Special Note: I make a point of carefully differentiating between two songs, "The James Bond Theme" and the "James Bond Theme" (note the inclusion of The between the parentheses in the former).This follows the convention of the two different songs from the soundtrack to Dr. No.The former was written by Monty Norman and is not in dispute. The latter (the famous one) is the one that Barry worked on.Barry's exact role in the creation of the song has been controversial.
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In 1962, the first Bond movie, Dr. No, was in post-production and in the process of being scored. Composer Monty Norman had written a number of pieces for the film, but the producers were unhappy with what was to be the title theme to the film. They wanted something catchy and interesting. They did not want to use Norman's "The James Bond Theme," nor they did not want to use "Under the Mango Tree" as the title theme. John Barry, who was a pop star in the UK with his instrumental rock-and-roll band, was brought into the project to help with the new theme.
There the problem begins. Monty Norman has always claimed that he himself composed the "James Bond Theme" and that Barry was simply brought in to arrange the song and give it the Barry sound--something like Barry's "Bee's Knees." Monty Norman has vigorously and successfully defended his credit over the years.
An alternate version of events claims that Barry that was actually hired to ghost the song; that he wrote it for a flat fee and that Norman got official credit because Norman was contracted for the rest of the score.
Barry himself never discussed it directly.His comment is usually (and I'm paraphrasing because I don't have the actual quote available) that if Norman really wrote the song, why wasn't he brought back to score the next Bond movie?
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