So Mr. Bond - Who really wrote your theme tune? (No Time To Die edition)
Did Monty Norman or John Barry write the James Bond Theme? This video answers this important question definitively with no room for doubt. Compare the James Bond Theme with similar music by Monty Norman and John Barry. Decide for yourself who you think really wrote the James Bond Theme.
- 0:00 Introduction and clip of the James Bond Theme
- 0:07 Was Monty Norman the composer? Was John Barry the arranger?
- 0:32 Monty Norman was the composer.
- 0:49 What happened?
- 1:16 Composer and arranger - roles and royalties
- 2:07 John Barry's contribution
- 2:23 Bad Sign, Good Sign - the first appearance of the famous riff, and other tracks by Monty Norman
- 3:03 Bad Sign, Good Sign audio clip
- 3:38 Dr. No's Fantasy audio clip
- 4:08 Comparison with Bee's Knees by The John Barry Seven
- 4:29 Analysis of the James Bond Theme, with audio clips
- 6:40 Comparison with Doctor No's Fantasy, with audio clip
- 7:12 The James Bond vamp
- 7:49 Who did write the James Bond Theme?
- 8:17 Monty Norman wrote the James Bond Theme. John Barry arranged it
- 8:43 One more thing
Credits
- James Bond Theme - Monty Norman, arr. John Barry
- Bad Sign, Good Sign, The James Bond Theme, and Dr. No's Fantasy - Monty Norman
- Bee's Knees - The John Barry Seven
- Nightmare - Arty Shaw
- Green screen background - From Dr. No, production design by Ken Adam
- Photograph of Vic Flick - Geoffers007 CC BY-SA 3.0
Automated transcript
So mr bond who really did write your theme music
as the new james bond movie no time to die opens it seems an appropriate time to revisit the question of whether the james bond theme was actually written by monty norman or john barry the answer to this question is very simple monty norman wrote the james bond theme and john barry was merely the arranger i say this with certainty because this is what was decided in a court of law in london in 2001 not wishing to be sued for libel i absolutely and categorically state that monty norman wrote the james bond theme and what follows in this video is all from my warped and twisted imagination not to be relied on this is a topic i've followed on and off over the years what it boils down to is this monty norman was hired to write the music for the first james bond film doctor no allegedly the music he wrote for the theme was found unsatisfactory by the producers and john barry was brought in to improve it over the years a dispute arose whether the james bond theme was written in its entirety by monty norman or almost entirely written by john barry who claimed he used nothing of norman's work other than the first two bars where this has relevance to modern day music is the division of roles between the composer and arranger normally the composer of a piece of music would receive a royalty on performances and recordings as well as perhaps an upfront fee too the arranger would only receive a fee there is potentially a lot of money at stake here a composer could for instance write a few bars of melody which an arranger turns into a fantastic piece of music that then goes on to earn hundreds of thousands of pounds or dollars in royalties do the composer's original few bars entitle him or her to all of the royalties legally speaking yes it does it can however be decided either by arrangement or later litigation that the arranger did actually contribute to a degree that is worthy of a royalty payment the procal harem a whiter shade of pale case is an example for the james bond theme it seems that john barry was brought in to tweak up monty norman's sketches for a flat fee of 250 pounds if the film was successful then barry would be engaged as the composer for the next james bond film from russia with love which he was monty norman's contribution to the james bond theme can be heard in a song called bad sign good sign from an earlier musical by norman that didn't take off sometimes written as good sign bad sign and dr knows fantasy which wasn't used in the film but appears on the soundtrack album there's also a track called the james bond theme on the soundtrack album notice the the as part of the title this isn't clearly related to the james bond theme on the discussion but the musical essence is already there in bad sign good sign which was in existence before john paris involvement here is bad sign good sign we only need to listen to the first 20 seconds or so i was born with this unlucky sneeze and what is worse i came into the world the wrong way round bond it's all agreed that i am the reason why my father fell into the village pond and drowned you may notice that bad sign good sign is a modern recording therefore produced after dr no it would have been interesting to hear a version from before john barry's arrangement for dr no but that doesn't seem to be available moving on doctor knows fantasy
what we can hear in these two tracks is what most people would recognize as some of the music that characterizes the james bond movies but clearly it's not the entire james bond theme before discussing john barry's arrangement of the james bond theme it's worth establishing a frame of reference here's a track called bee's knees by the john barry seven released in 1958
got that back to bond in the court hearing the prosecution called musicologist stanley sadie who analyzed the work like this past one to two vamp past five to ten guitar riff
eleven to twelve semitone descent
13-20 repeat of riff 21-24 repeat of vamp 25-28 bebop 1.
