| Die Another Day (Original Soundtrack) | |||||||||||||
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| Soundtrack album by David Arnold | |||||||||||||
| Released | November 12, 2002 | ||||||||||||
| Recorded | 2002 | ||||||||||||
| Genre | Film music Spy music |
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| Length | 55:01 | ||||||||||||
| Label | Warner Bros. | ||||||||||||
| David Arnold chronology | |||||||||||||
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | [1] |
The soundtrack to Die Another Day, the 20th James Bond film of the same name, was released by Warner Bros. Records on November 12, 2002. The soundtrack was composed by David Arnold, his third outing as the composer for a James Bond movie. Frequent collaborator Nicholas Dodd orchestrated and conducted the score.
Arnold again made use of electronic rhythm elements in his score, and included two of the new themes he created for The World Is Not Enough. The first, originally used as Renard's theme for the previous film, is heard during the mammoth "Antonov" cue on the recording, and is written for piano. The second new theme, most easily described as Bond's romance theme, is heard here on the "Going Down Together" track. There is also a second romance theme in "Die Another Day" which was previously used on the The World Is Not Enough soundtrack titled "Christmas in Turkey", and can be heard during the Moneypenny/Bond virtual reality sequence.
The title song for Die Another Day was written and sung by Madonna, who also had a small cameo in the movie as Verity, a fencing instructor.
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Although the Bond films have a long-standing connection with the pop music world, the choice of Madonna's song, coupled with the use of The Clash's "London Calling," proved controversial with some fans who felt the two pieces of music were inappropriate for a Bond movie. "London Calling" was used briefly in the film as Bond returns to England via British Airways. At the time, the airline was using the song in American radio and television commercials.
Madonna's theme song was unusual in that it was presented in a credit sequence that directly moved the film's plot along (as opposed to all previous Bond film titles which are mostly standalone set pieces). The concept of the song/title sequence was that it represented Bond trying to keep his sanity during 14 months of torture at the hands of the North Koreans. The divided opinion over the "Die Another Day" theme is evidenced in that it was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Original Song as well as for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Original Song (2002). However in a MORI poll for the Channel 4 programme "James Bond's Greatest Hits" it was voted 9th out of 22 and was voted an "overwhelming number one" by under-24 year olds.[2]
Prior to Madonna's title song being chosen, Arnold, along with lyricist Don Black began work on their own title track titled "I Will Return". It was never finished. In one of the themes, it is possible to hear the beat of "Die Another Day" − this is the melody they were going to use. Also prior to the choosing of "Die Another Day", Madonna composed another song with Mirwais Ahmadzaï to serve as a possible Bond theme, called "Can't You See My Mind". The song remains unreleased.
Olympic Figure Skating Champion Kim Yu-Na used the track "Going Down Together" as part of her 'James Bond Medley' short program for the 2009-2010 season. The 'James Bond Medley' program was also used at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, which Yu-Na went on to win the gold medal.