PAUL MCCARTNEY & WINGS - "Live and Let Die"

Paul McCartney & Wings
"Live an Let Die"
Single/ B-side: "I Lie Around"
Album: Live and Let Die
Released: 1 June 1973 (UK), 18 June 1973 (US)
Writers: Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney
Label: Apple
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"Live and Let Die" is the main theme song of the 1973 James Bond film Live and Let Die, written by Paul and Linda McCartney and performed by Paul's band Wings. It was one of their most successful singles, and the most successful Bond theme.

Paul McCartney &Wings' single "Live and Let Die" 1973
(Courtesy of Apple / EMI / Parlophone)

Paul McCartney & Wings Live and Let Die (Live 1973)

Commissioned specifically for the movie and credited to McCartney and his wife Linda, it reunited the former Beatle with the band's producer, George Martin, who both produced the song and arranged the orchestral break. It has been covered by several bands, with Guns N' Roses' version being the most popular. Both McCartney's and Guns N' Roses' versions were nominated for Grammys. In 2012, McCartney was awarded the Million-Air Award from Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI), for over 4 million performances of the song in the US.

The single was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of over one million copies. Although McCartney's previous single, "My Love", had been credited to "Paul McCartney & Wings", the label of the "Live and Let Die" single credited the performing artist simply as "Wings." On the soundtrack album, however, the song was credited to "Paul McCartney & Wings", and was credited as such in the opening titles to the film. "Live and Let Die" was the last Paul McCartney single on Apple Records that was credited only to "Wings".

Wings 1973

McCartney was initially asked to write a song for the movie for someone else to perform. He agreed to write it only if his band Wings could perform it. Even before Tom Mankiewicz had finished writing the screenplay to Live and Let Die, producers Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli invited Paul McCartney to write the theme song. Originally, producer Harry Saltzman was interested in having Shirley Bassey or Thelma Houston perform it instead of Wings. Martin said that McCartney would only allow the song to be used in the movie if Wings were able to perform the song in the opening credits. Saltzman, who had previously rejected the chance to produce A Hard Day's Night, decided not to make the same mistake twice and agreed.

Roger Moore told the London Times August 1, 2008 about Bond producer Harry Saltzman's reaction when he first heard the demo of this song. He recalled: "Saltzman was unconvinced, and he turned to George Martin and said: 'Ok, but who are we going to get to sing it?' George replied that he had just listened to Paul McCartney, one of the biggest recording stars of all time."

Wings co-founder and original drummer Denny Seiwell said of this song: "Everybody thought it was cool that we were doing something for James Bond. I remember what Paul told us - he said a couple weeks before we did the actual recording, he said they wanted him to write the theme to the next James Bond movie, and they sent him the book to read. And we were up at the house one day and he had just read the book the night before, and he sat down at the piano and said, 'James Bond... James Bond... da-da-dum!', and he started screwing around at the piano. Within 10 minutes, he had that song written. It was awesome, really. Just to watch him get in there and write the song was really something I'll remember the rest of my life."

"Live and Let Die" Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, 1973

"Live and Let Die" was not featured on a Paul McCartney album until the Wings Greatest compilation in 1978, and was included again on 1987's All the Best!. The entire soundtrack was also released in quadrophonic. 

"Live and Let Die" was the first James Bond theme song to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song (garnering McCartney his second Academy Award nomination and Linda her first), but lost to the theme song from The Way We Were.

In Wings' live performances of the song, the instrumental break featured flashpots and a laser light show. McCartney has continued to play the song on his solo tours, often using pyrotechnics when playing outdoor venues. "Live and Let Die" is the only song to appear on all of McCartney's live albums (except for the acoustic-based Unplugged). McCartney performed this on his solo tours in 1989-1990 and 1993. McCartney also  played this at halftime of the 2005 Super Bowl. It was the only non-Beatles song in his set.

Paul McCartney & Wings - "Live and Let Die (live)

Paul McCartney "Live and Let Die" (Super Bowl,2005)

Laser show on Wings live performance

Following the attacks on 11 September 2001, the song was placed on Clear Channel's list of inappropriate song titles.

Line-up / Musicians: 
Paul McCartney - lead vocals, piano
Linda McCartney - backing vocals, keyboards
Denny Laine - backing vocals, bass guitar
Henry McCullough - lead guitar
Denny Seiwell - drums
George Martin - orchestral arrangement

Links / Review:
Wikipedia: Live and Let Die (song)
Songfacts: Live And Let Die by Paul McCartney & Wings
Rolling Stone: The Top 10 James Bond Theme Songs 
BBC: Live and Let Die tops Bond song poll