29-32 bebop 1 repeat 33-40 repeat of 25-32 41-42 bebop 2 melody related to riff
43-44 repeat of bebop 2 45-46 climax to bebop 2. 47-48 vamp 49-56 riff 57-60 coda related to 25 to 28.
now if i'm allowed to chime in with my opinion the legally established fact is that monty norman wrote all of this and john barry is the arranger i can definitely hear that the guitar riff comes from bad sign good sign although barry has modified it slightly bebop two i would say is an arranger's master stroke okay norman wrote the riff but to transform it like this picking out the most significant notes on making something new but already known is a stroke of genius which is as good an argument as any to why rangers should ever deserve to receive a royalty stanley sadie held that bars 11 to 12 relate to two guitar chords in the middle section of doctor knows fantasy i'll let you be the judge of that here's dr noah's fantasy again starting from the section in question we only need to listen to a few seconds the so-called relationship is a bit far-fetched in my opinion which as i keep saying is totally incorrect as for the characteristic vamp at the beginning that sets the bondy tone of the whole thing well norman's doctor knows fantasy incorporates a vamp but it isn't the james bond vamp listen to this
it's nightmare by artie shaw he probably wasn't the first to use this vamp either it's been around for so many years that i doubt if anyone living or dead could realistically claim copyright to it so who did write the james bond theme simple monty norman wrote it as i've said all along but in my warped and twisted imagination he didn't write the vamp he didn't write the first bebop section and john barry's master stroke surely trumps anything else one could say about the second section of bebop and the ending and that wonderful chord
surely all john barry's work and the orchestration but in truth monty norman wrote the james bond theme all the way from beginning to end and john barry merely arranged it that was decided in a court of law therefore it is true did i mention that john barry went on to win five oscars for his music i can't end without a special mention for guitarist vic flick without whom james bond just wouldn't be the same he was paid seven pounds and ten shillings for his work one more thing comments on this video could be a legal minefield i will state clearly and categorically that any comment below that disagrees with the court's verdict is wrong i'm david meller course director of audio masterclass thank you for listening.
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David Mellor
David Mellor is CEO and Course Director of Audio Masterclass. David has designed courses in audio education and training since 1986 and is the publisher and principal writer of Adventures In Audio.
@johnsampson2951: Mr Mellor Sir, you do a brilliant impersonation of the highest quality "poker face" I have seen for a long time.
@zorglub667: norman wrote some aimless noodling that barry, yes, arranged into an iconic riff by changing instrumentation, attitude, aesthetic, rhythm, and letting the originally aimless riff go somewhere (how ridiculous to separate the semitone descent from the riff, when its clearly the climax the riff works towards).
and that, ladies and gentlemen, is already the point where normans contribution ends. everything else was written, as in composed and arranged by, barry, and barry alone. what was so innocently called "bebop 1" in court is what these days one would call the hookline. the topline. you know, the thing that is considered pretty much the most important part of a composition. that this is 100% barry wasnt even disputed in court, its just that somehow they got away with categorizing THE HOOKLINE as some minuscule "arrangement" detail.
and then theres "climax to bebop 2" - particularly in these last few years, one would label this the "tiktok trailer element". the signature sound moment that tells you "oh, james bond" within a split second. who wrote (as in: composed) that? barry. also, who established the aesthetics of the entire thing, aesthetics that would continue as the trademark sound character (something many courts of today consider copyright worthy) of james bond for decades? barry.
or to make a long story short: barry wrote absolutely everything except one element. he made the mistake to incorporate ONE element from norman, an aimless noodle part that barry was kind enough to also completely rework, to get it up the level of the rest of his composition. in a fair and just timeline, this would probably qualify norman for 10 percent of the royalties of the james bond theme. lets be super nice and acknowledge the importance of the riff and make it 20. but certainly not 100. not even anywhere near 50.
this whole thing is so outrageous that one would wish another court would take a look at this and maybe invite a wider variety of neutral experts.
