The opening theme for "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" proved challenging for composer John Barry. The convention in the previous James Bond films was to accompany the opening credits with a song whose lyrics included the film's title. This 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 opening title theme in the tradition of the first two Bond films. The track is also notable for its use of the Moog synthesizer in its bassline. This instrument's distinctive sound would become a mainstay of other film soundtracks in the 1970s. The opening theme, "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", also serves as an action theme alternate to Monty Norman's "James Bond Theme" - a piece of music which makes its last appearance in this film. Barry's arrangement of Norman's "James Bond Theme", first used in Dr. No in 1962, had been used throughout Sean Connery's tenure from 1962 to 1967, but since "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", the theme has been incorporated as a melody within each film's score, rather than as a standalone piece. "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" was remixed in 1997 by the Propellerheads for the album. Nic Raine, Barry's orchestrator, created an arrangement of the "Escape from Piz Gloria" sequence that was featured in a teaser trailer for Pixar's 2004 animated filmThe Incredibles. Notably, the performance of the piece used in the trailer was conducted by John Barry himself.
Songs
Barry also composed the love song "We Have All the Time in the World" sung by Louis Armstrong, with lyrics by Hal David, Burt Bacharach's regular lyricist. "We Have All the Time in the World" is often mistakenly referred to as the opening credits theme, when in fact the song is played within the film, 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. The song was Armstrong's last recorded song, and at the time of release it barely made an impact on the charts. Barry and David also wrote two other songs for the film, both performed by Danish singer Nina. One, entitled "Do You Know HowChristmas Trees Are Grown?", was featured in the film in several scenes. The other, "The More Things Change", was recorded by Nina at the same session, but did not end up in the finished film. Instead, it appeared as the b-side of the UK single of "Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown?" and an instrumental version of it appeared on John Barry's 1970 LP "Ready When You Are J.B.".
Track listing
"We Have All the Time in the World" – Louis Armstrong
"This Never Happened to the Other Feller"
"Try"
"Ski Chase"
"Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown?" – Nina
In 2003, the soundtrack was digitally remastered and re-released with additional tracks ; the liner notes state that these additional tracks contain "previously unreleased music within cue". Due to legal reasons, the additional tracks were placed after the tracks making up the original soundtrack. In both the original soundtrack and its re-release, the tracks are not in the chronological order in which they occur in the film.
Track listing (in chronological order, as they appear in the film)
