Exploring The James Bond

Series’ Signature Sound

007 and Counting: An Assessment of John Barry’s
Soundtrack Work on the Eon/ James Bond Series
from 1962 to 1969

By Van Norris
John Barry
Explores how John Barry’s work in the first 007 films
created a unique sound that would help inform all
other preceding themes for the series
John Barry was a film music composer who
worked on 12 Bond films in his career

The reading focuses on his early work from

1962 to 1969 starting with Dr. No

Along with Iconic James Bond theme from Dr.

No, Barry’s work helped create a sound that
fused “seemingly disparate pieces” under one
series

Dr. No (1962)
007 films from this time frame

Dr No (1962)
From Russia With Love (1963)
Goldfinger (1964)
Thunderball (1965)
You Only Live Twice (1967)
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969)

Norris refers to the cultural freeze frame and the

Bond films of this time he considered to “embody
the changes within society brought about by sexual
liberation, consumerism, fashion and music”
Norris talks about how Barry would often
downplay “the significance of his collection
of scores throughout his career”.

He then asks if the “Bond music has little

perceived worth when removed from its
cinematic context”.

This question extends to not only Bond films

but is a question often asked when looking at
film music.
Barry’s work in the early 007 soundtracks ended up
creating a problem for future composers with one
saying they feel “trapped in something of a creative
cul-de-sac”

Barry was the architect of the “Bond Sound” which

became a form of “brand identity” and when you
don’t have that it can be jarring.

Films like Live and Let Die (1973) with its “MOR
rock and cod-reggae sound” and The Spy Who Loved
Me (1977) with its “Broadway and disco influenced”
sound were thought to be “inferior” because Barry
didn’t work on them.
While many of the films soundtrack’s that John
Barry didn’t work on were often considered as
“unremarkable, action adventure scores”. Norris
mentions that they all still contain “perceivable
Bondian Elements”

These elements included “a sense of rhythm

and urgency…” and “muted horn punches,
string washes, etc”

Can you hear the similarities?

The title song soon no longer became a simple
“descriptive tool or branding device”

“The songs cultural visibility affords each film a

longevity… as well as aiding continuity”

For Barry choosing a vocalist for the title songs

were just as important in determining the “mood”
as the casting of the actors for the film.

Female vocalists like Nancy Sinatra and Shirley

Bassey were thought to give their individual title
songs a sense of “fragility” as opposed to the male
vocalists “machismo” in Thunderball (1965)
Years later, the Bond sound and music became
something that through Barry’s initial work
helped it survive through so many “cultural
transitions”

The sound of 007 as Norris writes is part of a

collective filmic memory and alludes to a grander
universe outside of the films themselves.”

The title song themselves act as “perfect

summations and idealizations of the films
themselves” which alludes to a shared idea of
what James Bond is.