Song · Live covers
Nobody Does It Better
The Bond theme Radiohead played more than any other cover, ten of those fifteen nights as the last song.
1977
the spy who loved me
Marvin Hamlisch wrote the music, Carole Bayer Sager the words, Richard Perry produced it and Carly Simon sang it: the theme to The Spy Who Loved Me, and the first Bond theme since Dr. No not to share the film's title, though the phrase turns up in the lyric anyway.
It spent three weeks at number two in America, held off by “You Light Up My Life”, which also beat it to the Oscar and the Golden Globe. It was number one on the Easy Listening chart for seven weeks and reached seven in Britain, and it was nominated for Song of the Year at the Grammys.
1995–97
radiohead's bond phase
They were playing this on the same tour they were writing “Man of War”, their own Bond pastiche, which makes the two things one story. Ten of the fifteen closed the show.
Eighteen years later the band were asked to write a real Bond theme, offered “Man of War”, were turned down, wrote “Spectre”, and were turned down again.
on stage
Live at Most Wanted 1995.· Nero Liveswatch on youtube →
Live history
| Times played | 15 shows |
|---|---|
| Live debut | Friday 18 August 1995 · London |
| Last played | Sunday 7 September 1997 · Blackpool |
| Closed the night | 10 times |
Nights played include broadcasts; opened and closed count gigs only. A cancelled night has no setlist. All setlist stats →
Tabs (1)
sources3
- Wikipedia, “Nobody Does It Better”, for the song's writing, chart history and award nominations.
- Jason Greene, “Radiohead: OK Computer OKNOTOK 1997 2017”, Pitchfork, 22 June 2017, on the band's Bond covers.
- Performance dates from this site's own setlist archive, via setlist.fm.