While attending a Sixth Form College in Luton, Arnold became friends with director Danny Cannon. Cannon initially created short films for which Arnold was asked to write the music. The two made their respective major film debuts with The Young Americans. "Play Dead", a song from the film with singer Björk, charted #12 in the UK. The following year he scored Stargate and Last of the Dogmen, with excerpts from the former ranking third in the most commonly used soundtrack cues for film trailers.
Arnold then composed music for Stargate director Roland Emmerich's next two movies, Independence Day and Godzilla, as well as four movies for director John Singleton. In addition, he has scored various comedies, dramas, and nineteenth-century period pieces, as well as providing music for several British television shows including the 2000 remake of Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) and Little Britain. During film production, his compositions are conducted by Nicholas Dodd. In 2010, he composed the music for Come Fly With Me, a British television series from the producers of Little Britain.
He is a member of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA). On Thursday 29 November 2012, Arnold received an honorary degree from University of West London. Now a university honorary, he will work closely with the University in particular London College of Music, a faculty within the institute. In 2014, he appeared as himself in The Life of Rock with Brian Pern.
He has collaborated with such musical acts as Cast, Kaiser Chiefs, Massive Attack, and Pulp, and solo artists Natasha Bedingfield, Melanie C, Björk, Chris Cornell, Shirley Manson, Mark Morriss, Nina Persson and in 2009 produced Shirley Bassey's album The Performance.
In 2001, he provided a new arrangement of Ron Grainer's Doctor Who theme music for the Eighth Doctor audio dramas from Big Finish Productions. His version was used as the Eighth Doctor theme starting with 2001's Storm Warning until 2008, when it was replaced with a new version arranged by Nicholas Briggs starting with Dead London. Arnold's theme returned to the Eighth Doctor releases with the 2012 box set, Dark Eyes.
Arnold is the second cousin of Irish singer-songwriter Damien Rice, and is an ambassador for aid agency CARE International in the UK. He has made minor appearances in two different episodes of Little Britain as separate characters.
In February 2011, it was announced that he was appointed Musical Director for the 2012 Olympic Games and the 2012 Paralympic Games in London.
In May 2011, he was part of the United Kingdom's jury for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011.
Arnold took part in a tribute to John Barry on 20 June 2011 at the Royal Albert Hall in London, singing a song that was composed by Barry and playing the guitar part of the James Bond theme.
In 2014, Arnold teamed up with Richard Thomas, to write the music and lyrics for the new West End musical Made in Dagenham.
In October 2015 he collaborated with Lethal Bizzle and Sinead Harnett to create a song combining orchestral, grime and soul elements. The song, 'Come This Far', was performed live at a special event at One Mayfair, as part of Bulmers Cider's LiveColourful LIVE promotion, and made available as a free download from Bulmers' website. He and Sherlock co-composer Michael Price also composed the music for ITV's Jekyll and Hyde television series which premiered in October 2015.
In September 2016 the Royal Albert Hall hosted an orchestral performance of Independence Day with the score performed live to picture, David Arnold gave a pre-show talk.
Bond On Bond
David Arnold Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
One love will
One love will
One love can take you make you feel alive and whole
Why give it up why tear it up
One love will
My love will
My love will make you feel alive enough to let go
The death row
Once again you feel like the brothers know
Once again, back is the incredible
The rhyme animal
The unforgetable
Public enemy number one
Five-oh said "freeze" and I got numb
Can't I tell 'em that I really never had a gun
But the wax that the terminator x spun
Now
So soft
So alive
My dear
So good
So close
So real
This love
Whoa love!
Want to give it up
Lets turn it loose
The lyrics to David Arnold's James Bond Theme are a brief interlude in the middle of the song, consisting of a few lines sung by an unidentified female vocalist, followed by a rap verse. The lyrics are somewhat cryptic and open to interpretation, but they seem to be a combination of a call to unity and a celebration of individuality.
The first few lines encourage the listener to embrace love and let it lift them up. The repetition of "one love will" suggests that the power of love can be transformative, and that, despite any hardships or challenges, love is worth holding onto. The next few lines seem to switch focus to the individual, promising that the singer's love will make the listener feel "alive enough to let go." This could be interpreted as an invitation to surrender to love and allow it to transform the self.
