John Barry’s favourite Bond song – the lyrics in the hand of the artist who brought to them all of his consummate artistry
A fine inscribed first hardback
59 ARMSTRONG, Louis.
60 ROWLING, J. K.
Manuscript lyrics for the song “We Have All the Time in the World”, written in full by Louis Armstrong and signed and
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. London: Bloomsbury, 1997 £275,000
[ 160437 ]
inscribed by him. [New York?: c.1969] £65,000
Octavo. Original matt laminated printed paper boards, spine and front cover lettered in white, yellow, dark green and black. Without the dust jacket, as issued. Housed in a custom purple morocco-backed folding box. Foot of spine very slightly bumped, corners slightly rubbed; a fine and notably fresh copy. ¶ Errington A1(a).
[ 159227 ]
2 pages (280 × 215 mm), 16 lines written in blue ballpoint pen on the blank verso of a printed promotional flyer for Armstrong’s weight-loss regime. Housed in a custom black cloth solander box. Horizontal and vertical light creases where once folded, short closed tear at right edge, a couple of nicks yet overall in very good condition. ¶ Jon Burlingame, The Music of James Bond , 2012; Ricky Riccardi, “45 Years of ‘We Have All the Time in the World’ (and ‘Pretty Little Missy’!)”, available online. Provenance: the recipient may be clarinettist Joe Muranyi (1928–2012), a member of the final version of Armstrong’s All-Stars (1967–71). Riccardi notes that “We Have All the Time” may have been featured in Armstrong’s last gigs, at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York, 2–15 March 1971, and perhaps Louis passed this to him on that occasion; from the celebrated Bond collection of Martin Schøyen. ¶ The Schøyen Collection No. 456.
Signed by Armstrong and inscribed “To Joe from Satch”, adding humorously, “yea my debut song”. Armstrong’s emotionally charged version of the John Barry-Hal David title song for On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969) had a new lease of life in No Time to Die (2021) and is widely considered “one of the most memorable and important songs in the Bond franchise” (Burlingame, p. 87). In the late 1960s Armstrong’s health was poor and he had been deeply affected by the death of his long-time manager Joe Glaser in June 1969. But in October of that year John Barry flew out to his home at Corona in Queens, New York, “with the opportunity to record ‘We Have All the Time in the World,’ a brand new song that would be used in the upcoming James Bond film, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service . “‘All the Time in the World’ is my personal favorite,’ Barry said. ‘I think that might have a lot to do with the experience we had in New York with Louis Armstrong and that afternoon we recorded it. It wasn’t the popular choice at the time, because we always used, you know, the Tom Joneses, the Nancy Sinatras. And I said, “Look, it’s about a man singing about the September of his years.” And I thought Louis Armstrong singing “We Have All the Time in the World,” it just rung true and [producer Albert “Cubby” Broccoli] loved the idea, there were no arguments. But to work with this guy in the studio, he was the sweetest, humblest guy’” (Riccardi). Barry and David were convinced that Armstrong’s world-weary voice would give deeper poignancy to the song and Armstrong took great pains with the lyrics, writing them out in longhand and getting a feel for them. Time has proved their judgement to be right. Satchmo’s version of the title song was revived by ad agency Ogilvy & Mather for their prize-winning Guinness campaign in 1994. It lives on as a popular choice for a sentimental first dance at weddings and has been rebooted for a contemporary Bond audience by Hans Zimmer, who uses Armstrong’s unadorned version to great effect over the closing credits of No Time to Die , where Louis shares billing with Billie Eilish. The song is lent an added poignancy as the recording session was to be Armstrong’s last – he died on 6 July 1971 in the home that Barry had visited to talk through his new song.
First edition, first impression, hardback issue, inscribed by the author “to Ella – one of my favourite names. With best wishes, JKRowling” on the dedication leaf. Rowling inscribed the book for Ella Burke at the Cheltenham Literary Festival in 1998; she had bought the book the previous year, and it was signed by Rowling, together with a copy of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets . With all the required points of the first printing: Bloomsbury imprint, 10-down-to–1 number line, the list of equipment on p. 53 with “1 wand” appearing twice in the list, and the misprint “Philospher’s” on the back cover. Both paperback and hardback issues of the first impression were published on 26 June 1997 although the hardback issue (500 copies) is preferred to the paperback issue (5,150 copies).
SIXTY FINE ITEMS
All items are fully described and photographed at peterharrington.co.uk
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