A View to a Kill (soundtrack)

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1985 soundtrack album by John Barry

A View to a Kill

Soundtrack album by

John Barry

Released| 1985
Length| 38:23
Label| EMI (UK)
Capitol (US)
James Bond soundtrack chronology
| Octopussy
(1983)  | A View to a Kill
(1985)  | The Living Daylights
(1987)

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Singles from  A View to a Kill

1. "A View to a Kill"
Released: May 1985

A View to a Kill is the 1985 soundtrack for the film of the same name, the 14th instalment in the James Bond film series.

## Theme song

[edit]

The theme song "A View to a Kill", was written by John Barry and Duran Duran, and was recorded in London with a 60-piece orchestra. "A View to a Kill" is the most successful Bond theme to date. In 1986 Barry and Duran Duran were nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song at the 43rd Golden Globe Awards.

Duran Duran was chosen to do the song after bassist John Taylor (a lifelong Bond fan) approached producer Cubby Broccoli at a party, and somewhat drunkenly asked "When are you going to get someone decent to do one of your theme songs?" [1][2]

The single was released in May 1985, and on 13 July it hit number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, and as of 2024[update] remains the only Bond theme to do so. On 25 May, it made it to number two in the UK Singles Chart, also a record for Bond themes until "Writing's on the Wall" by Sam Smith from the soundtrack to Spectre made it to number one in 2015. The b-side was an instrumental piece orchestrated by John Barry, titled "A View to a Kill (That Fatal Kiss)" which appeared on the soundtrack album as "Bond Meets Stacey (A View to a Kill)". The song was the last track that the original five members of Duran Duran recorded together until 2001.

The video for the single was directed by the duo Godley & Creme, with shots of the band at the Eiffel Tower intercut with scenes from the movie, so that it appears that James Bond (Roger Moore) and May Day (Grace Jones) are participating in the same storyline. The lead singer ends the video with a parody of James Bond, introducing himself as "Bon. Simon Le Bon."

## Other music

[edit]

During the opening pre-title sequence, a cover version of the 1965 Beach Boys song "California Girls", performed by Gidea Park (a tribute band), is used during a chase in which Bond snowboards; it has been suggested that this teaser sequence helped initiate interest in snowboarding.[3]

The film features Antonio Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, which is performed during the reception that Bond attends undercover at Max Zorin (Christopher Walken)'s stud farm in France.

In the remastered CD edition, the third track is incorrectly labeled "May Day Jumpers" on the back of the case.

## Leitmotifs

[edit]

Composer John Barry utilises four leitmotifs on the soundtrack, that recur in two or more of the tracks listed. One is pinned to the theme songs by Duran Duran, one is pinned to henchwoman May Day, one is pinned to the action set-pieces and one appears more generally throughout the film. Barry often called the secondary themes he composed as "action themes" that underscored the action on the screen with hints of the film's theme song, the "James Bond Theme" itself, or simply another theme used only in that particular film. Such themes were occasionally reused, such as his "007 Theme", originally composed for From Russia with Love but brought back for four subsequent Bond pictures. The action theme composed for this film is easily a memorable as those secondary themes he used in You Only Live Twice (the "Space March"), Diamonds Are Forever (a similar space-themed piece, and the "Bond Meets Bambi and Thumper" theme which echoed both the "James Bond Theme" and the title song) among others. The action theme used within A View To A Kill (in the pieces "Snow Job", "He's Dangerous" and "Golden Gate Fight") was similar in its basic composition to that used in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, although it features a wailing electric guitar in the background - at this point Barry was using more contemporary sounding instrumentation within the Bond soundtracks, something he would take further in his next and final score for The Living Daylights.

A View To A Kill Theme

* 1\. "A View to a Kill (Main Title)"
* 4\. "Bond Meets Stacey (A View to a Kill)"
* 10\. "Wine with Stacey (A View to a Kill)"
* 15\. "A View to a Kill (End Title)"

"Set-piece Theme"

* 2\. "Snow Job’"
* 8\. “He’s Dangerous”
* 14\. "Golden Gate Fight" (0:30-3:31)

May Day Motif

* 3\. "May Day Jumps" (0:00-0:52)
* 14\. "Golden Gate Fight" (0:04-0:19)

Pegasus' Theme

* 5\. "Pegasus' Stable"
* 6\. "Tibbett Gets Washed Out"
* 7\. "Airship To Silicon Valley" (1:00-1:24)
* 9\. "Bond Underwater"
* 13\. "May Day Bombs Out"

## Track listing

[edit]

1. "A View to a Kill (Main Title)" – Duran Duran
2. "Snow Job"
3. "May Day Jumps" (Contains The James Bond Theme)
4. "Bond Meets Stacey (A View to a Kill)"
5. "Pegasus' Stable"
6. "Tibbett Gets Washed Out"
7. "Airship to Silicon Valley"
8. "He's Dangerous"
9. "Bond Underwater"
10. "Wine with Stacey (A View to a Kill)"
11. "Bond Escapes Roller"
12. "Destroy Silicon Valley"
13. "May Day Bombs Out"
14. "Golden Gate Fight"
15. "A View to a Kill (End Title)" – Duran Duran

## See also

[edit]

* Outline of James Bond

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Malins, Steve. (2005) Notorious: The Unauthorized Biography, André Deutsch/Carlton Publishing, UK (ISBN 0-233-00137-9). pp 161-162
2. ^ Paul Gambaccini Interview with John Taylor, 1985, Greatest DVD extras.
3. ^ Snowboard Club UK FAQs Archived September 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine

## Further reading

[edit]

* Burlingame, Jon (2012). The Music of James Bond. New York, USA: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-986330-3.

