Say what you will about the Bond series, but there is some absolutely incredible music across those films.

And if you ask fans for their pick for the best themes, this one will usually be somewhere near the top.

It makes sense in hindsight: 007 and the Beatles are two of England’s most iconic cultural exports, so a Bond theme written by a former Beatle seems like a slam dunk. But at the time, it was a matter of some debate.

Up until Live and Let Die, all of the themes had been a bit more traditional, performed by someone like Shirley Bassey or Tom Jones. The idea of handing the responsibility to a pop singer was almost blasphemous to some people.

It wasn’t just any pop singer though—it was Paul Freaking McCartney, who delivered a song that combined the best of his talents with the classic Bond feel. The juxtaposition of his piano ballad with the orchestra hits is absolutely inspired. Even the seemingly out-of-place reggae break makes sense with the Caribbean setting of the film.

You only need to look at the long line of themes since Live and Let Die to see how well it went over. Bond themes have been provided by artists like Carly Simon, Adele, Duran Duran, U2 & Tina Turner, Garbage, Sheryl Crow, Jack White & Alicia Keys…Even Radiohead wrote a theme that producers regretfully rejected. The Bond theme is now a fixture for a contemporary artist to add something indelible to the pop culture canon.

But McCartney is only part of this soundtrack. The rest was perhaps even more of a coup.

Up until this point, the Bond films were all scored by John Berry, who wrote the original 007 Theme. But after Diamonds Are Forever, he and the producers got in a spat and went their separate ways. The producers approached McCartney to work on the theme, and he turned to legendary Beatles collaborator George Martin. When the producers heard the theme, they were so impressed with the orchestral work on McCartney’s theme that they asked Martin to score the film.

And what a score it is. There’s plenty of Classic Bond to go around, but Martin brings a modern sensibility that the earlier films lacked. He lets the film’s settings inspire him. The score is touched by New Orleans swing, Harlem funk, and Haitian calypso, all while feeling unmistakably “Bond.”

Neither of these might feel like huge risks, but this film also saw the introduction of a brand new Bond. This was the first film to star Roger Moore, who became the quintessential Bond for a generation of fans. He brought a levity to the role that neither the thuggish Sean Connery or the no-nonsense George Lazenby ever reached. Live and Let Die might not be as over the top as Moonraker or A View To a Kill, but it’s far from the brooding seriousness of From Russia With Love.

With a new actor, many producers would be tempted to play it safe and stick to the trusty standbys. But Live and Let Die is an iconoclasm. The Bond formula is still intact, but everything is stretched to the limit. It was a bold risk, but one that paid off handsomely—considering that this film is widely remembered as one of the best Bond films.