Nobody Does It Better
Encyclopedia
"Nobody Does It Better" is a power ballad composed by Marvin Hamlisch
with lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager
. It was recorded by Carly Simon
as the theme song for the 1977 James Bond
film The Spy Who Loved Me
. It was the first Bond theme song to be titled differently from the name of the film, although the phrase "the spy who loved me" is included in the lyrics. Released as a single
from the film's soundtrack album
, the song became a hit (spending three weeks at #2 on the US singles chart
and reaching #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart). The song also received an Academy Award nomination for Best Song
.
The title of the theme was later used for Carly Simon
's 1999 greatest hits album, The Very Best of Carly Simon: Nobody Does It Better
.
In 2004, the song was honored by the American Film Institute
as the 67th greatest song
as part of their 100 Years Series.
(2005), performed by 8mm
. Little Black Book
(2004), Lost in Translation
(2003) and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason
(2004) also used the song.
Thom Yorke
of Radiohead
fame is even heard to claim, in a bootleg recording
of a live performance in a TV show (1995), that this is the "sexiest song that was ever written." The band then played a rock cover of the song.
Brittany Murphy
's character in the film Little Black Book
sings the song.
Rock guitarist/singer Aimee Mann
recorded a version of the song for the 1997 James Bond tribute album "Shaken & Stirred: The David Arnold James Bond Project."
Adam Sandler
covered this song before receiving the MTV Generation award on the 2008 MTV Movie Awards
. (Note: The words were modified to reflect Adam Sandler.)
A version of the track was performed by the Ian Rich Orchestra with vocals by singer, model and TV presenter Marina Berry. This version appears on the compilation album
s Totally James Bond (a collection of Bond theme covers) and Simply Woman. This version can also be downloaded from Amazon
Singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor
covered the song live at the London 2012 Party in August 2008.
The group Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
does a punk rock cover of the song in their 1997 album Have a Ball.
Floyd Cramer
covered the song as an easy listening piano version.
In 1995, saxophonist David Sanborn
covered the song from his album "Pearls."
In 2006, saxophonist Michael Lington
covered the song from his renditions album "A Song for You."
In 2011, Celine Dion
performed this song as part of her self-titled show in Las Vegas.
, as an audio lock to the Indentigraph in Q branch.
It has been ventured the song was initially composed as an ode to onanism, the object of affection being Carol Bayer Sager's right hand. She has always fervently denied these claims, claiming instead the focus is on the male action of shaking hot, white coconuts from the veiny love tree.
For the 2006 release of the new James Bond
film, Casino Royale
, commercials used the song's title, "Nobody Does It Better", as a catch phrase. Included in the March 2007 DVD release of Casino Royale was the documentary featurette "Bond Girls Are Forever
;" a version of "Nobody Does it Better" performed by Faith Rivera is heard over the closing credits.
Various movie posters for the 1983 Bond film Octopussy
featured the tagline "Nobody does him better."
The song was featured over a montage of James Bond film clips featuring the character Q; this was included on the VHS release (as well as the 2006 Ultimate Edition
DVD release) of The World Is Not Enough
in order to honour the memory of then recently deceased actor Desmond Llewelyn
. Llewelyn had portrayed Q in virtually every Bond film to that point, although he had retired from the role after filming his scenes for The World Is Not Enough.
The song was current during the breakout 1977 season of the young National Football League
star Walter Payton
, and was used by NFL Films
over film clips of some of Payton's more notable achievements. On the NFL pre-game show The NFL Today
, a feature about Payton, with song introducing and closing the piece, became synonymous with Payton, particularly the end of the song where Simon laments how "Sweetness you're the best". Sweetness was a nickname for Payton.
Marvin Hamlisch
Marvin Frederick Hamlisch is an American composer. He is one of only thirteen people to have been awarded Emmys, Grammys, Oscars, and a Tony . He is also one of only two people to EGOT and also win a Pulitzer Prize...
with lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager
Carole Bayer Sager
Carole Bayer Sager is an American lyricist, songwriter, singer, and painter.-Introduction:Born in New York City, Sager graduated from New York University, where she majored in English, dramatic arts and speech...
