AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Sheena Easton

Artist:Sheena Easton

Song:For Your Eyes Only

Album:The Best of

This is yet another discography orphan. Sheena Easton's theme for the 1981 James Bond film For Your Eyes Only was a top ten pop hit. It appeared on the soundtrack album and did not appear on one of Sheena's albums. That's the definition of a discography orphan. Sometimes these can be difficult to find but not in this case. Of course James Bond themes are a separate genre. Bill Conti composed the For Your Eyes Only score. He is best known for composing the score for the 1975 film Rocky. Bond's usual composer John Barry was unable to work in England for tax reasons and he recommended Conti. The original plan was to have Blondie perform the For Your Eyes Only theme. They wrote a song and it was rejected as the producers wanted Conti to write the song and Deborah Harry to sing it in the film. She refused to sing it without the band. The Blondie song appeared on their 1982 album The Hunter. Conti thought about writing the theme for Donna Summer or Dusty Springfield. But the studio United Artists suggested Sheena who had just topped the charts with the single Morning Train. She was on UA's sister label EMI. So they could keep it in house and keep costs down. The lyrics were written by Mike Leeson who usually wrote songs for Sheena with partner Peter Vale. The record was produced by Sheena's producer Christopher Neil. For Your Eyes Only was Sheena Easton's first big hit after Morning Train. It reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. Sheena appeared in the film singing over the opening credits. This is the only time a James Bond theme singer appeared in the film. Of course there was a soundtrack album. The song did not appear on Sheena's 1981 album You Could Have Been with Me but it was added as a bonus track when EMI released it on CD. It appears on a few comps including this one from the Dutch label Simply the Best. This was Sheena's only big hit from a soundtrack. As I said, this is a discography orphan but not difficult to find. Here's the video for For Your Eyes Only by Sheena Easton.