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I already did a fascinating post about the title track to the You Only Live Twice (1967) soundtrack, which of course was sung by Nancy (with the laughing face) Sinatra. But I wanted to focus on the Natacha Atlas version, because I really like it, so sod it. This was "relegated" to obscurity (much like this blog) by being used as the B-side to a single the Jersulem-born, Belgian singer released in 1999 called "One Brief Moment". I like how faithful to, yet so different from, the Nancy Sinatra version this is:

The Fontainebleau Hotel

pic from
From the Wikipedia entry (any small, bold text):

The Fontainebleau Hotel is one of the most historically and architecturally significant hotels on Miami Beach. Built in 1954 and designed by Morris Lapidus, it was considered the most luxurious hotel on Miami Beach at the time of its opening and for a long time after that, and is also thought to be the most significant building in Lapidus's career.

According to this Lapidus biography:

"By the early 50s he had developed a bunch of principles that he called theories:

* Get rid of corners
* Use sweeping lines
* Use light to create unusual effects
* Use plenty of color
* Try to get drama
* Keep changing the floor levels
* People are attracted to light (The Moth Complex)"

In his 1996 autobiography Too Much Is Never Enough, Lapidus wrote that if: "American taste was being influenced by the greatest mass media of entertainment of that time, the movies.... So I designed a movie set!" Lapidus conceived of the ideas for the hotel each morning as he took a subway from Flatbush to his office in Manhattan.

1954 construction
The Fontainebleau was the setting for Jerry Lewis's comedy film, The Bellboy (1960).


The main street in this shot is Collins Avenue. Indian Creek is a block over, to the right. There are shots in Tony Rome (1967) that appear to have been done from the same room, the view is so similar. That scene in the day:





the lobby
huge conference/convention space



Inside and outside the lobby entrance:


Miscellaneous interiors:




out by the pool and cabanas:

night and day:


It (The Fontainebleau Hotel) was also featured in the James Bond movie Goldfinger (1964), most notably in the sweeping aerial shot that follows the opening credits and accompanies composer John Barry's big-band track "Into Miami" (so awesome):


"Just here?" Gotta love that.





The hotel was used in several scenes in one of my favorites, Tony Rome (1967):



This is the shot I think is so similar to one in The Bellboy. It's as if filming on both was done in the same room. If this was the case, perhaps that room offered the best view of Miami Beach and Collins Avenue.

The hotel, predominantly the pool area, was featured in the 1983 film Scarface. Other movies filmed there include Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach, The Specialist and Bodyguard.

"You Only Live Twice"

"You Only Live Twice" was composed in 1967 by John Barry. It was his fourth Bond theme song (after "From Russia with Love," "Goldfinger," and "Thunderball").

Barry did a really beautiful, lush, orchestral version on a 1995 album called Moviola II: Action And Adventure (a small portion can be heard at the link). It may be my favorite version of it.

The film version was sung by Nancy Sinatra:

or there's this:

An alternate theme song (also called "You Only Live Twice" and sung by Lorraine Chandler) was discovered in the vaults of RCA records in the '90s. It was perhaps intended as a demo for consideration by the film's producers. It's sort of what a Bond theme would have sounded like if done by Martha and the Vandellas:


A completely different "You Only Live Twice," sung by an uncredited Julie Rogers, was featured on The Best of James Bond 30th Anniversary in 1992. Here it is:

And then there's also this intriguing theory about a Beach Boys crossover.

A recent cover was done by Natacha Atlas in 1999. It is on her 2005 compilation album The Best of Natacha Atlas. I think I like her's a lot more than Nancy Sinatra's. She really nails it!

Get used to this picture. Might there be a subliminal message? Can you imagine what that image did to men in repressed, strict Middle Eastern societies?? Is it just me? The point is, it's the only picture in this video, featuring her amazing interpretation of "You Only Live Twice" (it's so damn good):


Björk also recorded a cover version for an album of Bond theme song covers done by current acts. Hers sounds a lot like Natacha Atlas'. In fact, it sounds kind of like Natacha Atlas' voice was erased and Björk's put in its place. Whatever, she does have quite a set of pipes, despite possibly being a complete koo-koo bird. According to this site, she withdrew her contribution from the project.


Coldplay did a rock version while on their 2001 tour.

"A View to a Kill"

From the A View to a Kill Wikipedia entry:

The theme song "A View to a Kill", was written by John Barry and Duran Duran, and performed by the band. It has three different versions of which the two made by Duran Duran make no reference to the James Bond theme. "A View To A Kill" was second in the British charts and first in the American charts, thus becoming the peak song in the James Bond series.


I'll always associate this song with the euphoric final months of my senior year in high school, so, good times. It was constantly played on the radio, and the video was in heavy rotation on something we called "Music Television," MTV for short. Because Duran Duran had an international, cosmopolitan image at the time (no doubt due to the exotic locations used in their music videos), the pairing (James Bond/Duran Duran) made perfect sense. "A View to a Kill" was the first thing the group worked on after splintering into the groups Arcadia and the Power Station in 1985. Apparently the Power Station sound was what they felt was best for their Bond theme, because Bernard Edwards produced it. It seems that the "reunification" wasn't entirely smooth, according to the Duran Duran Wikipedia entry:

Duran Duran were never the same after this break. According to Rhodes, the two side projects "were commercial suicide... But we’ve always been good at that." The band was still off balance when they regrouped to contribute "A View to a Kill" to the 1985 James Bond movie of the same name. This single remains the only Bond theme to go to Number 1 on the U.S. charts, and the highest-placed Bond theme on the UK chart where it reached Number 2. It was the last single the band recorded as the original five-piece for twenty years.

Le Bon, Simon Le Bon
Duran Duran performed in front of 90,000 people at Live Aid (in Philadelphia) on July 13, 1985, while "A View to a Kill" was #1 on the American charts. The original five did not play live together again until July 2003. The Live Aid performance is where Simon Le Bon's voice cracked (an unintentional falsetto note) during the final chorus of "A View to a Kill," which he later described as the most humiliating moment of his career. I think he made much too big of a deal out of it. True, it's pretty bad, but at least he was actually singing live, unlike so many "performers" today:

What if the Beach Boys had done a James Bond title song?

I'll never listen to the the title track of Pet Sounds quite the same way, ever again. It turns out that Brian Wilson had originally titled the song ("Pet Sounds") "Run James Run" and had intended for it to be used as a James Bond film title track. Pet Sounds was released in 1966, so the next possible Bond flick would have been You Only Live Twice, released in 1967. If this is true, there must have been lyrics, but I've never seen them. It's nowhere near as cool as the actual, Nancy Sinatra sung title track, but it's interesting to think how different the opening credits sequence would have been. I can definitely imagine "Pet Sounds" being used, especially after seeing this. All the dramatic guitar chords make a lot more sense now: