Paul McCartney Said Writing ‘Live and Let Die’ Was ‘a Bit of an Accolade’
Paul McCartney said writing “Live and Let Die” for the 1973 Bond film of the same name was “a bit of an accolade” for him. He managed to mesh a bit of himself and the essence of James Bond into the tune effortlessly.
Paul McCartney | Jack Kay/Getty Images
Paul McCartney said writing ‘Live and Let Die’ was ‘a bit of an accolade’
In his book, The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, Paul wrote that most of the time, a musician commissions a song for themselves, but in some cases, somebody else commissions one, and “that’s a nice thing.” That’s also when the craft comes in.
Then-Apple Records head, Ron Kass, knew someone connected with the Bond franchise. One day in 1972, Rass called Paul and asked him if he’d like to do a Bond theme song. Paul tried not to seem too enthusiastic when he said he’d probably be interested.
However, Paul knew writing a Bond song was “a bit of an accolade.” He’d always had a “sneaking ambition to do it.”
Paul made ‘Live and Let Die’ his kind of Bond song
The former Beatle didn’t have much to go on when he started writing his Bond song. All Kass told Paul was the film’s title, Live and Let Die. The screenplay wasn’t finished yet, so Paul bought the Ian Fleming book, a real page-turner.
Paul immersed himself in the book, so when he sat down to write the song, he knew how to approach it. He wanted “Live and Let Die” to be his version of a Bond song.
Paul didn’t want it to be, “You’ve got a gun. Now go kill people. Live and let die.” That wasn’t him. He wanted the song to go, ‘Let it go. Don’t worry about it. When you’ve got problems, just live and let die.”
Once he thought that through, the song almost wrote itself. He read the book on a Saturday and sat down at his piano in the living room on Sunday to put it all together. Paul’s wife Linda helped him with the reggae bit. It all came together quickly.
1 of the film’s producers thought Paul was going to have someone else sing the song
Once Paul finished writing “Live and Let Die,” he brought it to George Martin, The Beatles’ former producer, who was also working on the music for the film. Paul showed Martin the tune’s chords, structure, and central riff.
Paul knew his Bond song had to have explosions in it, but he left “the Bondian arrangements” completely up to Martin. It was the first time Paul had worked with the producer since The Beatles broke up. It was a nice reunion for the pair.
Paul wrote that Martin’s score for Live and Let Die was “pure George.” There was a “perfectly stated balance of grandiose, without being over the top. I was very happy with that.”
However, not everyone was initially pleased with what Paul had done. After Paul and Martin recorded the song, Martin brought a copy to the Caribbean, where the movie had already started filming. He showed the tune to Cubby Broccoli, one of the film’s producers.
Broccoli said it was a nice demo but asked when he would make the finished record. Martin told him that was the finished product. According to Paul, the film producers thought Paul would write “Live and Let Die” for someone else to sing.
That was not the case. Paul dreamed of writing a Bond song for most of his music career. He wasn’t going to hand the song to someone else. Later, he received an Oscar nomination for his efforts, becoming the first artist to be nominated for a Bond song.