The rap verse that follows is by Chuck D of the group Public Enemy, and is entirely unrelated to the preceding lyrics. Instead, it is a reworking of his own famous verse from the Public Enemy song "Bring the Noise." The verse is filled with braggadocio and aggression, describing Chuck D as an "unforgettable" and "rhyme animal" who is not afraid of the police. The two sections of the song seem to be disconnected, but perhaps serve to embody different aspects of James Bond's character: the romantic and the badass.
Line by Line Meaning
Now let it lift you, oh!
Allow the power of love to uplift you and take control of your emotions.
One love will
The love of one person has the ability to change your entire outlook on life.
One love can take you make you feel alive and whole
Having just one person's love can fill you with energy and make you feel complete.
Why give it up why tear it up
There is no reason to let go of something as valuable as love, nothing worthwhile can be gained by doing so.
One love will
The power of love is the key to overcoming obstacles, heartbreak, and despair.
My love will
The love that I offer will be enough to set you free from the things that hold you back.
My love will make you feel alive enough to let go
The love I offer is so powerful that it will give you the courage to break free from your struggles.
Oh
An expression of emotion, used to emphasize the following lines.
The death row
A reference to a state of despair, symbolizing the feeling of being trapped and hopeless.
Once again you feel like the brothers know
This line refers to the feeling of sharing an unspoken bond with others who have experienced similar struggles as your own.
Once again, back is the incredible
This is an introduction to a powerful and unforgettable presence, likely with a reference to a hero or ideal.
The rhyme animal
This line is likely a reference to the strong and empowering lyrics of a well-known rapper or musician.
The unforgetable
An affirmation that the sentiment expressed will not be forgotten or lost over time.
Public enemy number one
A reference to the character or figure that is the greatest threat or antagonist in a given scenario.
Five-oh said "freeze" and I got numb
A reference to a traumatic or emotionally charged experience, in which an individual feels frozen and powerless.
Can't I tell 'em that I really never had a gun
A denial of accusations or misinterpretations that have caused harm or misunderstanding.
But the wax that the terminator x spun
A reference to the music and lyrics that are the foundation of this piece.
Now
This word is likely used as a way to signify a shift in tone or mood, or to introduce a new idea or sentiment.
So soft
A description of the tenderness or gentleness of a feeling.
So alive
A description of the power and energy of the emotion being experienced.
My dear
An affectionate or endearing term used in reference to a loved one.
So good
An expression of how positive and valuable the experience or relationship being described is.
So close
A reference to the intimacy and closeness of a relationship or experience.
So real
A statement of the truth and authenticity of the emotion or relationship being described.
This love
A reference to the all-encompassing and powerful nature of the feeling being described.
Whoa love!
An exclamation of the immense and overwhelming nature of the love being described.
Want to give it up
An expression of the desire to let go and surrender to the power of the emotion being experienced.
Lets turn it loose
An invitation to fully embrace and indulge in the power of the love being experienced.
Lyrics © Kanjian Music, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Peermusic Publishing
Written by: JAY GRAYDON, ALAN PAUL, DAVID FOSTER, MONTY NORMAN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Anthony Cusack
Another fantastic interview 👏 I truly hope we see David Arnold return to score a future Bond film 🤞
Angus McMillan
This interview was a great treat! Tomorrow Never Dies was the second film I saw at the cinema, and I remember the impact the music had on the Gunbarrel and Pre Title Sequence - it put a huge smile across my face as I sat there as a teenage fan watching it. I go back to the soundtracks for TND, CR and QOS regularly, as well as the Shaken And Stirred Album. They will have a new Bond for B26 so they will need a classic Bond score - please bring David Arnold back!
