After a four-year hiatus for a resetting of the 007 timeline, a certain British secret agent returned all guns blazing in a very big way with Casino Royale, an immensely enjoyable “Bond Begins” film that unfortunately popularised the term “reboot.”
On what would have been his 60th birthday, a look back at Casino Royale’s theme tune, Chris Cornell’s You Know My Name, which was recorded at George Martin‘s AIR Studios in Hampstead, 10 minutes away from my home at the time. Woo.
As part of the new improved “back to basics” Daniel Craig era, in early 2006 the Bond series producers were looking for a strong male vocalist — something gritty, tough, and completely different from past Bonds. In other words, something as muscular as the newly buffed up actor himself.
Former Soundgarden turned Audioslave frontman Chris Cornell was duly impressed by the emotional and character-driven content, and he worked with the film’s soundtrack composer, David Arnold, on an edgy rocker about the rookie Bond’s uncertainty and inexperience, all the while still honouring and capitalising on the legacy of the long running series.
It’s got a little whisper to the Bond vibe, which is why you’ve got the combination of grungy guitars and more classic orchestral elements like the John Barry-like brass section none-too-subtly weaved under Cornell’s urgent raw fire and impassioned four-octave vocal range.
The most high tempo “rock” of all the Bond themes, You Know My Name is as taut and wounded as Craig’s more human iteration of the legendary spy, but this admirable effort just doesn’t quite evoke the sinister spirit of the solid secret agent, causing it to sound a little too processed and contained. And is it me or is there a cheeky homage to Blondie’s rejected For Your Eyes Only theme? Play the intro to this and then the under appreciated reject from 1982 at the ten-second mark. It’s all in the piledriving guitars, guv.
Nevertheless, no one did slow burn like Cornell, and he achieved that here, its grounded earthiness a welcome antidote to previous preposterous ideas like sending Bond into outer space. There was even a poignant acoustic take of Soundgarden’s classic Black Hole Sun on the flip side, which, if I’m honest, is the only other Cornell song I really know, probably because I dance to disco and I don’t much care for rock.
Still, it certainly was nowhere near as horrific as what came next…
Steve Pafford
For your ears only: all 30 Bond themes ranked from worst to best is here
