James Bond veteran John Barry returned to the franchise to produce the score. The lyrics were by Leslie Bricusse, who had previously cowritten the lyrics for the theme to Goldfinger. An initial version of the song was performed by Julie Rogers and recorded with a 50 or 60 piece orchestra at CTS Studios. However, this version was not used since Barry decided to re-write and re-record the song: "It was usually the producers that said 'this isn't working, there's a certain something that it needed'. If that energy wasn't there, if that mysterioso kind of thing wasn't there, then it wasn't going to work for the movie." The Rogers song shares only two lines with the final version, "You only live twice", and "you’ll pay the price". Although there are many similarities in the harmony and orchestration with the final version, it is essentially a different song, with a less lush and more ethnic character. The film's producer Cubby Broccoli, wanted his friend Frank Sinatra to perform the song. Frank suggested that they use his daughter instead. Barry wanted to use Aretha Franklin, but the producers insisted that he use Nancy instead, who was enjoying great popularity in the wake of her single, "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'". The final version featured in the film's opening title sequence and on the soundtrack LP is in the key of B and has a single vocal track. The song was recorded with a 60 piece orchestra on 2 May 1967 at the CTS Studios in Bayswater, London. Sinatra later recalled that she was incredibly nervous during the recording, and it took around 30 takes to acquire enough material. Producer John Barry eventually created the final version by incorporating vocals from 25 takes. In UK the soundtrack had been released but while soundtracks such as Doctor Zhivago and Fiddler on the Roof hit the Top 20, You Only Live Twice was less successful. Nancy Sinatra's single version squeezed into the Top 20 for two weeks only. Barry also released an instrumental version but this failed to chart. In Japan, the soundtrack was released in a gatefold with images from the film and a plot summary.
Critical reception
described Barry's string introduction to his song "You Only Live Twice" as "absolute perfection". Mark Monahan of The Daily Telegraph described the lyrics as "mysterious, romantically carpe diem... at once velvety, brittle and quite bewitching". David Ehrlich of Rolling Stone ranked "You Only Live Twice" the third best James Bond theme song, calling it "a classic."
Nancy Sinatra recorded a different chart version produced by Lee Hazlewood and arranged by session guitaristBilly Strange featuring a guitar backing with Sinatra's voice double tracked as a pun on the word "Twice"
Billy Strange performed his own instrumental version on the last of his James Bond cover version albums James Bond Double Feature.
Little Anthony & The Imperials included a cover of the song on their album Movie Grabbers.
English synthpop duo Soft Cell included a cover on the B-side of their 1984 single "Soul Inside".
Australian band The Scientists released a heavy guitar version of the song as a single in 1985.
Acen sampled the string section on his song "Trip II the Moon " in 1992.
American band Pain Teens released an industrial-rock version of the song, that can be found in a various artists compilation album "".
Robbie Williams re-recorded portions of the song for use in his 1998 song "Millennium". The music was re-recorded rather than sampled, as this was less expensive than licensing the original recording.
Coldplay released their cover as a B-side on their "Don't Panic" single.
Björk recorded a version for the 1997 album but it was not included on the album. It is available as a free download from bjork.com.
Natacha Atlas included a cover, that appears to use exactly the same arrangement of the song David Arnold prepared for Björk, on her 2005 compilation album The Best of Natacha Atlas.
Shirley Bassey, the vocalist for the title songs from the Bond filmsGoldfinger, Diamonds Are Forever, and Moonraker, performed the song on her 2007 album Get the Party Started.
Indie-pop group The Postmarks recorded a version for their 2008 album By the Numbers.
Cee-Lo Green samples the song for his 2011 single "Bright Lights Bigger City".
Mark Lanegan included a cover of this song on his 2013 covers album Imitations.
Ex Chameleons front man Mark Burgess covered this in 1993 as Mark Burgess & the Sons of God on the album Zima Junction
Lea Michele sampled the trademark notes in her Louder 's song, "You're Mine".
In 2014, Taiwanese-American singer-songwriter Joanna Wang covered the song on her album Midnight Cinema.
In popular culture
The song was used in the closing montage of Mad Men's season five finale, "The Phantom". A parody of the song was created for The Simpsons episode "YOLO".