@MatthewPhilip-v6z replies to @zorglub667: "...lets be super nice and acknowledge the importance of the riff..." We have to be super nice to acknowledge the riff? Are we being super nice when we acknowledge the riff to Satisfaction? Smoke on the Water? Paranoid?
@zorglub667 replies to @zorglub667: @MatthewPhilip-v6z being super nice in acknowledging the riff in this very particular case includes ignoring that the riff of course was originally nothing like this.
Giving someone even 20 percent for 10 notes (count them if you want :) can absolutely happen, but if it's 10 notes that you then turned into 14 notes, added chromatic elements to fit with the vamp context (that you chose), come up with a climax for the riff that elevated it from a rhythm part to a front row star of the song, and of course change the range, key/octave, attitude and aesthetical appeal, then.... Then yes, we have to be super nice to acknowledge the riff. Because a riff is the sum of its parts, notes, rhythm, attitude, aesthetics, zeitgeist and more. 4 out of these 5 are from Barry too, and even the 5th, the notes, are only partially from Norman.
But hey, we can turn this around if you feel like trying to apologize for norman :
Do we also have to be super nice to acknowledge the hookine / topline? How much do you think Is the hookline worth?
@Mycroft9: “Unlucky sneeze” perhaps, but lucky, lucky Monty Norman (or his heirs).
@Simon-py2hb replies to @Mycroft9: Lucky indeed...and unscrupulous $$$
@RichardHunter-qr4hw: here's another question: was their lyrics to the JB theme? in my warped and twisted imagination or memory, I have this idea that there was, but I can't find any information on this.
@AudioMasterclass replies to @RichardHunter-qr4hw: There's a story about the Star Trek theme, written as an instrumental by Alexander Courage, who would have received the full writer's share of the royalties. Then Gene Roddenberry wrote some lyrics that were never used for the show. Suddenly Courage's share dropped to half of the writer's share because now there was a lyricist to pay.
@AlbertPaysonTerhune replies to @RichardHunter-qr4hw: Bad Sign, Good Sign was a song from an unproduced musical by Monty Norman. It's played here after 3:15. It's the basis for the rapid guitar riff at the start of the JB Theme. But the rest of the Theme is by John Barry.
@michaelandrew4488: I know Barry's music well. I wouldn't know Norman's music if I fell over it .. apart from the piece the courts have whacked us over the heads with and say he wrote.
@harryyoudaman replies to @michaelandrew4488: Well said!
@tjl102: imagine living in such a shitty place you cant criticize your government.
@AudioMasterclass replies to @tjl102: We can do that. What we can't do though is libel a living person. So if a court decides that Monty Norman wrote the James Bond theme, I can't say that John Barry wrote it without opening myself up to a libel lawsuit. Norman is now dead and in theory the dead can't be libelled, but I'm not going to test that. So my public view is that Monty Norman wrote the James Bond theme. What thoughts that are in my head are my own business.
@karlos543: Won't mean anything to anyone but recently subscribed and going through your old videos, I've missed so much but enjoying catching up.👍
@necolekey: British came and stole the Jamaican composer 's music and made millions off of him and he got nothing. ITS NOTHING WE HAVEN'T BEEN TOLD, SADLY CARLOS MALCOLM HAS NOT YET RECEIVED HIS DUE PRAISE FOR HIS MUSIC
@necolekey: Sadly Chris Blackwell stole from Carlos Malcolm as well and made Bob Marley a star using the Jamaican composer song https://youtu.be/29ncfM6j7jg
@necolekey: This song by Carlos Malcolm the original composer of the theme song that Monty stole it from shows the obvious similarities in style because it is his work
https://youtu.be/LyQqDPDjGN0
@necolekey: The real composer of Dr. No is Carlos Malcolm this a piece that the original creator put out https://youtu.be/_JKcwwHEsFw
@RocknRollkat: Fascinating presentation !
