Licence to Kill (song) Licence to Kill (song) "Licence to Kill" is a 1989 song by Gladys Knight, written and recorded for the James Bond film "Licence to Kill", also from 1989. It was written by Narada Michael Walden, Jeffrey Cohen and Walter Afanasieff. Release as a single in May 1989, the song became a top-ten hit in the United Kingdom, peaking at number six and becoming Knight's last charting solo single there. The song charted very strongly in Europe, peaking atop the Swedish Singles Chart for eight weeks and reaching the top five in seven other European countries. It also peaked at number
James Bond Theme Spy Who Loved Me", titled "Bond 77", featured a disco sound, reflecting a style of music which was very popular at the time. "The Spy Who Loved Me" returned briefly to using the surf-rock guitar associated with the theme from the early days. One unusual instance occurred in "Octopussy", when Bond's contact, who is disguised as a snake charmer played a few notes of the tune for Roger Moore's James Bond, presumably as a pre-arranged identification signal; this is an example of the tune being used as diegetic music. In the last Bond film of Roger Moore, "A View to