5. Skyfall - Adele
This is where things are going to start getting controversial. Yes, this song was just released into airplay; and yes, the film hasnt even been released yet, so theres no full contextual argument to be made just yet. But this song ranks highly for two key reasons: Adele has managed to yet again recapture the Bassey magic in a modern context, and its the first song that could stand to represent the relationship between 007 and M herself. When Dame Judi Dench was cast as M, it was at first used as a jab to the gut of the misogynist stereotype that had overshadowed the true intent of the Bond character. When Daniel Craig took over the role in 2006s Casino Royale, the filmmakers took the opportunity to explore a new facet of the M/Bond relationshipthat of a mother and her son. Orphaned as a child, Bond went to boarding school and became the rough and tumble man that he is today, only too easily leading him to earn his license to kill. However, one person has always stood by him and kept his intentions in check. (Or at least tried and failed admirably.) The little we do know about the story is that Ms past is coming back to haunt her, and some people are going to try and kill her and Jamesthey just have to kill them first. This lends new meaning to the passage, Let the sky fall. When it crumbles, we will stand tall and face it all together. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeyUoh46y6o Under any other Bond theme, this would be invoking the commonly used theme of James protecting a lover. In this case though, the context could be argued that hes protecting the closest thing to a mother hes had in a long while.