As a lifelong Beatles fan, there are certain classics from the Fab Four that I’ve heard so many times at this point they’re practically embedded in my DNA. The same goes for songs from the individual members’ solo careers, like the iconic Paul McCartney-penned 007 theme song Live and Let Die that the ex-Beatle released 50 years ago today. It’s propulsive, catchy, and an all-time great tune from McCartney’s extensive solo catalog. I know every word, every note, and every sound by heart.
To my surprise, though, listening to Live and Let Die today feels like discovering it for the first time all over again. That’s because the song — long a staple of McCartney’s live shows, thanks to the wild pyrotechnics and dramatic visual effects that accompany the loud, rollicking orchestral break — has just gotten a Dolby Atmos remix from Steve Orchard and Giles Martin (the son of late Beatles producer George Martin). And man, oh man, listening to the all-new immersive mix of this classic McCartney solo track today with my AirPods Max headphones, it feels like you’re right there in the middle of the London Symphony Orchestra as the strings scream and the brass roars all around you.
Even if you’re a Beatles and McCartney fan who’s heard Live and Let Die a million times, just give the new mix a listen at the link above. It sounds fresh, original, exciting, and new.
As a reminder of just how central this fan-favorite track remains to McCartney’s live performances, he used the song as the climax of his headline appearance at Glastonbury last summer. The other thing that’s also still surprising to me about all this is just how much relevance and affection people continue to have for Beatles music (both the music they made as a group, and after), something that came into stark relief for me when I read the responses to this recent post of ours about AI-generated Beatles music — some of which sounds, pun intended, totally Fab.