My Father was the premier arranger in the U.S.A. in the 1920s (Lee Terry) and hearing you talk about arranging brought back some bittersweet memories. 'Composers' receive the big bucks as you point out, arrangers, who actually MAKE the hit tunes, get a one-time payment, and that's that.
Pathetic how that works, because the arrangement makes the hit.
And there are so many 'Vic Flick' stories out there. I saw the pay sheet for Miles Davis's 'Kind of Blue' recording session, laughable.
It was just another recording date, so what...................
Best regards,
Bill P.
@morbidmanmusic: Before you stopped the hair dye.
@robertroberto2487: High Court Ruled John Barry Got Score Arrangement Credit Theme Monty Norman Couldn't Do, Lost Arrangement Of Copyright Laws.
@TheManchesterRambler: One of the most ‘interesting’ points about this whole story is that no recording of good sign/bad sign exists before the recording of the Bond Theme 🤔
@bigdaddio1959 replies to @TheManchesterRambler: Watch The Sound of 007 documentary and at about the 7:40 mark Norman sings the song a bit which has a little bit of the rhythm but far from what became the finished theme.
@necolekey replies to @TheManchesterRambler: The real composer is Carlos Malcolm a Jamaican composer on the island that Monty stole the score for the Dr No film. CHECK OUT Carlos Malcolm music you will see that the style is his without a doubt
@Simon-py2hb replies to @TheManchesterRambler: Exactly
@MrMichaellee5353: I think it's a joint collaboration and that a joint credit should have been awarded
@davidhyslop3376 replies to @MrMichaellee5353: they didnt sit down and write the bond theme norman sang the guitar part in a indian acent called mr biswas afterleaving Barry spent the weekend finishing the theme . Vick Flick changed the key to E for the guitar .So
norman got the credit
@MargotDarby: John Barry, finest film composer. Monty Norman was a talented and interesting guy.
@MatthewPhilip-v6z replies to @MargotDarby: "John Barry, finest film composer." Yes, and he arranged the Bond theme.
@MatthewPhilip-v6z replies to @MargotDarby: "Monty Norman was a talented and interesting guy." Who composed the Bond theme.
@MrVideoVagabond: "Dr. No's Fantasy" sounds a LOT like Elmer Bernstein's theme for The Man With The Golden Arm (composed several years earlier).
@AudioMasterclass replies to @MrVideoVagabond: It's certainly interesting to listen and compare.
@circusitch: 7 pounds 10 shillings? Geez. With inflation, that would be like making 50 pounds now!!! Good investment for a franchise that's grossed over $7 billion.
@leocomerford: I'm surprised to see that Monty Norman sadly died just a few weeks ago (at the age of 94!) Hopefully that does mean that any libel risks are now in the past, if they ever were a serious concern.
Sometime around the late '90s I heard a BBC radio piece (Radio 4, I'm almost sure) which claimed that the theme for the BBC's late-'50s music TV program Drumbeat (written by John Barry, as I recall, and almost certainly performed by the John Barry Seven) had an important similarity to the slightly later James Bond theme. It seemed pretty convincing at the time, but unfortunately I haven't been able to find the Drumbeat theme since then, let alone the BBC piece.
@rabarebra replies to @leocomerford: It is in the children's estate if he had any, or wife.
@leocomerford replies to @leocomerford: @rabarebra I am not a lawyer, but my understanding is that the dead can't (in law) be libelled, so there isn't a cause of action for libel that they can pass on to their relatives or anything like that.
@chicolofi: This statement is false.
