Can Adele Do It Better Than Carly Simon?

“I was a little hesitant at first to be involved with the theme song for Skyfall. There’s a lot of instant spotlight and pressure when it comes to a Bond song.”
 — Adele’s right. The pressure’s on. (And not just instant spotlight, very often a James Bond theme ends up in the crosshairs of a Luger or Barreta!) Living up to the likes of Carly Simon, or Shirley Bassey, or Paul McCartney, or Sheena Easton or Duran Duran? Adele’s got her work cut out for her. Come Friday, when her new single, the title track from Skyfall comes out, we’ll know how she did. (Whoops! BREAKING: We know a bit about how she did now! Embed below!) No way that it’s better than “Nobody Does It Better,” right? I mean, that’s just unfair. That one’s the best. And then considering Radiohead’s version? Makes me feel sad for Adele — and all the rest.

Here’s 90 seconds of “Skyfall.”

(Damn, Radiohead, why’d you have to be so good?!)

Aimee Mann covered it nicely, too.

Here’s Dame Bassey’s “Goldfinger”:

And Sir Paul’s “Live And Let Die”:

And Sheena Easton’s “For Your Eyes Only”:

And Duran Duran’s “View To a Kill”:

And, just for the hell of it, Here’s Kanye West’s “Diamonds From Sierra Leone”:

Which is based on sample of Bassey’s “Diamonds Are Forever.”