The Living Daylights
by a-ha

Album: The Living Daylights Soundtrack (1987)
Charted: 5
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This was the theme tune to the James Bond film The Living Daylights, which was Timothy Dalton's debut in his short reign as 007.
  • A-ha were the last act to collaborate with score composer John Barry. The Norwegian pop group were hot at the time but they treated their role with cool disdain and the English composer did not see eye to eye with the young upstarts. Barry later compared working with them to "playing ping-pong with four balls."
  • This reached #1 in a-ha's native Norway.
  • A-ha do not have happy memories of working with John Barry on this song. Vocalist Morten Harket recalled to The Guardian in 2016: "He was not an easy guy to like, quite honestly. He was very strange in that he started to befriend us by talking bad about Duran Duran [who sang the previous Bond theme, "A View To A Kill"]. He made some degrading comments about them and what they'd been doing and that didn't sit well with any of us."

    He added: "Then he made some derogatory comments about women and it was all uncalled for. There will be people who knew him who will have a very different view of him. But he didn't go down well with us."
  • Despite the band's tense relationship with the composer, a-ha guitarist Pal Waaktaar admitted he liked what Barry brought to the song, especially the "really cool string arrangement." He explained in a Bond music retrospective: "That's when it, for me, started to sound like a Bond thing."
  • A-ha included a reworked version on their 1988 album, Stay On These Roads.

Comments: 5

  • Seventhmist from 7th HeavenI'll have to respectfully disagree with Karen's take on Dalton. He provided a (badly-needed) serious take on the 007 role, which Roger Moore had turned into a parody of what Sean Connery gave us in the 60s.
  • Shandroise De Laeken from Davao City, PhilippinesThe Living Daylights may be incomprehensible but once you read the lyrics, you'll be able to make out what Morten was singing. a-hahahaha!!! This is another good Bond theme song - I prefer it over A View to Kill and Live and Let Die~ imo, take note. I just heard today DD's A View to a Kill and I don't understand what's the quality in it which made it #1. It's... o_O
    Anyway, maybe I'm just too biased.
    Barry must be glad. A-ha reciprocated his cold feeling towards a-ha. They think working with him was so frightening - shut the living daylights out of them!
  • Karen from Manchester, NhWhile everyone has their own opinion, I have to respectfully disagree with both of esskayess's comments; love the song, and Dalton is the WORST Bond.
  • Esskayess from Dallas, TxBizarre song and a pity the great John Barry's final 007 score (with a great take on the part by Timothy Dalton) was marred by such an almost incomprehensible song. This gr0up was clearly over its head here.
  • Shane from Columbus, Oh"The Living Daylights" was the last James Bond film to be a film adaptation of an Ian Flemming work BEFORE Dan Craig began his tenure as Bond in "Casino Royale."
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Director Mark Pellington ("Jeremy," "Best Of You")

Director Mark Pellington ("Jeremy," "Best Of You")Song Writing

Director Mark Pellington on Pearl Jam's "Jeremy," and music videos he made for U2, Jon Bon Jovi and Imagine Dragons.

Songs in Famous Movie Scenes: '80s Edition

Songs in Famous Movie Scenes: '80s EditionMusic Quiz

You know the scenes - Tom Cruise in his own pants-off dance off, Molly Ringwald celebrating her birthday - but do you remember what song is playing?

Tony Joe White

Tony Joe WhiteSongwriter Interviews

The writer of "Rainy Night in Georgia" and "Polk Salad Annie" explains how he cooks up his Louisiana swamp rock.

Ian Anderson: "The delight in making music is that you don't have a formula"

Ian Anderson: "The delight in making music is that you don't have a formula"Songwriter Interviews

Ian talks about his 3 or 4 blatant attempts to write a pop song, and also the ones he most connected with, including "Locomotive Breath."

A Monster Ate My Red Two: Sesame Street's Greatest Song Spoofs

A Monster Ate My Red Two: Sesame Street's Greatest Song SpoofsSong Writing

When singers started spoofing their own songs on Sesame Street, the results were both educational and hilarious - here are the best of them.

Mike Scott of The Waterboys

Mike Scott of The WaterboysSongwriter Interviews

The stories behind "Whole Of The Moon" and "Red Army Blues," and why rock music has "outlived its era of innovation."