. It was recorded by Carly Simon
Carly Simon
Carly Elisabeth Simon is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and children's author. She rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records, and has since been the recipient of two Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, and a Golden Globe Award for her work...
as the theme song for the 1977 James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
film The Spy Who Loved Me
The Spy Who Loved Me (film)
The Spy Who Loved Me is a spy film, the tenth film in the James Bond series, and the third to star Roger Moore as the fictional secret agent James Bond. It was directed by Lewis Gilbert and the screenplay was written by Christopher Wood and Richard Maibaum...
. It was the first Bond theme song to be titled differently from the name of the film, although the phrase "the spy who loved me" is included in the lyrics. Released as a single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
from the film's soundtrack album
The Spy Who Loved Me (soundtrack)
The Spy Who Loved Me is the soundtrack for the 10th James Bond film of the same name.The theme song "Nobody Does It Better" was composed by Marvin Hamlisch with lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager and was performed by Carly Simon...
, the song became a hit (spending three weeks at #2 on the US singles chart
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
and reaching #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart). The song also received an Academy Award nomination for Best Song
Academy Award for Best Original Song
The Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences . It is presented to the songwriters who have composed the best original song written specifically for a film...
.
The title of the theme was later used for Carly Simon
Carly Simon
Carly Elisabeth Simon is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and children's author. She rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records, and has since been the recipient of two Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, and a Golden Globe Award for her work...
's 1999 greatest hits album, The Very Best of Carly Simon: Nobody Does It Better
The Very Best Of Carly Simon: Nobody Does It Better
The Very Best of Carly Simon: Nobody Does It Better is singer-songwriter Carly Simon's 23rd album, and third greatest-hits album, released in 1999, originally in the United Kingdom.-Track listing:All tracks composed by Carly Simon; except where indicted...
.
In 2004, the song was honored by the American Film Institute
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
as the 67th greatest song
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Songs
Part of the AFI 100 Years… series, AFI's 100 Years…100 Songs is a list of the top 100 songs in American cinema. The list was unveiled by the American Film Institute June 22, 2004 in a CBS special hosted by John Travolta, who appeared in two films honored by the list, Saturday Night Fever and...
as part of their 100 Years Series.
Covers
"Nobody Does It Better" has been covered a number of times and has been featured in many non-Bond films, including most recently Mr. & Mrs. SmithMr. & Mrs. Smith (2005 film)
Mr. & Mrs. Smith is a 2005 American romantic comedy action film directed by Doug Liman and written by Simon Kinberg. The original music score was composed by John Powell...
(2005), performed by 8mm
8mm (band)
8mm is a trip-hop influenced pop-rock band from Los Angeles, California. 8mm was started by Sean Beavan , and his wife Juliette Beavan. The band currently consists of Sean Beavan, Juliette Beavan, and Jon Nicholson, Juliette being the frontwoman...
. Little Black Book
Little Black Book
Little Black Book is a 2004 satirical comedy film directed by Nick Hurran.-Plot:Stacy Holt , an associate producer on a daytime talk show , is convinced that her boyfriend Derek is the right man for her, though he has an apparent phobia of commitment, and he's vague about his past relationships...
(2004), Lost in Translation
Lost in Translation (film)
Lost in Translation is a 2003 American film written and directed by Sofia Coppola; her second feature film after The Virgin Suicides and it stars Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson...
(2003) and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (film)
# Will Young - "Your Love Is King"# Jamelia - "Stop"# Kylie Minogue - "Can't Get You Out of My Head"# Joss Stone - "Super Duper Love Pt. 1"# Mary J...
(2004) also used the song.
