Jack White reflects on replacing Amy Winehouse to make ‘divisive’ James Bond theme

Jack White has called his 2008 James Bond theme “Another Way to Die” one of the most “divisive things” he has made.

The former White Stripes frontman stepped in to write and produce the song for Quantum of Solace after Amy Winehouse’s track was rejected.

It featured vocals by Alicia Keys and reached No 9 in the UK charts, but was later described by The Independent’s Ed Cumming as “bonkers and baffling”.

Speaking on a recent episode of the podcast Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, White said: “It’s one of the most divisive things I’ve been a part of.

“To this day, it’s straight across the board. People always say you either love or you hate it. That song is… there are people who hate it so much, and there are people who love it so much. Nowhere in the middle; it’s so strange.”

He added: “I got in because Amy Winehouse wasn’t showing up to the sessions or wasn’t delivering the song that they were asking her to do.

“So it was, ‘We were running out of time, we need somebody else…’ And I thought, ‘Oh, this was great, because now I’m gonna get away with murder; I’m gonna put things in this song, they would never approve of this…’

“And that happened… The music director was not down with anything. He was trying to convince me to turn it into a ballad or something like that.”

Winehouse previously said that her Bond song was turned down because film bosses wanted something “clean-cut and boring”.

Billie Eilish, Shirley Bassey, Adele and Duran Duran are among the other artists who have supplied the Bond theme.