Lana Del Rey reveals she wrote this track as a James Bond theme but lost out to Sam Smith

Lana Del Rey has revealed that she would love to pen a James Bond theme. In fact, she’s already done so but it was turned down by producers.

Del Rey, 38, was in London last week to attend the Ivor Novello Awards. She picked up a special international award to honor her career and influence.

Talking backstage at the event in London, she was asked by a reporter if she would consider doing a Bond theme.

“I mean, how has that not happened?” she replied.

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She then went on to sing the chorus to her song “24”, from her 2015 album, Honeymoon.

“I wrote that for them.”

Check it out below.

Given its release date, this would have been for Spectre (starring Daniel Craig). That movie’s theme song was eventually sung by Sam Smith. Their track, “Writing’s On The Wall”, eventually won the Oscar for Best Song.

“Sam, you did a wonderful job,” laughed Del Rey. She went on to suggest she’d still love the gig.

“One day, maybe…

“But I’m going to continue to do my little Nancy Sinatra thing every now and then and just pretend it’s the title track.”

Here’s Sam Smith’s “Writing’s On The Wall”.

Rejected James Bond songs

James Bond producers often approach more than one act when shopping around for potential theme tunes. Del Rey is in good company in having her submission rejected. A short list of artists that have had their songs ultimately turned down include Johnny Cash (Thunderball); Alice Cooper (The Man With The Golden Gun); Blondie (For Your Eyes Only); Pet Shop Boys (The Living Daylights); and kd lang (“Surrender” for Tomorrow Never Dies), among many others.

Radiohead also wrote a track for Spectre. Although rejected for the movie, they went on to release it as a Christmas Day surprise for fans in December 2015.

Here’s their track superimposed over the movie’s opening credits.

Relationship violence

Whilst collecting her award last week, Del Rey used her speech to address the issue of finding one’s self within a challenging relationship.

She said critics had previously accused her of “naval gazing” for poring over her heartbreak.

“I think what we’ve seen is that like… those songs were not written about a small microcosm of people and women, we’re seeing a huge amount of things written about difficult relationships.

“And even when Covid began, the second epidemic in the United States (we saw for) interpersonal relationships violence, it increased by 300%.

“So, you know, I just think it’s amazing that female singer-songwriters, you know, have the freedom to write about absolutely whatever they want.

“(It’s) nerve wrecking to think that like writing about your relationships, were maybe something that could be seen as, like, self gratuitous…. feigning vulnerability. I heard that a lot.

“But I mean it’s a very vulnerable thing, not just for women. But for men. I’ve learned so much in the last few years, from my peers about having a challenging time in music.”

Related:

In Defense of Lana Del Rey’s “Charlie’s Angels” Verse

No one bends to the other on this track, Lana least of all, and that’s wherein the genius of “Don’t Call Me Angel” lies. 

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