The Living Daylights Theme

Despite the Norwegian band A-ha’s insistence that John Barry had no creative input for “The Living Daylights,” the soundtrack’s composer is included, along with A-ha guitarist Paul Waaktaar-Savoy, in the credits for writing the 15th James Bond film’s theme song.  Along with co-writer, Barry received credit as producer of the track, while A-ha was selected to perform the tune, which makes them the only non-British, non-American musical act to perform a James Bond theme song.  The group had such a disappointing working relationship with Barry that they released a second version of the song on their third album in 1988.  You can listen to the re-worked version here.

 

Although “The Living Daylights” peaked at number five in the UK, spent time at the top of the musical charts in Norway, broke in the top ten in several European countries, and is a fan favorite among 007 moviegoers, the song failed to break into the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States.

 

The song’s music video was shot in the 007 Stage at Pinewood Studios, which was built specifically for the Bond franchise in 1976.

 

This was the final Bond soundtrack Barry would be a part of.  The list of Bond films he worked the music for includes Dr. No, From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Diamonds are Forever, The Man With the Golden Gun, Moonraker, Octopussy, A View to a Kill, and The Living Daylights.  His full biography can be read here.

 

A-ha formed in Oslo in 1982 and was founded by Morten Harket, Magne Furuholmen, and Paul Waaktaar-Savoy.  The group is the biggest music export from Norway.  A-ha’s breakout album was their biggest success, yielding two number one hits.  Of those two hits, one is “Take On Me,” probably best known for its ground-breaking music video that included pencil-sketch animation and live-action combination called rotoscoping.  The music video, which is still considered to be one of the best of all time, became such a hit in the United States it received eight MTV Video Award nominations, winning six.

 

The group released nine studio albums and was together until 2010, with a five-year stretch from 1994 to 1999 where the band went on a hiatus.  The band has sold more than 80 million albums worldwide, was nominated for a Grammy Award and American Music Award, won 10 Spellemannprisen Awards, which is the Norwegian equivalent of a Grammy, and holds a Guinness World Record from 1991 for drawing the largest paying audience at a concert with 198,000 people in Rio de Janeiro.  In 2012, the three members of A-ha were appointed Knights of the 1st Class of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav for their contribution to Norwegian music.

 

A-ha songs have been covered by a range of artists and bands, including Coldplay, Madonna, Tori Amos, the Jonas Brothers, Pitbull and Christina Aguilera.