Why Is The Man With The Golden Gun Title Song Hated So?

BIG TAM · August 2012

I think it's rather a funky piece & Lulu belts it out with great gusto. What's not to like? Is it seen as a bit of a come down after LIVE & LET DIE? I think it's better than A VIEW TO A KILL which seems to get heaped with plaudits.

Napoleon Plural · August 2012

It's not very melodic and works hard to incorporate the long, clunky title. It wouldn't go on most people's ipod as a standalone song. Lulu prob doesn't have the element of camp to pull it off. 'He has a powerful weapon' indeed.

That said, recent rubbish Bond songs and the fact that today's pop songs have a strident, unmelodic edge (Price Tag, for instance) make it not seem as bad as it used to.

Moore Than · August 2012

I don't hate it, but I won't go out of my way to listen.

Well, it was not really a good song to begin with, and unlike any that preceded it, certainly not a traditional title song. Nap's point about it not seeming as bad as it used to is a pretty valid one. I just wouldn't say any of the recent songs were rubbish......maybe Another Way To Die.

Hardyboy · August 2012

Stupid, stupid lyrics; bubble-gum bouncy arrangement; Lulu bellowing at the top of her lungs. . .an all-out assault on the musical senses.

Golrush007 · August 2012

I definitely don't hate it. I don't think it is one of the best Bond songs, but I do enjoy it as a guilty pleasure.

And an even guiltier pleasure, the end title version: "Good night, good night. Sleep well my dear. No need to fear. James Bond is heeeeeeeeeere...!"

BIG TAM · August 2012

I feel like Bond on his little island surrounded by crocs & alligators. Will nobody come to my aid on this one?

)

Blackleiter · August 2012

I actually like the instrumental version quite a bit. But as sung by Lulu (a fine singer by the way), it strikes me the same way as Hardyboy described - a very unpleasant experience indeed!

Napoleon Plural · August 2012

I did meet a blowsy gal in her 20s many years ago who vouchsafed for the erotic aspect of the song, saying that if you brought a girl back to your room and put that record on, she'd be stripped to the pink in seconds. Not a suggestion I took advantage of, I must say.

Scrummy64 · August 2012

I don't understand why it's disliked either... it's not my favourite by a long shot (although it probably would make my top 10), but I also never understood why 'A View to a Kill' received such positive reception - if I'm not mistaken, it was the most well-received Bond theme ever - because that wasn't that amazing at all.

Moore Than · August 2012

Scrummy64 wrote:

but I also never understood why 'A View to a Kill' received such positive reception - if I'm not mistaken, it was the most well-received Bond theme ever - because that wasn't that amazing at all.

It was the first (and only) title song to reach number 1 in America. Part of it's success was due to Duran Duran's status at the time. They were one of the biggest and most popular bands in the world, at the height of their fame. For me, it is one of the better title songs, and John Barry's involvement lends gravitas and a more traditional sound.

GordoLeiter · August 2012

I decided to have a listen to it since ive never seen the movie yet, and i must say it is a pretty good theme and it fits the Moore era very well. So I'm kinda wondering myself why its disliked.

Golrush007 · August 2012

Funny, it's not just Bond fans who dislike the song but even John Barry himself said it was very bad.

Jarvio · August 2012

IMO it is just a very bad song, period. It's mainly the lyrics and how silly they are. It just sounds... I dunno.... childish?

The tune is bond-like though, I'll give it that...

Jarvio · August 2012

Scrummy64 wrote:

I don't understand why it's disliked either... it's not my favourite by a long shot (although it probably would make my top 10), but I also never understood why 'A View to a Kill' received such positive reception - if I'm not mistaken, it was the most well-received Bond theme ever - because that wasn't that amazing at all.

AVTAK is a great song IMO, bond-like, melodic, memorable, and commercial too, all rolled into one

Napoleon Plural · August 2012

Indeed, but as if often the way, you could argue that the band's other songs sound actually more Bondian - Save a Prayer, Come Undone, possibly Wild Boys, Notorious. That says, AVTAK does have a unique sound, that strange skidding noise in it, can't describe it. The band weren't keen on Barry's trumpets though, and I have to concur, they should have been different. Same problem with a-ha, and again, I'd agree with the band.

Scrummy64 · August 2012

Hm... just listened to 'A View to a Kill' again, and it is admittedly much better than I remembered

But I still think it's overrated. I do think a lot of people probably gave it so much praise JUST because it was Duran Duran; it is a good song but still definitely not the best by a long shot.

James Suzuki · August 2012

Blackleiter wrote:

I actually like the instrumental version quite a bit. But as sung by Lulu (a fine singer by the way), it strikes me the same way as Hardyboy described - a very unpleasant experience indeed!

I too love the instrumental one, and the menu music of TMWTGG ultimate edition version has the music repeatdly playing I usually listen to that. But I have no care for the Lulu song.

