Monty Norman - The first man of James Bond music

Monty remembered the song Bad Sign Good Sign which was sung by one of the East Indian characters in A House For Mr Biswas. He was certain that the basic first melody would have the impact he was looking for. He dug out the song from his 'Bottom Drawer' and sang:

'I-I was born with this unlu-ucky sneeze and what is wo-orse I came into the the wo-orld the wrong way round. Pundits all agree that I-I'm the reason why...'

He was certain he was on to something memorable. A popular melody needs its first few bars to have an immediate impact with the public and hook them into wanting to listen to the rest of the number.

No matter what variations come after that first melody it is those first few bars that sell a song. Monty split the notes of the sitar-like sounding melody and created the first six bars: 'Dum de-de-dum-dum, dum dum dum, dum de-de dum dum, dum dum dum..etc '.

He was very excited because he was certain that those few bars epitomized the character, ambience and slightly mysterious, sinister mood of James Bond. As we now know it has become one of the most instantly recognisable melodies of cinema.