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. 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. The composers started their writing separately, Cornell in his apartment in Paris, and Arnold in his house in London. In Prague he also met the score composer, David Arnold, who suggested writing a song «that echoed the film score». 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. But Daniel Craig’s casting as James Bond intrigued the musician, and he decided to accept the job. 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».

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. 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”.

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