New Bond theme song hailed as instant classic on release

The new James Bond theme song, "Writing's On The Wall", was released Friday, with singer Sam Smith's nerves over how it would be received proving unfounded as fans hailed it as a classic.

The release comes a month before "Spectre", starring Daniel Craig as Bond, is released in Britain and Ireland on October 26 before a worldwide release on November 6.

Grammy award winner Smith is the first British male solo singer to sing the 007 theme since Tom Jones sang "Thunderball" in 1965.

"The pressure to deliver a Bond song that stands against all the rest feels quite intense," the British singer told The Sun newspaper in an interview Friday.

The 23-year-old added that the movie's director Sam Mendes had a say over the song's lyrics and made sure that Bond "didn't sound weak, that he still sounded powerful".

Ajay Chowdhury of the James Bond International Fan Club said the song had "automatically achieved classic Bond song status".

"There are three types of Bond song: the big, bombastic showstopper exemplified by Shirley Bassey's 'Goldfinger', the dark, melancholic, regretful ballad of which Nancy Sinatra's 'You Only Live Twice' is an example and finally, the heroic rock anthem like Paul McCartney's 'Live And Let Die,'" he said.

"Sam Smith's song belongs to the second of these categories."