The only James Bond songs to win the Oscars

Adele is one of the most accomplished singers of her generation. In addition to being one of the world’s best-selling musicians, she has won 16 Grammy Awards, 18 Billboard Music Awards, 12 BRIT Awards, and five American Music Awards. Among her other accolades, her film “Skyfall” earned James Bond an Academy Award. .

The James Bond films have followed a winning formula that has kept 007 on cinema screens for over 60 years, and that formula follows some trademarks: beautiful women, supervillain lairs with death traps, lots of weapons, terrible puns, and so on. Before the adventure really begins, though, Bond films must have a lavish title sequence with a specially composed song.

The first two Bond films, “Dr. No” and “From Russia with Love”, actually used a musical opening. Then for The third (and some say best) James Bond film, “Goldfinger”, The theme song contains lyrics – written by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse, and sung by Shirley Bassey. The song “Goldfinger” is a lot like the movie “Goldfinger”: it may not be high art, but it sure is catchy. (“Goldfinger… invites you to enter his web of sin… but do not enter!”)

Then the movie “Goldfinger” started. Imitating James Bond sing-alongswhich then increased with each new film having a famous musician write the theme song. Bond songwriters/singers included huge names like Paul McCartney (“Live and Let Die”), Tina Turner (“Goldeneye”), and Madonna (“Die Another Day”).

Even before Adele, Bond’s Daniel Craig recruited some particularly impressive musicians: Chris Cornell (“Casino Royale”), then Jack White and Alicia Keys (“Quantum of Solace”). For the song Skyfall, Leah Volak of Sony Pictures Music wanted a classic Bond theme like the one sung by Bassey. She concluded that Adele was the right woman for the job: “Adele has this emotional, evocative quality, and she’s a great writer. Stylistically, it was fitting to bring back the classic Shirley Bassey feel she associates with the early Bond films.”

mixed with The film’s elegant, aquatic title sequenceAdele’s song “Skyfall” was a huge hit. The only other song from the original film that I remember making a similar impact in the modern era is “Shallow” from 2018’s “A Star Is Born.” So, it’s no surprise that “Skyfall” (the song) took home the award for Best Original Song At the 85th Academy Awards, where it won alongside “Skyfall” composer Thomas Newman for Best Original Score. But did Skyfall’s good intentions carry over to Bond’s subsequent themes?