The Man with the Golden Gun is the soundtrack for the 9th James Bond film of the same name.

The theme tune was performed by Lulu, composed by John Barry, and the lyrics to the song were written by Don Black. Alice Cooper claims his song “The Man With The Golden Gun” was to be used by the producers of the film until it was dropped for Lulu’s song instead. Cooper’s song appears on his album Muscle of Love.

Barry considered the theme tune – the only Bond film title track not to chart as a single in either the UK or US – and score to be among the weakest of his contributions to the series: “It’s the one I hate most… it just never happened for me.” The title song is notable for having especially suggestive lyrics, and during a TV celebration for the 40th anniversary of the series, Lulu’s performance was introduced with reference to its being the raunchiest of all Bond songs. For the first time, the song’s end theme is not a straight reprise of the opener, as it begins with different lyrics (subsequent films followed suit with variations in arrangement, ahead of a new practice of using a different song altogether).

The film was also the first to drop the distinctive plucked guitar from the Bond theme heard over the gun barrel sequence – in all subsequent John Barry scores, this theme would be heard on strings and trumpet. Not present on the album but heard in the film is a brief reprise, for recognition purposes, of the Live and Let Die theme when a character (Sheriff JW Pepper) from the previous film reappears. The next three Bond films would wittily feature excerpts from the familiar music of other films, too (though classics rather than Bond films), while On Her Majesty’s Secret Service had included a janitor character whistling the theme from Goldfinger as an in-joke.

The popular song “Mindfields” by The Prodigy (released on The Fat of the Land) features a specific part of ‘Hip’s Trip’. Barry gave the band permission to do so.

Track listing

1. “Main Title” – The Man With The Golden Gun
2. “Scaramanga’s Fun House”
3. “Chew Me In Grisly Land”
4. “The Man With The Golden Gun” (jazz instrumental)
5. “Getting The Bullet”
6. “Goodnight Goodnight”
7. “Let’s Go Get Them”
8. “Hip’s Trip”
9. “Kung Fu Fight”
10. “In Search Of Scaramanga’s”
11. “Return To Scaramanga’s”
12. “End Title” – The Man With The Golden Gun

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