Zafran Jones
I often play David Arnold's Bond action set piece scores when outdoor running and in the gym. The tempo, sense of escapism, suspense and shere energy is captivating and a joy to listen to. Whilst I love all the entries, I feel musically the last two entries (Skyfall and Spectre) had weak and at times recycled OST's. I can picture the scenes vividly whenever I play David Arnold's music (which is exactly how it should be). A fantastic composer, I genuinely was hoping he would score No Time to Die when Dan Romer left the project post production. Fingers crossed David Arnold one day returns to the franchise.
skiko15
This is so true!
His, and Barry's, pieces are distinct and have melodies. Newman's pieces just wind up being filler noise.
Demetris Ross
When mentioning about the first introduction of bond and music and images...I felt that. Die Another Day gets a bad rap but that was the VERY first bond movie I got to see in theaters (I Was 9). Die Another Day will always have a special place. David’s score for that movie was nice.
John Rigs
Fantastic interview and terrific event yesterday David!
I want to thank you for leading this new Bond community in these challenging days by organizing and coordinating these virtual conventions.
They really keep us all going and keep the spirit of James Bond alive!
Hopefully when the world gets back to normal we could have in person events again...
Last time I went to an actual in person 007 convention was back in 1995 here in New York before Goldeneye!
So we are all long overdue!!
Thanks again!
skiko15
This was such a treat!
I always felt like EON never fully appreciated Arnold's work and undermined him at every corner.
"Surrender" is easily the greatest Bond song since "Goldfinger" (though "DaF" and "TWiNE" are personal favorites), but EON was too scared to market k.d. lang and thus compromised to the ok Crow song. Their interest in "being cool" and making money over making proper music also led to Madonna's misguided inclusion (location/theming, career timing, and talent-wise, it really should have been Björk singing a theme for DAD), and Jack White and Alicia Keys' cat-crying instead of giving Arnold the time (and vote of confidence) to pivot and find a proper replacement (*cough* Shirley Bassey *cough*) after Amy Winehouse (can you imagine her singing "No Good About Goodbye"? sigh) fell through. "Surrender," "TWiNE," and "YKMN" are all outstanding Bond songs. This most recent batch of songs are rubbish, but the non Bond fan public bought into them and awarded them (you know Eilish is already going to win the Oscar/Grammy) on name recognition/awrard-darling status alone.
Score-wise, Arnold is still the proper successor to Barry in that he makes recurring character themes, melodies, and callbacks throughout the soundtracks and actually utilizes the title songs (or should-be title songs) in the score. Newman just makes filler noise.
CR is the 2nd best Bond OST (nothing will ever beat TLD's OST for me); Vesper's theme is so simple and yet so moving and powerful. No other character, outside of James, comes to mind as having that iconic of a melodic theme (you might could argue that Goldfinger does, but that theme gets callbacks unrelated to his character).
Outside, but still connected to the movies, I really wish Arnold would produce another album with Dame Shirley Bassey. The Performance was perfection. I would love it if he would produce an album with her singing covers of other Bond songs (but this time with a proper orchestra, unlike the lost '80s album with a low-quality digital orchestra). I dream of someday hearing DSB belt out "Skyfall," "Surrender," "The World is Not Enough," and "Where Has Everybody Gone," while soulfully singing "We Have All the Time in the World," "If There was a Man," "For Your Eyes Only," and (a non-dancey) "You Only Live Twice"... I would buy that album so fast and then make everyone I know buy it, too.
James Atkinson
It was actually MGM who pushed for Madonna as they wanted the highest profile artist as possible. I wouldn't be surprised if they were the ones pushing for Sheryl Crowe too as MGM was trying really hard to market Bond in America in the Brosnan era [hence why many of the Bond girls at the time were American]. Arnold said in November 2009 that the Shirley Bassey track ['No Good About Goodbye'] was never considered for Quantum and in fact was only just started ['only a few lines were written'] when the actual Quantum theme was made. Arnold left the Bond series amicably [as Sam Mendes wanted to use his regular composer] after 5 films and in this interview and elsewhere he's very positive on them and if they were underminding him constantly I don't think that would be the case.
Blind Lazarillo
Such an amazing interview. Thank you David and David!
Daniel Mitchell
What a great guy. Enthusiastic, humble and a huge fan.
Love to both of you. x