On Her Majesty's Secret Service (soundtrack)

On Her Majesty's Secret Service ("OHMSS") is the soundtrack for the sixth James Bond film of the same name.

Contents

• Track listing
• Track listing in chronological order as they appear in the film
• Songs
• References

The soundtrack to this film was composed, arranged, and conducted by John Barry; it was his fifth successive Bond film.

The opening theme proved a challenge; the convention was to include the film's title in the opening song's lyrics; the film became the first in the series since From Russia with Love to deviate from this rule. Barry felt it would be difficult to compose a theme song containing the title "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" unless it was written operatically, in the style of Gilbert and Sullivan. Leslie Bricusse had considered lyrics for the title song but director Peter R. Hunt allowed an instrumental title theme in the tradition of the first two Bond films. (Though From Russia with Love had a song at the end, played by Matt Munro). The track is notable for its incorporation of the Moog synthesizer in its recurring bassline. Its distinctive sound would become a mainstay of soundtracks in the 1970s.

The theme, "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", is used in the film as an action theme alternate to Monty Norman's "James Bond Theme", as is the case with Barry's previous "007" theme. "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" was remixed in 1997 by the Propellerheads for the Shaken and Stirred: The David Arnold James Bond Project album. Barry-orchestrator Nic Raine recorded an arrangement of the escape from Piz Gloria sequence and it was featured as a theme in the trailers for Pixar's 2004 animated film The Incredibles.

Norman's "James Bond Theme" in its original form, first played in Dr. No, was heard for the last time in a Bond film to date. The 1962 version was used throughout Sean Connery's tenure from 1962 to 1967. Since then, the Bond theme has been rearranged in many ways after On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

Barry also composed the love song "We Have All the Time in the World" sung by Louis Armstrong. With lyrics by Burt Bacharach's regular lyricist Hal David, it is heard during the Bond–Tracy courtship montage, bridging Draco's birthday party in Portugal and Bond's burglary of the Gebrüder Gumbold law office in Bern, Switzerland. "We Have All the Time in the World" is often mistakenly referred to as the opening credits theme. It was Armstrong's last recorded song (he died of a heart attack two years later). At the time, the song barely made an impact on the charts. A second song, "Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown?" also features in the film, performed by Danish singer Nina, being included to underscore several scenes.