Nobody Does It Better

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Original The Spy Who Loved Me soundtrack cover, featuring Nobody Does It Better
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Original The Spy Who Loved Me soundtrack cover, featuring Nobody Does It Better

"Nobody Does It Better" is a James Bond theme used for the 1977 film The Spy Who Loved Me and released Single EP, Soundtrack Album.

The song composed by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager and performed by Carly Simon.

It was the first Bond theme song to be titled differently from the name of the film, although the phrase "the spy who loved me" is in the lyrics. The song became a hit that is still popular today.

The song has been covered a number of times and has been featured in many non-Bond films, including, most recently: Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005), performed by 8mm. Little Black Book (2004), Lost in Translation (2003) and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004) also used the song.

In 2004, the song was honored by the American Film Institute as the 67th greatest song as part of their 100 Years Series.

Thom Yorke of Radiohead fame is even heard to claim, in a bootleg recording of a live performance, that this is the "sexiest song that was ever written."

The title of the theme was later used for Carly Simon's 1999 greatest hits album, The Very Best Of Carly Simon: Nobody Does It Better.

Air New Zealand adopted the song's title as an advertising slogan, but removed it following the Erebus disaster in 1979.

In the 1980's, KDBC-TV, a local CBS affiliate in El Paso, Texas, used the song in a few of their station idents.

For the 2006 release of the new James Bond film, Casino Royale, commercials have been using the song's title "Nobody Does it Better" as a catch phrase.

The song was also featured over a montage of James Bond film clips featuring the character Q; included on the release of the VHS copy of The World Is Not Enough in order to honor the memory of then recently deceased actor Desmond Llewelyn. Llewelyn had portrayed Q in virtually every Bond film to that point.

The song was current during the breakout 1977 season of the young National Football League star Walter Payton, and was used by NFL Films over film clips of some of Payton's more notable achievements.

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James Bond title themes
Official films
John Barry orchestra "The James Bond Theme" • Monty Norman orchestra "Kingston Calypso" • Matt Monro "From Russia with Love" • Shirley Bassey "Goldfinger" • Tom Jones "Thunderball" • Nancy Sinatra "You Only Live Twice" • John Barry orchestra "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" • Shirley Bassey "Diamonds Are Forever" • Paul McCartney & Wings " Live and Let Die" • Lulu "The Man with the Golden Gun" • Carly Simon "Nobody Does It Better" • Shirley Bassey "Moonraker" • Sheena Easton "For Your Eyes Only" • Rita Coolidge "All Time High" • Duran Duran "A View to a Kill" • a-ha "The Living Daylights" • Gladys Knight "Licence To Kill" • Tina Turner " GoldenEye" • Sheryl Crow "Tomorrow Never Dies" • Garbage "The World Is Not Enough" • Madonna "Die Another Day" • Chris Cornell "You Know My Name"
Unofficial films
Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass "Casino Royale" | Lani Hall "Never Say Never Again"