Nur Ein XV Round Four "Carte Blanche"

[Lunkhead]

True story, my first job in CA was for a startup that was trying to make an online municipal bond trading exchange, circa 2000-2002. Hope that helps, Frank!

[mo]

What were the themes like? Did you have a lot of design issues with the color palettes

[AbCred]

I desperately want to write The Best Ever Death Metal Bond Out Of Denton now. Genius.

Yo I live in Denton TX and I can assure you, Dentonites would love to hear this!

[BoffoYux]

This is the only correct bond theme for this round.



https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sZB7sO5ZoV8

[frankie big face]

“Bond” is referring to James Bond, a famous book and movie character. Sorry if that wasn’t clear.

Yes, I understand that. But the Bond movie songs are basically just songs written in the style of the performers who made them. The Duran Duran song could have been on any of their albums. The Adele song sounds like Adele. Chris Cornell sounds like Chris Cornell. Like what are the characteristics of a “Bond theme”? Do you see some common thread that I’m missing?

[frankie big face]

Are we supposed to incorporate the actual Bond theme song?

[Lucky Spoon]

Are we supposed to incorporate the actual Bond theme song?

My take, given the bond theme song playlist, is that every bond movie has a theme song. There are just more popular ones that we'd consider *the* bond theme song. Each theme song is more or less about the movie it's associated with. In this case, the bond movie is Carte Blanche, and you're writing a theme song for that movie. You get to decide what the movie is about, who's playing bond, maybe the villian? Give it a theme, give a plot... and then give it a theme song!

or not, i'm not a judge or even writing a song for that matter. 'bout to fire up some diablo 3 over here.

[ujnhunter]

[frankie big face]

Are we supposed to incorporate the actual Bond theme song?

My take, given the bond theme song playlist, is that every bond movie has a theme song. There are just more popular ones that we'd consider *the* bond theme song. Each theme song is more or less about the movie it's associated with. In this case, the bond movie is Carte Blanche, and you're writing a theme song for that movie. You get to decide what the movie is about, who's playing bond, maybe the villian? Give it a theme, give a plot... and then give it a theme song!

or not, i'm not a judge or even writing a song for that matter. 'bout to fire up some diablo 3 over here.

Except there is a Bond book called “Carte Blanche” so the story is already written. I guess I haven’t paid very close attention to the lyrics of these songs but I don’t really think each theme song is “more or less about the movie.” I’ll give some closer listens, I guess. This is kind of a dumb challenge, imo.

[grumpymike]

You know, "Carte Blanche" is from the French for "blank check." And a bond is a financial instrument as well. I'm wondering whether anyone will have the chutzpah to try out that alternate take on the title/challenge.

Children are a blank check and it's up to us to determine how much they pay off. Maybe just re-submit Chupacabra?

[furrypedro]

But the Bond movie songs are basically just songs written in the style of the performers who made them.

Except there is a Bond book called “Carte Blanche” so the story is already written.

So write a song in the style of Frankie Big Face which is inspired by the book Carte Blanche.

As Ujnhunter's post is evidence of, there are loads guides on what musical tricks bond songs traditionally incorporate, so they'll help with your musical direction. The irony in your apparent bewilderment about this challenge is that I have no doubt you'll write/perform/record a better song than me.

[Lunkhead]

That "How To Write a Bond Theme" video was not as good as I was hoping it be. It was basically just "have a rising chromatic three note motif". That should have been like a minute of a longer video going into other commonalities.

[grumpymike]

Frank, if you don’t write a song in French, you have failed.
You have the opportunity to make history here.

Plus nobody will care what it’s about.

[crumpart]

Sure, I’m not going to win Nur Ein being that I was eliminated in Round Zero, but now feels like a good time to mention that, twenty years ago, I won a Nintendo 64 at our work Bond-themed Christmas party, where I was the only person who turned up in head to toe gold paint. I gave the Nintendo to my little brother.

[frankie big face]

Thanks for all the replies, everyone. I will do my best! (Only slightly sarcastic, I promise)

But I will not be reading a James Bond book, furrypedro. That I will not.

[furrypedro]

But I will not be reading a James Bond book, furrypedro. That I will not.

Wikipedia, my friend. Wikipedia.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carte_Blanche_(novel)

[jast]

You know, "Carte Blanche" is from the French for "blank check."

I don't think it is. The French word for check is "chèque". A more faithful translation is "white card" or "blank paper".

On donnait ainsi à l’ennemi une grande feuille de papier vierge sur laquelle il pouvait écrire ses exigences.

Meaning: you gave the enemy a large blank sheet of paper on which they could write their demands.

The result, of course, is the same, but the origin is not from an actual check.

[JonPorobil]

I sure wish I'd known that there was an actual Bond novel titled Carte Blanche before I wrote my lyrics, but, hey, c'est la vie.

I'm a little surprised that Frank apparently can't hear the commonalities among James Bond movie themes. It's true that most of them are in the style of the person or band performing them, but I don't think these songs sound like typical songs by these performers. "View to a Kill" has many hallmarks of that Duran Duran sound, but I think it would sound pretty out of place on a Duran Duran album.

Some running throughlines I observed...

• Every single one has full orchestration with string and brass sections.
• Most of them use some form of either augmented or diminished chords.
• They're all quite melodramatic, and make frequent use of words like "live," "die," and "kill."
• Many of them focus on the lead vocal performance, including a difficult melody with lots of space for the vocalist to belt.
• All but a few of them take their titles from the movie, or at least use it in the song's lyrics.

I know at this point we're late in the week, but those observations gave me plenty to go on for this challenge. Good luck to all!

NUR EIN!!!!

[frankie big face]

I sure wish I'd known that there was an actual Bond novel titled Carte Blanche before I wrote my lyrics, but, hey, c'est la vie.

I'm a little surprised that Frank apparently can't hear the commonalities among James Bond movie themes. It's true that most of them are in the style of the person or band performing them, but I don't think these songs sound like typical songs by these performers. "View to a Kill" has many hallmarks of that Duran Duran sound, but I think it would sound pretty out of place on a Duran Duran album.

Some running throughlines I observed...

• Every single one has full orchestration with string and brass sections.
• Most of them use some form of either augmented or diminished chords.
• They're all quite melodramatic, and make frequent use of words like "live," "die," and "kill."
• Many of them focus on the lead vocal performance, including a difficult melody with lots of space for the vocalist to belt.
• All but a few of them take their titles from the movie, or at least use it in the song's lyrics.

I know at this point we're late in the week, but those observations gave me plenty to go on for this challenge. Good luck to all!

NUR EIN!!!!

Thanks Jon, that's helpful. I just don't feel like reading a book or listening to an entire playlist of crappy songs over and over again when I just want to write a song. You saved me the time and trouble. I'd personally rather spend that time actually writing a song. Next week, we'll have to summarize the collected works of Proust. But only use two instruments.

[frankie big face]

P.S. You are right about one thing. These songs wouldn't appear on normal albums by these artists. Because they all suck and would be cut. The Duran Duran song is a good example. The Garbage song is another good example. There are many.

[Lunkhead]

frank, as the only actual composer in the field (as far as I know) you ought to be able to own this challenge.

[JonPorobil]

P.S. You are right about one thing. These songs wouldn't appear on normal albums by these artists. Because they all suck and would be cut. The Duran Duran song is a good example. The Garbage song is another good example. There are many.

You'll get no argument from me on that, Frank. I actually wrote that and then erased it... Most of them just aren't very good! I'd say two or three of these are all time classics (jury's still out on Adele, but I think hers may stand the test of time), and the rest range from actively awful to just okay. I figured we wouldn't want to model that part of it.