question: What makes James Bond themes instantly recognisable as a James Bond theme?
comment: It is called a [Leitmotif]( URL_0 ) A short melody, chord progression or rhythm accompanies a certain character or event that appears on screen (or on stage, as the term leitmotif and its use originated in opera) making the audience associate them together. Lots of composers use it. The James Bond one is famous, but you can (probably) easily recall the Lord of the Rings music accompanying the heroes whenever they start chopping up some orcs, or the Star Wars theme whenever Darth Vadar does his thing for the same reason.
passages: Section::::Video games.
  
  With the increase in audio quality for video game consoles and personal computers, in addition to the continued popularity of computer and video games, publisher Electronic Arts as well as Activision (since 2008) has included opening themes and film-style credit sequences to some of its more recent Bond video game spin offs.
  
  Section::::Novels.
   For every Bond movie which John Barry scored, he orchestrated a slightly different version of the Bond theme, as can be heard during the gun barrel sequence. These specialised Bond themes often reflected the style and locations featured in the movie, and the actor playing Bond.
   BULLET::::- "Casino Royale" — "Miami International", "Dirty Martini", and very briefly in "African Rundown"
  
  BULLET::::- "Quantum of Solace" - briefly in "Time to Get Out", and twice in "Perla de las dunas"
  
  Section::::Composers (Eon Productions).
  
  The largest contributions to the Bond films, save for the "James Bond Theme", are works from John Barry. In addition to his uncredited contribution to "Dr. No", Barry composed eleven Bond soundtracks and is credited with the creation of "007" (dominated by brass and percussion) and the popular orchestral theme from "On Her Majesty's Secret Service".
   BULLET::::- The soundtrack to the 1967 spoof "Casino Royale" also included two short comedic songs sung in a 1920s style. One led into an instrumental version of "The Look of Love" and began with the line "James Bond playing at Casino Royale..."; later, this tune was reprised as "Seven James Bonds at Casino Royale" which lead into a lyrical version of the theme sung by Mike Redway that played over the closing credits.
   BULLET::::- "You Know My Name", "Skyfall", and "Writing's on the Wall" do not appear on their respective films' soundtrack albums, having been released as standalone singles instead.
  
  Section::::Music from Eon Productions.:Secondary songs.
  
  A number of Bond films include one (or more) additional songs in the soundtrack. Some of these pieces of music, such as "We Have All the Time in the World" by Louis Armstrong, have gone on to become as well known as the main themes, while other songs remain exclusively linked to the film in which they appear.
   One unusual instance occurred in "Octopussy", when Bond's contact, who is disguised as a snake charmer played a few notes of the tune for Roger Moore's James Bond, presumably as a pre-arranged identification signal; this is an example of the tune being used as diegetic music. In the last Bond film of Roger Moore, "A View to a Kill" the melody of the theme was played on strings.
  
  Section::::Use in the James Bond films.:Timothy Dalton (1987–89).
   For the scene involving the opening of the musical electronic laboratory door lock in Venice, producer Albert R. Broccoli requested special permission from director Steven Spielberg to use the five-note melody from his film "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (1977). In 1985, Broccoli would return the favour by fulfilling Spielberg's request to use the James Bond theme music for a scene in his film, "The Goonies" (1985).
   BULLET::::- 'Man Lebt Nur Zweimal' sung by Gissy André was, in 1967, the German Cover version of 'You Only Live Twice' (sung by Nancy Sinatra).
  
  BULLET::::- 'Tu vivras deux fois' sung by Lucky Blondo was, in 1967, the French Cover version of 'You Only Live Twice' (sung by Nancy Sinatra).
  
  BULLET::::- 'In Deinen Augen', sung by Sollie Nero, was, in 1981, the German Cover version of 'For Your Eyes Only' (sung by Sheena Easton).
  
  Section::::Non-Eon Productions songs.
  
  Section::::Non-Eon Productions songs.:Main title themes.
   BULLET::::- The closing credits of "Casino Royale" use a vocal version of "Casino Royale" sung by Mike Redway, who remained uncredited until the release of the 2012 '45th anniversary' edition of the soundtrack.
  
  Section::::Non-Eon Productions songs.:Secondary songs.
   BULLET::::- "Tomorrow Never Lies" by Pulp, originally titled "Tomorrow Never Dies", was released as a B-side on their 1997 single "Help the Aged", and on the vinyl version of their 1998 album "This Is Hardcore".
  
  BULLET::::- "Tomorrow Never Dies" by Saint Etienne appears on their "Built on Sand" album. The liner notes state that Pierce Brosnan kept the master tape of the song. Other artists who submitted "Tomorrow Never Dies" themes include Marc Almond, Swan Lee, the Cardigans and Space.
   The briefest of "James Bond themes", this composition started off the "Opening Titles" music of "From Russia with Love". It was heard in the "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" film trailer. WLS (AM) used the theme in the mid-1960s for their secret agent radio serial "The Wild Adventures of Peter Fugitive" that appeared on "The Art Roberts Show".
  
  Section::::"007 Theme".
  
