This topic is locked
Firstly, let's go to Tina Turner's GoldenEye, penned by Bono and the edge. We'll just go with the main chors for the time being:
GoldenEye, I've found his weakness,
GoldenEye, I'll do what I please.
GoldenEye, no time for sweetness,
But a bitter kiss will bring him to his knees.
Alright, so it's pretty obvious that it's about Bond. I think these are really quite good lyrics, even though the mostly relate to a woman watcing Bond. But I also think that given GoldenEye's thematic undertones of whether the post-Cold War world still needs James Bond, it has a lot to do with the world watching Bond. It's how we've traditionally seen him, but up until GoldenEye, Europe was still divided by the Iron Curtain. The question is what happens next.
Exhibit B comes from Sheryl Crow's Tomorrow Never Dies:
Until that day, until the world falls away
Until you say there will be no more good-byes;
I see it in your eyes,
Tomorrow Never Dies.
The one giant leap from GoldenEye has now become a huge step backwards. The lyrics make no sense, and I suspect that they're born out of the need to rhyme 'dies' with something. In the context of the wider song, Crow is still singing about Bond, but once again it's his relationship with a woman.
The next entry comes from Garbage:
The World Is Not Enough,
But it's such a perfect place to start, my love;
And if we're strong enough,
Together we can take the world apart, my love.
And now is where we get the paradigm shift. It's still about Bond, and it's still about a relationship, but this time, it comes from Elektra King's point of view. In fact, the whole song is about Elektra. I actually quite like these, too; there's a lot about Elektra's ambitions within it. Sure, they're fairly simple rhymes again, but they do have a kind of sophistication about them.
Next up is Madge's entry into Bond Lore:
I think I'll find another way,
There's so much more to know.
I guess I'll Die Another Day;
It's not my time to go.
Oh, dear. I actually had to take these from a verse because the main chorus line consists of "I guess I'll Die Another Day (another day)" repeated several times. Anyway, like Crow's song, these lyrics make zero sense and have nothing to do with anything in the film other than the title. It's clearly something to do with not wanting to die because there's still too much left to do, but the lyrics are childish at best, made for MTV more than a Bond film.
And finally, we get onto Cornell's efforts:
Arm yourself because no-one else here will save you,
The odds will betray you, and I will replace you;
You can't deny the prize, it will never fulfil you,
It longs to kill you; are you willing to die?
The coldness burn through my veins,
You Know My Name.
There's a lot going on here; moreso than any of its immediate predecessors. True, we're still singing about Bond, but it's breaking the mould somewhat. We're now talking about th kind of person Bond needs to be in order to be a Double-Oh and stay alive. The lines relate to (in order of appearance) the fact that Bond is alone, that he's unlikely to succeed, that there will always be another ready to take over, the idea that his mission will never quite be complete because there will be another evil to be chased down after this one is dead and buried, how far Bond is willing to go to succeed in his assignment, and the idea that he needs to abandon his emotions if he wants to stay alive. Much more layered and complex than anything that has gone before.
Now we get onto Another Way to Die. These are a rouch approximation of the lyrics, taken from Wade's translation:
I know the player with the slick trigger finger for Her Majesty
We establish that it's Bond. He's being likened to a pawn or a contestant in a game, which seems apt given what has gone before. "Slick trigger finger for Her Majesty" s another way of saying "hired gun".
Another one with the golden tone voice and then your fantasy
Alright, he's a smooth talker, and could probably sell sand to Saudi Arabia. He's easy to listen to and he's the kind of guy who lives in one's fantasies.
Another bill from a killer (inaudible) thriller to a tragedy
Again, he's a hired assassin, but that doesn't mean he's not human. The tragedy part is clearly relating to Vesper Lynd.
Well I'm gonna let it open (??)
A woman walking back (??)
A drop in the water
A look in the eye
I found it on the table
A man on your side
This is a little murkier, but I think it stll has meaning; it's not in there as filler or simply to rhyme. I think they're metaphors for finding something in a person that means you an trust them.
Of someone that you think that you can trust
You're just another way to die
This is what I was getting to in my last post: trust is the currency that Bond deals in. Each person that he begins to trust is potentially another way to get himself killed.
MMMMMmMMMMMMMmmMM
MmMMMMMMmmmmmmMm
This is filler, but it doesn't try to be clever about it.
Another tricky little gun giving solace to the one that will never see the sunshine
Bond is finding comfort in revenge: his gun will gve him solace. The second half relates to the idea that his hands are already stained with blood, so there's little reason to stay them now.
Another inch of your life sacrificed for your brotha in the nick of time
Sacrifice, pure and simple. Bond is giving up his soul so that someone else may benefit.
Another dirty money heaven-sent honey turning on a dime
'Dirty money' is likely relating to the poker winnings, or money used to buy another's loyalty. 'Heaven-sent honey' is Camille, or more likely Vesper as 'turning on a dime' is someone buying her loyalties.
Have you heard anything from the Timbaland-produced Scream? It's crap.So he didnt return because they want to follow the stupid traddition of not having the same artist for more than one bond film? Sounds like a lame excuse to meFirst... welcome to CBn! And as for Chris Cornell... that's just not the way it works. The only artist that has ever returned has been Shirley Bassey (Goldfinger, Diamonds Are Forever & Moonraker) and those weren't back-to-back.Why didnt Chris Cornell return?!
