"Another Way to Die" is a song by American musicians

Jack White John Anthony White (; born July 9, 1975), commonly known as Jack White, is an American musician, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the duo the White Stripes. White has enjoyed consistent critical and popular success and is widely c ...

and

Alicia Keys Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), known professionally as Alicia Keys, is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. A classically trained pianist, Keys started composing songs when she was 12 and was signed at 15 years old by Col ...

. Written and produced by White as the theme song to the 2008

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors hav ...

film ''

Quantum of Solace ''Quantum of Solace'' is a 2008 spy film and the twenty-second in the ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions. It is the sequel to ''Casino Royale'' (2006). Directed by Marc Forster and written by Neil Purvis, Robert Wade, and ...

'', it was released as a single in the United States on September 30, 2008 and in Europe on October 20, 2008. The song—which features White on vocals, guitar, piano and drums and Keys on vocals—is the first

duet A duet is a musical composition for two performers in which the performers have equal importance to the piece, often a composition involving two singers or two pianists. It differs from a harmony, as the performers take turns performing a sol ...

in the Bond film series, and was nominated for

Best Short Form Music Video The Grammy Award for Best Music Video is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to performers, directors, and producers of quality short form music videos. Hon ...

at the

2009 Grammy Awards The 51st Annual Grammy Awards took place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, on February 8, 2009, honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2007, through September 30, 2008. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss were the b ...

, with director

P. R. Brown Paul R. Brown is an American graphic designer, photographer, and music video and commercial director. Biography Brown's early career in graphic design started at Pentagram in London with Peter Saville and Brett Wickens, followed by Frankfurt B ...

. It was also nominated for Best Song at the 2008 Critics' Choice Awards, and won Best Original Song at the

Satellite Awards 2008 The 13th Satellite Awards, honoring the best in film and television of 2008, were given on December 14, 2008. Special achievement awards Auteur Award (for his signature scope and style of filmmaking) – Baz Luhrmann Mary Pickford Award (for out ...

. Commercially, the song reached number one in Finland and became a top-five hit in Austria, Norway, Scotland, and Switzerland. The single was released as a limited edition

7-inch single In music, a single is a type of release, typically a song recording of fewer tracks than an LP record or an album. One can be released for sale to the public in a variety of formats. In most cases, a single is a song that is released separat ...

of 6,000 copies in the U.S. on September 30, 2008 by White's label

Third Man Records Third Man Records is an eclectic, vinyl-focused independent record label founded and owned by Jack White, Ben Blackwell and Ben Swank. The company operates out of three locations—Nashville, Tennessee, Detroit, Michigan, and Soho, London—with ...

, and in the United Kingdom on October 20, 2008 by

XL Recordings XL Recordings is a British independent record label founded in 1989 by Tim Palmer and Nick Halkes. It has been ran and co-owned by Richard Russell since 1996. It forms part of the Beggars Group. Although only releasing an average of six albu ...

. It was also released as a downloadable song for the video game '' Guitar Hero World Tour'' on November 7, 2008. An instrumental version of the song was also used in a

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance bar, temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pembe ...

commercial, as

Coca-Cola Zero Coca-Cola Zero Sugar is a diet cola produced by The Coca-Cola Company. In some countries, it is sold as Coca-Cola No Sugar. The drink was introduced in 2005 as Coca-Cola Zero as a new no-calorie cola. In 2017, the formula was modified and the ...

was used to promote the film; however, White subsequently announced that he had not approved of the song being licensed for this use.Jack White Didn’t Approve That Coke/Bond Commercial
by Brandon Stosuy, at ''

Stereogum ''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine. ''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several awar ...

''; published September 15, 2008; retrieved June 7, 2016 Roughly the first two minutes of the song were first played on September 13, 2008 on the radio show ''Siglo 21'' on Radio 3 in Spain. The song premiered on British radio on September 18, 2008 on

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance ...

's ''

The Jo Whiley Show ''The Jo Whiley Show'' was a British weekday later weekend radio show on BBC Radio 1 hosted by Jo Whiley. The programme was on air from February 2001 to March 2011 and was broadcast each weekday morning between 10:00am and 12:45pm, and later 13:0 ...

''. ''

Newsbeat ''Newsbeat'' is the BBC's radio news programme broadcast on Radio 1, 1Xtra and Asian Network. ''Newsbeat'' is produced by BBC News but differs from the BBC's other news programmes in its remit to provide news tailored for a specifically youn ...

'' described the reaction from listeners who e-mailed their opinions as mixed. On October 3, 2008 the

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devic ...

premiered on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

Background

White wrote and produced the song and he plays the guitar, drums, and piano, while Keys provides vocals, becoming the first duet in Bond theme history. The pair filmed a video for the song in Toronto on September 6, 2008, whilst Keys was at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a perman ...

promoting her film '' The Secret Life of Bees'' while White was there with ''

It Might Get Loud ''It Might Get Loud'' is a 2008 American documentary film by filmmaker Davis Guggenheim. It explores the careers and musical styles of prominent rock guitarists Jimmy Page, the Edge, and Jack White. The film premiered at the 2008 Toronto Inter ...

'', a documentary on the electric guitar. Initial reviews of the song were mixed, with some critics anticipating that the song could grow in popularity the more it was played on radio and performed live.

