You Only Live Twice

John Barry wrote the music and Leslie Bricusse the words for the title song of the fifth Bond film in 1967, and Nancy Sinatra recorded it — reportedly across many takes, since she was nervous enough to consider walking out of the session. The strings that open it, a rising oriental figure over sustained harmony, became one of Barry's signatures. Julie Rogers had recorded an alternative version with different lyrics, which was dropped. Robbie Williams sampled the orchestral introduction for Millennium in 1998, giving the song a second chart life.