Eilish herself claimed that she and her brother/collaborator had always wanted to create a James Bond theme, which is admittedly something any musical artist would be crazy not to say. I’m still extremely curious about the version that was vetoed by Daniel Craig, but the final version of No Time To Die’s titular track stuck the landing for sure. Both impulses collided with No Time To Die, and that even showed in the song written for the film by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell. However, starting with Skyfall, the call to return to more familiar climbs falls back into place through the rest of Craig’s run.

With Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, the experimental edge pushes both of those films and songs away from tradition. Here’s an interesting note on the Daniel Craig James Bond movies that also applies to the theme songs: they technically fall into two distinct groups. It may not be for everyone, but from where I’m sitting, this song was worth the risk. A sort of call and response in the name of revenge builds between Jack White and Alicia Keys, and the crescendo it builds to is even more powerful in the abridged version presented in Quantum of Solace’s opening titles. Acknowledging the song as the most divisive thing he’s ever done, the effort is as under-appreciated as the film it accompanies.īringing rock and roll back to James Bond, the duet format of “Another Way To Die” is a fantastic mirror of the relationship between Bond and accomplice Camille Montes ( Olga Kurylenko). It was also an opportunity, in Jack White’s own words, to “get away with murder.” Called into the gig in a pinch after Amy Winehouse’s Bond song never materalized, White pushed the envelope when it came to a 007 theme.

Written by White himself, it was the first duet in James Bond history. Jack White and Alicia Keys’ “Another Way To Die” burst onto the scene to promote Quantum of Solace, with a spirit just as experimental as the movie it was connected to. This is another song that saw me initially confused about just what I felt about it. Another Way To Die (Quantum Of Solace, 2008)

Casino royale intro song