Amy Winehouse Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011) was an English singer and songwriter. She was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, rhythm and blues and jazz. A membe ...

and

Leona Lewis Leona Louise Lewis (born 3 April 1985) is a British singer, songwriter, actress and activist. Born and raised in the London Borough of Islington, she attended the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology in Croydon. Lewis achieved natio ...

had previously been rumored as the vocalists for the Bond theme. The song is included on the Super Edition of Keys' third studio album, '' As I Am'' (2007).

Music video

The music video for the song was released on

Yahoo! Video The company Yahoo! ran several similar video services. Yahoo! Video, a video hosting service, was established in 2006. Later, the ability to upload videos was removed, changing it to a more pure video on demand service; the website became a port ...

on September 29, 2008, and directed by

. It has since made its way onto

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

and other video sharing sites. It can also be seen on the DVD of the film. It features White singing and playing both guitar and the drums. Keys sings and plays piano in the video. Video effects and CGI are in the background featuring wavy lines and use of dawn and dusk. A shot of

Daniel Craig Daniel Wroughton Craig (born 2 March 1968) is an English-American actor who gained international fame playing the secret agent James Bond in the film series, beginning with '' Casino Royale'' (2006) and in four further instalments, up to '' ...

appears in the very last shot, which appeared in the theatrical trailer for the film. The video was announced as a nominee for

at the

51st Grammy Awards The 51st Annual Grammy Awards took place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, on February 8, 2009, honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2007, through September 30, 2008. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss were the b ...

. In the opening titles to the theatrical film, the song begins when Bond fires a bullet. He roams the desert aiming his gun in every direction, and slowly the sand dunes he has been patrolling become nude women in silhouette. Aside from the desert theme, there are also visual cues of the night sky, and lines of celestial navigation seen, as well as various

handgun A handgun is a short-barrelled gun, typically a firearm, that is designed to be usable with only one hand. It is distinguished from a long gun (i.e. rifle, shotgun or machine gun, etc.), which needs to be held by both hands and also braced ag ...

silhouettes. The main colors used in the video are black, blue, and orange.

Chart performance

On September 28, 2008, the song entered the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

at number twenty-six on downloads alone, and peaked at nine. Also, it became Keys' first chart-topper in Finland, and charted inside the top ten in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Norway, and Switzerland. In Canada it debuted at number fifteen on the

Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine. The Canadian Hot 100 was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007, and is currently the standard record ...

on the issue dated October 18, 2008, based on a large number of downloads. In the United States it debuted at number eighty-one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 on the issue dated November 29, 2008, spending one week only on the chart. In Australia the single made its way into the top forty, peaking at number twenty-nine for the week of December 1, 2008. "Another Way to Die" was the first James Bond theme song to feature on a

Triple J Hottest 100 The Triple J Hottest 100 is an annual music listener poll hosted by the publicly-funded, national Australian youth radio station, Triple J. Members of the public are invited to vote for their favourite Australian and alternative music of the ...

playlist, compiled almost every year since 1989; in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

the song was ranked the eighty-seventh most popular.

Critical reception

The song received some positive reviews as a standalone song, but it was subject to poor reception as a Bond theme, with

Jude Rogers Jude Rogers (born 1978) is a Welsh journalist, lecturer, arts critic and broadcaster. She is a music critic for '' The Guardian'' and also regularly writes features and articles for '' The Observer'', '' New Statesman'' and women's magazines such ...

of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' calling the song "jagged" and "awkward". Criticism focused on how the song does not seem to fit as a

theme. In the 2008 Popjustice Reader's Poll, the song was voted as the second "Worst Single".

Live performance

"Another Way to Die" was included on Keys' set list on her '' The Freedom Tour''. Neither White nor Keys performed the song on television, nor at awards ceremonies.

Track listing

*CD and 7-inch single # "Another Way to Die" – 4:23 # "Another Way to Die" – 4:23

Personnel

Credits are taken from the record sleeve. *

– vocals *

– vocals,

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

, producer, mixing * Jack Lawrence –

baritone guitar The baritone guitar is a guitar with a longer scale length, typically a larger body, and heavier internal bracing, so it can be tuned to a lower pitch. Gretsch, Fender, Gibson, Ibanez, ESP Guitars, PRS Guitars, Music Man, Danelectro, Sc ...

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

* Laura Matula –

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

* Wayne Jackson – horns * Jack Hale – horns * Tom McGinley – horns * Lindsay Smith-Trostle –

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, ...

* Lyndsay Pruett –

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

, five string violin * Michael Rinne –

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

* Vance Powell –

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considerin ...

* Mark Petaccia – assistant engineer * Nathan Yarboro – assistant engineer * Josh Smith – assistant engineer * Vlado Meller – mastering * The Third Man –

design A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design' ...

* Rob Jones – design

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

Cover versions

In 2017, actor and musician

Robbie Rist Robbie Rist (born April 4, 1964) is an American actor. He is known for playing Cousin Oliver in '' The Brady Bunch'', Martin in '' Grady'' and "Little John" in '' Big John, Little John''. Rist is also known for voicing assorted characters in ...

recorded "Another Way To Die" with his band, Ballzy Tomorrow, for the multi-artist compilation album, ''Songs, Bond Songs: The Music Of 007''."Songs, Bond Songs: The Music Of 007"
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References

External links

Another Way to Die
at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Another Way To Die 2008 singles Alicia Keys songs Jack White songs Number-one singles in Finland Quantum of Solace Songs from James Bond films Songs written by Jack White Male–female vocal duets Third Man Records singles J Records singles XL Recordings singles 2008 songs Song recordings produced by Alicia Keys