even a brief reggae section (since some of the film was shot in Jamaica). As the song itself admits, it does its job, and as for that line, it reads “But if this ever-changing world in which we live in…” – when asked about the prepositional tautology many years later, McCartney reckoned that “in which we live in” was “wronger but cuter” than the correct “in which we’re living” (although he couldn’t recall which he’d actually written). Music for a year which made many want to give in and cry – just look below at what kept it off number one for confirmation of that.

Date Record Made Number Two: 11 August 1973

Number Of Weeks At Number Two: 3

Records At Number One: “The Morning After” by Maureen McGovern, “Touch Me In The Morning” by Diana Ross and “Brother Louie” by Stories

UK Chart Position: 9

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