This makes Casino Royale the one and only Bond album that doesn’t include the title song on the soundtrack. Additionally, since he wrote You Know My Name in midst of recording his solo album, Cornell felt that the song belonged to the album. The song was available as a single and on Cornell’s own album Carry On, with Cornell stating that this happened because he wanted the song to be ‘his’. Ironically, although the theme is woven throughout Arnold’s score, You Know My Name doesn’t appear on the on the Casino Royale CD soundtrack album. The instrumental theme from You Know My Name can be heard throughout Arnold’s soundtrack, most effectively on I’m The Money – where Bond first meets Vesper Lynd and on Dinner Jackets. The first Bond theme since Octopussy not to use the film’s title in its lyrics (Cornell admitted that he “couldn’t imagine it fitting into a song lyric that would come out of my mouth”), the song was recorded at London’s AIR studios.ĭescribed by the singer as “more up-tempo and a little more aggressive than any other Bond theme has been, maybe since Paul McCartney” ( Live and Let Die), You Know My Name was a hit across the world, reaching number 7 in the UK singles chart.Īrnold also wanted the musical motif from You Know My Name to replace the James Bond theme during Casino Royale, reflecting Bond’s immaturity and inexperience. Unlike many of the previous soundtracks where the artists had written the theme song in isolation, Arnold collaborated with Cornell on his song You Know My Name. I didn’t want to do a song for a James Bond film and not have it sound somewhat like a James Bond song.” He told Variety magazine: “I (wanted) an orchestra.

Not normally associated with the musical style of a Bond theme, Cornell was keen to record a track that was respectful to the Bond tradition. Cornell was chosen partly as the producers wanted a strong male vocalist to reflect the grittier, inexperienced Bond (no male vocalist had sung a Bond theme since Morton Harket performed The Living Daylights in 1987).

To record the title track, producers Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli announced in July 2006 that former Audioslave and Soundgarden vocalist Chris Cornell would provide the theme for Casino Royale.

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