@inverross9019: I am not a musician, but agree, that it should have been a joint credit. Both parties and publishers should have come to terms.. It is standard that songwriters hold credit no matter what arrangements - or every person who has ever performed a song could claim that they have arranged it. In this case however, when the stabs and huge brass melody sections are so much a part of the tune.. it's not the original work but a hybrid/medley. The Barry parts often being used in dramatic scenes on their own. You can now talk without fear of legal repercussions, as Mr. Norman is sadly demised! The opening to Glen Miller's string of Pearls also has some of the feel of the Barry section as does many of his own earlier 60's works.
@davidhyslop3376: In the book A sixty's the hard back version director Terence Young lays into Monty Norman's music skills .In the paperback version the comments are gone
@Romans8-9: I agree with your warped twisted imagination. I would be interested to hear the original theme presented by Norman that the producers werent happy with. Does it even exist? Whenever his name appears with the theme its always Barry's arranged version. Good video nonetheless. I found it amazing the writing credits were never shared and seemed absurd that Norman claimed royalties for a finished product that was never finished by him!
@AyaanPettus-b3y replies to @Romans8-9: I think you can hear Norman's theme at points in Dr No like when Bond busts into the door of his flat in London and when he points his gun at the phony car driver. It is clear why the producers weren't satisfied with it.
@Romans8-9 replies to @Romans8-9: @AyaanPettus-b3yApart from the Bond theme, Norman scored the entire film which is also why it’s considered one of the worst scores in the entire series.
@deliusmyth5063: Of course, if it were judged a collaboration, the credit would be Barry/Norman.
@jimmurray2494: How strange - or fitting even - that it was the " arranger " and not the "composer" that went on to to score future Bond films.
@robertscott8336: Norman wrote the signature melody, Session guitarist Nick Flick was responsible for riff's sound", which was clearly based on the Peter Gunn theme. John Barry did a terrific arrangement, based not only Norman's original composition, but drawing on many composers and producers, notably Henry Mancini. Both technically and practically, Norman deserves the main writing credit, and lucked out with producer, arranger, and session players. Barry deserves an arranging credit, but his "songwriting" contributions were nominal.
@ll1881ll: What about Henry Mancini ? You make some good points but….the Bond theme is a ripoff of a huge hit in the 50’s : Peter Gunn theme ( TV AND a huge radio hit in the late 50’s) . Both are the harmonic minor mode #4 ( minor scale with the spooky raised forth and natural sixth) , both are written for a spy series, , twangy guitar, brooding airy beginning , LOW end guitar keys E and F , same tempo, same time signature except that the bond theme swings at the end.
@Romans8-9 replies to @ll1881ll: I can hear the Peter Gunn theme in part of Norman's Dr No's fantasy! Maybe Mancini should have sued Norman. 😂
@pedrolimatube: Great video, Mr Mellor. It's a pitty that Monty doesn't won an Oscar for that. I fact, his lawyer deserves one!
@silvinaarriaga3040: David, in your opinion, what is the best Bond soundtrack thus far? What do you think of Billy Eilish' soundtrack?
@AudioMasterclass replies to @silvinaarriaga3040: I'm not the right person to ask regarding musical taste, but the one song I remember best is 'Goldfinger', which may have a lot to do with Shirley Bassey's singing. Regarding Billie Eilish, I love the close mic sound, maybe not for every day but in this song it works well. DM
@silvinaarriaga3040 replies to @silvinaarriaga3040: @AudioMasterclass Thanks David
@coastwalker101: A thoroughly enjoyable raspberry, thank you for making the effort to bring it to us. I wonder if I could sell any tee shirts emblazoned with "The truth is Monty Norman and not John Barry wrote the James Bond theme". Memes are such fun.
@johnhawkinshawkins1284: ...most interesting Mr Mellor.....(quiet meow heard in background)....
@AudioMasterclass replies to @johnhawkinshawkins1284: Shame I missed the cat trick but don't worry - it'll be in my update when the next Bond movie comes out. 2026? DM
@silvinaarriaga3040: Wonderful Video. Thank you very much!
@ashutoshsuman9473: 🙏 Thanks.