Deadlier Than the Male (song) Deadlier Than the Male (song) "Deadlier Than the Male" is a song written by American singer-songwriter Scott Walker under the name Scott Engel with UK record producer Johnny Franz. The song was first recorded and released by Walker's pop group The Walker Brothers as their eighth single in 1966. The accompaniment was directed by Reg Guest. The song was the title track for the 1967 British action film "Deadlier Than the Male" which featured the character of Bulldog Drummond. The song's title is a reference to the 1911 Rudyard Kipling poem "The Female of the Species," which includes the line,
Female of the Species to his late father, who was reported to dislike his son's taste of music, "Female of the Species" is a funky, upbeat Latin-flavoured number with feel-good sounding vibes and vocals reminiscent of lounge singers such as Perry Como and Frank Sinatra combined with keyboardist Franny Griffiths' trademark sound effects and Scott's dark humoured lyrics. The song borrows to some extent, both thematically and in overall aesthetic, from The Walker Brothers' theme song for the 1967 film "Deadlier Than The Male". When the song was performed at later concerts, Scott usually walked into the audience to shake the front concert-goers by