You Know My Name - Composition and Recording

Composition and Recording

Lia Vollack, Sony Pictures's President of Music, called Chris Cornell inviting him to make a song for the new Bond movie, which would "reflect the dramatic new direction of James Bond", with a "strong male singer". Cornell thought it was a strange offer, considering that he is American, and imagined that he would perform a secondary song in the film instead of the main theme. Cornell declared he liked the Bond movies, particularly the ones with Sean Connery, but that he "wasn't really a big fan of the last several movies". But Daniel Craig's casting as James Bond intrigued the musician, and he decided to accept the job. Cornell then went to Prague to visit the film's shooting, and was much impressed with the film's emotional content after he was shown a rough cut of Casino Royale. In Prague he also met the score composer, David Arnold, who suggested writing a song "that echoed the film score".

The composers started writing separatedly, Cornell in his apartment in Paris, and Arnold in his house in London. Cornell stated that he had some difficulties with composing: "It is difficult, I think, to write lyrics for a character, so really I just kind of wandered around for about a month not thinking about it too much, until I sort of formulated some idea of a way that I could approach it, where I'm kind of relating to what's in the character in the movie. And because this particular Bond is very edgy, but also has a lot of emotional depth, it's a lot easier." Later the two musicians met and showed each other's ideas, and according to Arnold "it was almost like we wrote two parts of the same song." Cornell wrote lyrics, to which Arnold added some lines and later music. Some of Arnold's ideas included the song's title, the heavy introduction, and "having the same genetic material as the Bond theme, but in a different order and in a different shape".

After a demo of the song was approved by the film's producers, both musicians recorded the full version in AIR Studios London. Cornell and Arnold recorded the guitar and bass parts themselves and hired a session musician for the drums. The recordings were finished by the time Casino Royale finished its principal photography on July 21 2006, and Arnold played it at the wrap party. Afterwards he mixed in the orchestra parts.

Speaking to film music fan site Maintitles, Arnold said he wanted "You Know My Name" to act as a substitute for the James Bond theme, to represent Bond's immaturity. The song's main notes are played throughout the film, and the classic theme only plays during the end credits to signal the end of his character arc. Arnold felt the song should tie closer to the score, and have the "DNA of the James Bond music". The musical arrangement tried to create "the right blend of rock aggression and sophisticated instrumentation", with Cornell describing it as "more uptempo and a little more aggressive than any other Bond theme has been, maybe since Paul McCartney ".

"I (wanted) an orchestra. I didn't want to do a song for a James Bond film and not have it sound somewhat like a James Bond song."

Cornell stated that the biggest two influences on "You Know My Name" were Tom Jones, who performed the theme for Thunderball, and Paul McCartney, who composed and performed the theme for Live and Let Die. "I decided that I was going to sing it like Tom Jones, in that crooning style. I wanted people to hear my voice," Cornell said. "And 'Live and Let Die' is a fantastic song. Paul McCartney wouldn't have written it if not for that movie. I wanted to write a song in its own universe. I knew I'd never have it again — a big orchestra — so I wanted to have fun with it." Cornell did not put the film's title in the lyrics, because he "couldn't imagine it fitting into a song lyric that would come out of my mouth". And he jokingly stated "Casino Royale didn't make a good rock title, but I would write a song named Octopussy just for fun".

Before producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli announced on 26 July 2006, that Cornell was performing the theme for Casino Royale, various names were reported in the media, some reports going so far as to have the performers apparently claim they were working on the song. This list includes Tina Turner, who previously sang "GoldenEye" for the 1995 Bond film of the same name, and Tony Christie.

The lyrics try to illustrate Bond's psyche in Casino Royale, described by Cornell as a conflicted and tough spy with more emotional depth, not the "superconfident, seemingly invincible, winking kinda ladies' man superspy" of the previous incarnations. Cornell tried to focus on the existential dilemmas and possible sacrifices of secret agents - "There's an isolation in that; the stakes are very high. I've done a lot of living in my 42 years, and it wasn't hard for me to relate to that." The song also served as an introduction to the character, even though he was featured in many other movies before - hence the title "You Know My Name" - dealing with Bond's action such as his first assassination, "introducing himself to what may be the rest of his life and how he will live it and what it will mean."