Scott Walker’s rejected ‘James Bond’ anthem ‘Only Myself To Blame’
The James Bond title theme has long attracted uncontroversial and unremarkable artists. Except for a few obvious exceptions, the Bond producers have selected platinum-selling singers with oodles of industry clout. Over the years, the franchise’s penchant for artists with mainstream appeal has meant the relegation of fringe acts with a devoted cult following. Radiohead, Pulp, Saint Ettiene and even Scott Walker wrote and recorded Bond anthems that were subsequently left unused.
Following the success of his 1997 covers LP Shaken & Stirred: the James Bond Project, which featured collaborations with the likes of Iggy Pop and Leftfield, composer David Arnold landed John Barry’s original role as composer for the Bond franchise, scoring no fewer than five 007 films, including Tomorrow Never Dies, Die Another Day, Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace. He also scored 1999’s The World Is Not Enough, for which he recruited the talents of revered British avant-crooner Scott Walker.
Having spent the first portion of his music career with the respectable pop trio The Walker Brothers, in 1967, Scott began subverting his glossy nice-boy image with a trio of dark and increasingly experimental solo albums, the latter of which, Scott 3, gave birth to such idiosyncratic singles as ’30th-Century Man’ and ‘It’s Raining Today’. By the 1990s, his former life as a balladeer must have seemed a distant memory, but that didn’t stop him from pitching a sumptuous cocktail-jazz track called ‘Only Myself To Blame’ for The World Is Not Enough.
In returning to his roots, Walker sought to remind the Bond team that, while his music had been shamefully overlooked during George Lazenby’s premiership, there was still time to repent. Sadly, the intoxicating number – originally intended for the closing credits – was felt to be too regressive and was subsequently replaced by an up-to-the-minute techno remix of John Barry’s classic Bond theme. Thankfully, the Bond crew had the foresight to include the rejected single on the movie’s official soundtrack release.
You can revisit ‘Only Myself To Blame’ below and read about some of the other rejected Bond theme songs here.