Thom Yorke
Thom Yorke
Thomas "Thom" Edward Yorke is an English musician who is the lead vocalist and principal songwriter for Radiohead. He mainly plays guitar and piano, but he has also played drums and bass guitar...
of Radiohead
Radiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke , Jonny Greenwood , Ed O'Brien , Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway .Radiohead released their debut single "Creep" in 1992...
fame is even heard to claim, in a bootleg recording
Bootleg recording
A bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. The process of making and distributing such recordings is known as bootlegging...
of a live performance in a TV show (1995), that this is the "sexiest song that was ever written." The band then played a rock cover of the song.
Brittany Murphy
Brittany Murphy
Brittany Anne Murphy-Monjack , known professionally as Brittany Murphy, was an American actress and singer. She starred in films such as Clueless, Just Married, Girl Interrupted, Spun, 8 Mile, Uptown Girls, Sin City, Happy Feet, and Riding in Cars with Boys...
's character in the film Little Black Book
Little Black Book
Little Black Book is a 2004 satirical comedy film directed by Nick Hurran.-Plot:Stacy Holt , an associate producer on a daytime talk show , is convinced that her boyfriend Derek is the right man for her, though he has an apparent phobia of commitment, and he's vague about his past relationships...
sings the song.
Rock guitarist/singer Aimee Mann
Aimee Mann
Aimee Mann is an American rock singer-songwriter, guitarist and bassist.-Early life:Aimee Mann grew up in Bon Air, Virginia, graduated from Open High School in 1978 and attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston, but dropped out to sing with her first punk rock band, the Young Snakes...
recorded a version of the song for the 1997 James Bond tribute album "Shaken & Stirred: The David Arnold James Bond Project."
Adam Sandler
Adam Sandler
Adam Richard Sandler is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, musician, and film producer.After becoming a Saturday Night Live cast member, Sandler went on to star in several Hollywood feature films that grossed over $100 million at the box office...
covered this song before receiving the MTV Generation award on the 2008 MTV Movie Awards
MTV Movie Awards
The MTV Movie Awards is a film awards show presented annually on MTV . It also contains movie parodies that used official movie footage with hosts and other celebrities and music performances. The nominees are decided by producers and executives at MTV. Winners are decided online by the general...
. (Note: The words were modified to reflect Adam Sandler.)
A version of the track was performed by the Ian Rich Orchestra with vocals by singer, model and TV presenter Marina Berry. This version appears on the compilation album
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
s Totally James Bond (a collection of Bond theme covers) and Simply Woman. This version can also be downloaded from Amazon
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
Singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor
Sophie Ellis-Bextor
Sophie Michelle Ellis-Bextor is an English singer, songwriter, model and occasional DJ. She first came to prominence in the late 1990s, as the lead singer of the indie rock band Theaudience. After the group disbanded, Ellis-Bextor went solo, achieving widespread success in the early 2000s...
covered the song live at the London 2012 Party in August 2008.
The group Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes is a punk rock supergroup and cover band that formed in 1995. The Gimmes work exclusively as a cover band. The band is named after a children's book of the same name by Gerald G. Jampolsky and Diane V. Cirincione...
does a punk rock cover of the song in their 1997 album Have a Ball.
Floyd Cramer
Floyd Cramer
Floyd Cramer was an American Hall of Fame pianist who was one of the architects of the "Nashville sound." He popularized the "slip note" piano style where an out-of-tune note slides effortlessly into the correct note...
covered the song as an easy listening piano version.
In 1995, saxophonist David Sanborn
David Sanborn
David Sanborn is an American alto saxophonist. Though Sanborn has worked in many genres, his solo recordings typically blend jazz with instrumental pop and R&B. He released his first solo album Taking Off in 1975, but has been playing the saxophone since before he was in high school...
covered the song from his album "Pearls."
In 2006, saxophonist Michael Lington
Michael Lington
Michael Lington is a contemporary jazz saxophonist and recording artist.Lington plays a distinctive contemporary saxophone leaning strongly towards the pop side of jazz. He reaches a younger demographic than traditional jazz listeners and is emerging as a contemporary face of jazz.Born in...
covered the song from his renditions album "A Song for You."
