Lana Del Rey and Bond song

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Billie Schwab Dunn

By Billie Schwab Dunn

Pop Culture and Entertainment Reporter

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Lana Del Rey has revealed that one of her songs was rejected as the theme tune for a James Bond film—but she's not alone.

When Ian Fleming published his first Bond novel in 1952, little did he know that the character would become a pop culture phenomenon. Almost a decade later, producers Albert Broccoli and Harry Saltzman bought the movie rights and made the first 007 film adaptation, 1962's Dr. No.

Following that film's success, musicians began to compete to have their song chosen for the next installment's theme. Over the years, musicians such as Paul McCartney, Marvin Hamlisch (with lyricist Carole Bayer Sager), Adele and Billie Eilish have been given the honor. But producers have also had to turn down a variety of artists.

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Speaking backstage at the Ivor Novello Awards in London, Del Rey said she wrote a song for a Bond film in 2015, only to have it declined by the producers, according to the BBC.

Newsweek reached out by email to Del Rey's publicist and Eon Productions, which produces the Bond film franchise, for comment.

Lana Del Rey and Bond song

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Asked if she'd consider writing a Bond theme, Del Rey said: "I mean, how has that not happened?"

Following this, she sang the chorus of her song "24," which has the lyrics "There's only 24 hours / And that's not enough / To lie like you lie / Or love like you love."

"I wrote that for them," she said.

The track is from her album Honeymoon, which was released on September 18, 2015. Given this date, the song would have been a contender for Daniel Craig's fourth appearance as 007, in Spectre, which was released on November 6, 2015.

Radiohead also recorded a song for the film. It wasn't chosen, and the band released it on Christmas Day 2015. In the end, Sam Smith was selected to record the theme song, "Writing's on the Wall," and won an Oscar for it.

Del Rey and Radiohead aren't the only ones to get their Bond song rejected. Others are Blondie, Johnny Cash and Muse.

'Thunderball,' 1965

Originally the theme song for 1965's Thunderball was going to be "Mr. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang," composed by John Barry and Leslie Bricusse. Shirley Bassey initially sang the track, then Dionne Warwick rerecorded it.

After it was decided that the theme song had to contain the film's title, Tom Jones was selected to sing "Thunderball," written by Barry and lyricist Don Black. Johnny Cash submitted a song to the producers with the same title, but it was rejected.

'You Only Live Twice,' 1967

Nancy Sinatra performed the title track for the 1967 film, with Barry and Bricusse again collaborating on the writing. British singer Julie Rogers played and recorded an initial version of the song with an orchestra, but it was not used because Barry decided to rewrite and rerecord the song.

In the mid-1980s, record label executive Ady Croasdell discovered some of soul singer Lorraine Chandler's unreleased recordings. He shared several of them, including the demo of "You Only Live Twice" that was most likely recorded for the film.

'The Man With the Golden Gun,' 1974

The titular theme tune was performed by British singer Lulu, who had a hit in 1967 with "To Sir With Love." However, Alice Cooper says his song "Man With the Golden Gun" was a contender for the film. The track is featured on his 1973 album Muscle of Love.

Other Lost Bond Songs

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