* v
* t
* e

James Bond music

Themes|

* "James Bond Theme"
* "007 Theme"
* "On Her Majesty's Secret Service"
* "Bond 77"

Soundtracks|

* Dr. No
* From Russia with Love
* Goldfinger
* Thunderball
* Casino Royale (1967)
* You Only Live Twice
* On Her Majesty's Secret Service
* Diamonds Are Forever
* Live and Let Die
* The Man with the Golden Gun
* The Spy Who Loved Me
* Moonraker
* For Your Eyes Only
* Octopussy
* Never Say Never Again
* A View to a Kill
* The Living Daylights
* Licence to Kill
* GoldenEye
* Tomorrow Never Dies
* The World Is Not Enough
* Die Another Day
* Casino Royale (2006)
* Quantum of Solace
* Skyfall
* Spectre
* No Time to Die

Eon themes|

* "Kingston Calypso"
* "From Russia with Love"
* "Goldfinger"
* "Thunderball"
* "You Only Live Twice"
* "We Have All the Time in the World"
* "Diamonds Are Forever"
* "Live and Let Die"
* "The Man with the Golden Gun"
* "Nobody Does It Better"
* "Moonraker"
* "For Your Eyes Only"
* "All Time High"
* "A View to a Kill"
* "The Living Daylights"
* "Where Has Everybody Gone?"
* "Licence to Kill"
* "If You Asked Me To"
* "GoldenEye"
* "Tomorrow Never Dies"
* "The World Is Not Enough"
* "Die Another Day"
* "You Know My Name"
* "Another Way to Die"
* "Skyfall"
* "Writing's on the Wall"
* "No Time to Die"

Non-Eon themes|

* "Casino Royale"
* "The Look of Love"
* "Never Say Never Again"

Unused themes|

* "The Juvenile"
* "Man of War"
* "Spectre"

Compilations|

* Shaken and Stirred
* The Incredible World of James Bond
* The Best of Bond... James Bond

Related articles|

* "Everything or Nothing"
* "A House for Mr Biswas"

* v
* t
* e

Duran Duran

* Nick Rhodes
* John Taylor
* Roger Taylor
* Simon Le Bon

* Stephen Duffy
* Andy Taylor
* Warren Cuccurullo
* Sterling Campbell

Studio albums|

* Duran Duran
* Rio
* Seven and the Ragged Tiger
* Notorious
* Big Thing
* Liberty
* Duran Duran (The Wedding Album)
* Thank You
* Medazzaland
* Pop Trash
* Astronaut
* Red Carpet Massacre
* All You Need Is Now
* Paper Gods
* Future Past
* Danse Macabre

Live albums|

* Arena
* Live at Hammersmith '82!
* A Diamond in the Mind: Live 2011

Compilations,
EPs and remixes|

* Carnival
* Master Mixes
* Decade
* Night Versions: The Essential Duran Duran
* Greatest
* Strange Behaviour
* The Essential Collection
* Singles Box Set 1981–1985
* The Singles 1986–1995
* From Mediterranea with Love

Singles|

* "Planet Earth"
* "Careless Memories"
* "Girls on Film"
* "My Own Way"
* "Hungry Like the Wolf"
* "Save a Prayer"
* "Rio"
* "Is There Something I Should Know?"
* "Union of the Snake"
* "New Moon on Monday"
* "The Reflex"
* "The Wild Boys"
* "A View to a Kill"
* "Notorious"
* "Skin Trade"
* "Meet El Presidente"
* "I Don't Want Your Love"
* "All She Wants Is"
* "Do You Believe in Shame?"
* "Burning the Ground"
* "Violence of Summer (Love's Taking Over)"
* "Serious"
* "Ordinary World"
* "Come Undone"
* "Too Much Information"
* "Perfect Day"
* "White Lines (Don't Do It)"
* "Out of My Mind"
* "Electric Barbarella"
* "Someone Else Not Me"
* "(Reach Up for The) Sunrise"
* "What Happens Tomorrow"
* "Nice"
* "Falling Down"
* "Invisible"

Videography|

* Duran Duran Video 45
* Duran Duran
* Dancing on the Valentine
* Sing Blue Silver
* Arena (An Absurd Notion)
* 6ix by 3hree
* Decade
* Greatest
* Live from London
* Live at Hammersmith '82!
* A Diamond in the Mind: Live 2011
* Duran Duran: A Hollywood High

Related artists|

* Arcadia
* Neurotic Outsiders
* The Devils
* The Power Station
* Swahili Blonde
* TV Mania
* John Frusciante
* Dominic Brown

Related articles|

* Discography
* Songs
* Awards and nominations
* Reportage
* Tours
* All You Need Is Now
* Duran Duran's charity concert at Villa Park 1983
* Making Patterns Rhyme
* Drum
* Eilean
* Yasmin Le Bon
* Amber Le Bon

* v
* t
* e

A View to a Kill

Characters|

* James Bond
* May Day
* Stacey Sutton
* Max Zorin

Music|

* "A View to a Kill"
* soundtrack

Tie-ins|

* video game

Authority control databases |

* MusicBrainz work
* MusicBrainz release group

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