In 2011, Celine Dion
Celine Dion
Céline Marie Claudette Dion, , , is a Canadian singer. Born to a large family from Charlemagne, Quebec, Dion emerged as a teen star in the French-speaking world after her manager and future husband René Angélil mortgaged his home to finance her first record...
performed this song as part of her self-titled show in Las Vegas.
Other usages
A small element of the tune makes an appearance in a later Bond film, For Your Eyes OnlyFor Your Eyes Only (film)
For Your Eyes Only is the twelfth spy film in the James Bond series and the fifth to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It marked the directorial debut of John Glen, who had worked as editor and second unit director in three other Bond films. The screenplay by Richard Maibaum...
, as an audio lock to the Indentigraph in Q branch.
It has been ventured the song was initially composed as an ode to onanism, the object of affection being Carol Bayer Sager's right hand. She has always fervently denied these claims, claiming instead the focus is on the male action of shaking hot, white coconuts from the veiny love tree.
For the 2006 release of the new James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
film, Casino Royale
Casino Royale (2006 film)
Casino Royale is the twenty-first film in the James Bond film series and the first to star Daniel Craig as fictional MI6 agent James Bond...
, commercials used the song's title, "Nobody Does It Better", as a catch phrase. Included in the March 2007 DVD release of Casino Royale was the documentary featurette "Bond Girls Are Forever
Bond Girls Are Forever
Bond Girls Are Forever is a 2002 James Bond documentary film hosted by actress Maryam d'Abo, who had played the role of Kara Milovy in the 15th James Bond film The Living Daylights. It was accompanied by a 2003 book written by John Cork and d'Abo. The book is subtitled The Women of James Bond...
;" a version of "Nobody Does it Better" performed by Faith Rivera is heard over the closing credits.
Various movie posters for the 1983 Bond film Octopussy
Octopussy
Octopussy is the thirteenth entry in the James Bond series, and the sixth to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film's title is taken from a short story in Ian Fleming's 1966 short story collection Octopussy and The Living Daylights...
featured the tagline "Nobody does him better."
The song was featured over a montage of James Bond film clips featuring the character Q; this was included on the VHS release (as well as the 2006 Ultimate Edition
James Bond (film series)
The James Bond film series is a British series of motion pictures based on the fictional character of MI6 agent James Bond , who originally appeared in a series of books by Ian Fleming. Earlier films were based on Fleming's novels and short stories, followed later by films with original storylines...
DVD release) of The World Is Not Enough
The World Is Not Enough
The World Is Not Enough is the nineteenth spy film in the James Bond film series, and the third to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film was directed by Michael Apted, with the original story and screenplay written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and Bruce Feirstein. It...
in order to honour the memory of then recently deceased actor Desmond Llewelyn
Desmond Llewelyn
Desmond Wilkinson Llewelyn was a Welsh actor, famous for playing Q in 17 of the James Bond films between 1963 and 1999.-Early life:...
. Llewelyn had portrayed Q in virtually every Bond film to that point, although he had retired from the role after filming his scenes for The World Is Not Enough.
The song was current during the breakout 1977 season of the young National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
star Walter Payton
Walter Payton
Walter Jerry Payton was an American football running back who played for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League for thirteen seasons. Walter Payton was known around the NFL as "Sweetness". He is remembered as one of the most prolific running backs in the history of American football...
, and was used by NFL Films
NFL Films
NFL Films is a Mount Laurel, New Jersey-based company devoted to producing commercials, television programs, feature films, and documentaries on the National Football League, as well as other unrelated major events and awards shows...
over film clips of some of Payton's more notable achievements. On the NFL pre-game show The NFL Today
The NFL Today
The NFL Today is an American sports series that precedes the American football program The NFL on CBS on CBS Sports. The program usually airs at noon on Sundays of the National Football League regular season...
, a feature about Payton, with song introducing and closing the piece, became synonymous with Payton, particularly the end of the song where Simon laments how "Sweetness you're the best". Sweetness was a nickname for Payton.