Sherbrook · December 2012

I have it on a compilation CD which I play in my car because I think it's hilarious

I always laugh at the lyrics

May favourite themes are OHMSS and Goldeneye

lotus · December 2012

Its a good classic bond theme. Its up there with goldfinger

Walter P Peekay · November 2013

It's un-listen-to-able because Lulu's voice sounds like fingernails scraped down a blackboard!

Napoleon Plural · November 2013

Paloma Faith would do a good version of it. It needs that funny, vampish cabaret appeal.

NeverSayDie · November 2013

I like it. Never liked 'All Time High'.

welshboy78 · November 2013

The instrumental (music) behind it is ok - but I do find the lyrics very cheesily forced with all the crap rhyming and Lulus voice is very head pounding!!!

All Time High is indeed shocking - prob the worst maybe lol

hehadlotsofguts · November 2013

I like All Time High, mainly because of Ted. I don't really like TMWTGG as a theme song either i usually just skip the titles to the rest of the film.

Blackleiter · November 2013

welshboy78 wrote:

All Time High is indeed shocking - prob the worst maybe lol

My least favorite theme song.

Charmed & Dangerous · November 2013

But probably still better than squeezing the words "Octopussy" or "Quantum of Solace" into song lyrics.

I don't hate TMWTGG, I mean it was the1970s, most of the comparable music was glam rock... mud, anyone?

ZorinIndustries · November 2013

I've thought the same thing as the OP. The song isn't all that bad. It's catchy, it's fun, and it's a James Bond song! I have no problems with it

Felix the Leitercat · January 2014

BIG TAM wrote:

I think it's rather a funky piece & Lulu belts it out with great gusto. What's not to like? Is it seen as a bit of a come down after LIVE & LET DIE? I think it's better than A VIEW TO A KILL which seems to get heaped with plaudits.

Hello Big Tam, I will say it's probably my least fave, but I think I can come up with some good specific reasons.

It is way too literal lyrics wise. Some Bond songs tell a specific story to set up the movie--Goldfinger, we learn a lot about the villain, but in that beautiful, brassy powerful way and the lyrics are more dark, seductive, suggestive than literal. It's very heavy on the way gold lures you in and warns of specific danger to women, "....a golden girl knows when he's kissed her, it's the kiss of death from Mr. Goldfinger..." Those are strong lyrics which stand on their own, and also give understanding to what we're going to see, and symbolize what it's about, gold, danger, death, trapped, pulled in.

Man With Golden Gun by contrast sounds like the classified ads in Hitman Times, "A million dollars a shot" "His gun's for hire" etc. And that title in the lyrics doesn't sound cool--nearly all Bond films are pretty clever and creative in the way they slip the title into that opening music, but Golden Gun just didn't work for me.

Imagine "Goldfinger....he wants to rob Ft. Knox...gonna spray some nerve gas today-ayay" Would not be the same would it? I also found that the best Bond themes have a steady catchy rhythm whether the music is up tempo or slow lush and stately. Golden Gun fiddles with a 70s rock sound then slows to a crawl, speeds up again, annoying.

Other types of Bond songs are way more symbolic with lyrics which are fun to figure out. Sir Paul McC nailed it for Live and Let Die with the innocent youth that became a hardened killer idea--"When you were young and your heart was an open book...so live and let DIEEEE!" Makes one think of Bond a young man who was destined to have a job to do, do it well, give the other fella hell. It's a great work because it tells you about Bond and what he is--loss of innocence now licensed to kill. And it's plain old great rock n roll--another test for Bond songs, does it make sense, is it a great song, if you knew nothing about oo7, and you just heard it randomly on the radio? Bond songs are very tricky and catchy that way.

Again best Bond themes play around with how much story to tell, or whether to tell more about the big themes of Bond's life, death lurks, danger, excitement, thrill, seduction, with women who want him, know he's dangerous, don't care, all sorts of ideas. Golden Gun didn't have that content, style down at all IMHO. And Lulu was a fine singer, listen to her on To Sir With Love, still a strong, slow, 1960s rock ballad that really shows off her voice and sounds fantastic after all these years. Certainly she was the right singer, perhaps just the wrong song for her.

Regards, Felix, Leiter Cat

always shaken · January 2014

its just LULU I hate her voice, even on my Bond album in my car I always skip that track, even A-HA s tune on TLD is better
and I hate them ,(not personally its an age thing)

Thunderpussy · January 2014

Agreed. I hate it when people are younger and better looking than me.

)

Sir Miles · January 2014

always shaken wrote:

its just LULU I hate her voice, even on my Bond album in my car I always skip that track, even A-HA s tune on TLD is better
and I hate them ,(not personally its an age thing)

Really ? You hare a~ah ? What age are you ? I thought you would have been around their age group...I like them.

Why Is The Man With The Golden Gun Title Song Hated So?

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