  "007 Theme", not to be confused with the "James Bond Theme", is an adventure theme composed by John Barry in 1963 for the Bond film, "From Russia with Love".
   A contemporary artist usually sings during the title sequence and an instrumental version of the main track may also be featured as a leitmotif during the film, which repeats in various moods. Writing for "Rolling Stone", Andy Greene says that "James Bond title songs, as a rule, have the name of the movie in the chorus," though he notes that this is not always the case. "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" has an entirely instrumental credit sequence, though the film features an alternate theme, "We Have All the Time in the World", sung by Louis Armstrong. Until the Daniel Craig era, only Nobody Does It Better and All Time High served as an opening theme without sharing a title with the movie. John Barry provided the title song music on ten of the eleven films for which he composed the musical score. Several of the songs produced for the films have been nominated for Academy Awards for Original Song and become pop hits, including Paul McCartney's "Live and Let Die", Carly Simon's "Nobody Does It Better" (for the film "The Spy Who Loved Me"), and Sheena Easton's "For Your Eyes Only" with Adele's "Skyfall" and Sam Smith's "Writing's on the Wall" eventually winning the award.
   The opening theme, "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", also serves as an action theme alternate to Monty Norman's "James Bond Theme" - a piece of music which makes its last appearance in this film. Barry's arrangement of Norman's "James Bond Theme", first used in "Dr. No" in 1962, had been used throughout Sean Connery's tenure from 1962 to 1967, but since "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", the theme has been incorporated as a melody within each film's score, rather than as a standalone piece.
   Section::::Use in the James Bond films.
  
  Within the Bond films themselves, many different arrangements of the theme have been used, often reflecting the musical tastes of the specific times. The electric guitar version of the theme is most associated with the Sean Connery era although it was also used in some Roger Moore films, in Timothy Dalton's final film "Licence to Kill" and in the Bond films starring Pierce Brosnan with scores composed by David Arnold.
   BULLET::::- Matt Monro's vocal rendition of "From Russia with Love" is often considered the official theme song for that film, even though the opening credits use an instrumental version that also incorporates the "James Bond Theme." Monro's version isn't heard until about 15 minutes into the film over a radio as source music, and again over the closing titles.
  
  Section::::Music from Eon Productions.:Foreign songs.
  
  Some songs have been dubbed for the foreign versions of the films.
   The 2008 continuation novel "Devil May Care" by Sebastian Faulks was the first James Bond novel to receive its own theme song. Also called "Devil May Care", the song was written and recorded by Cardiff band SAL and was available on the UK audiobook release of the novel.
  
  Section::::See also.
  
  BULLET::::- Outline of James Bond
  
  Section::::External links.
  
  BULLET::::- montynorman.com
  
  BULLET::::- Detailed account of a court proceeding between Monty Norman and John Barry re: The "James Bond Theme", including musicological breakdowns of the theme itself.
   BULLET::::- The Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps' 2004 show "007," which placed first at the DCI World Championship Finals, uses musical selections and takes visual design inspiration from the James Bond movies.
  
  BULLET::::- Toy Dolls gives a humorous account of James Bond's off-duty relations to his neighbours in their song "James Bond Lives Down Our Street".
  
  BULLET::::- WAW (Wild Aaron Wilde) released three songs in 2013 on the Total Eclipse label, called "Spy Fool", "Diamonds Are Very Shiny", and "Old Whinger", all in the style of James Bond songs.
  
  Section::::Novels and comic books.
   Section::::"James Bond Theme".
  
  The "James Bond Theme" is the main signature theme of the James Bond films and has featured in every Eon Productions Bond film since "Dr. No", released in 1962. The piece has been used as an accompanying fanfare to the gun barrel sequence in almost every James Bond film.
  
  Section::::"James Bond Is Back".
   Next to Barry, David Arnold is the series' most regular composer. He composed the scores for five Bond films: "Tomorrow Never Dies" through "Quantum of Solace". His Barry-esque orchestrations combined with electronic rhythm elements gave the Pierce Brosnan era its musical identity. Arnold was essentially Barry's anointed successor, Barry having recommended Arnold to Barbara Broccoli when she took over the Bond films from her father Albert R. Broccoli.
   "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" featured an instrumental theme tune, something which remains unique amongst the post-"From Russia with Love" films, and included a vocal theme in the form of Louis Armstrong's performance of "We Have All the Time in the World", written by John Barry and Hal David.
   BULLET::::- A song titled "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" sung by Shirley Bassey was originally slated to be the theme song of "Thunderball". It was re-recorded by Dionne Warwick, but Albert Broccoli insisted the theme song must include the film's title and also decided that the lyrics should not start before the film's title "Thunderball" appears on-screen. A new song was composed and recorded at the eleventh hour titled "Thunderball", performed by Tom Jones. The melody of "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" remains a major component of the film score.
   The music for "Never Say Never Again" was written by Michel Legrand. Legrand also wrote the main theme "Never Say Never Again", which featured lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman—who had also worked with Legrand in the Academy Award-winning song "The Windmills of Your Mind"—and was performed by Lani Hall.
   BULLET::::- The opening gunbarrel sequence for the Nintendo 64 game "GoldenEye 007" uses a rock-influenced version of the theme. The game's soundtrack also makes recurring use of its motifs throughout, with corresponding variations in rhythm, scale and instrumentation.
  
  BULLET::::- An electrified version of the theme is played in the credits of the "GoldenEye 007" game for the Wii
   Barry felt it would be difficult to compose a theme song containing the title "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" unless it were written operatically, in the style of Gilbert and Sullivan. Leslie Bricusse had considered lyrics for the title song but director Peter R. Hunt allowed an instrumental title theme in the tradition of the first two Bond films. The theme was described as "one of the best title cuts, a wordless Moog-driven monster, suitable for skiing at breakneck speed or dancing with equal abandon."
   The opening theme for "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" proved challenging for composer John Barry. The convention in the previous James Bond films was to accompany the opening credits with a song whose lyrics included the film's title. This film became the first in the series since "From Russia with Love" to deviate from this rule (and "From Russia with Love" had differed only in featuring the song, sung by Matt Monro, at the end of the film rather than the beginning).
  