I dont have a turntable anymore so i cant really check but i listened to that LP a lot back in the day and i cant recall the version on the LP being different than the single one. 

I clearly remember i thought it was odd they had a song Tomorrow Never Lies when Tomorrow Never Dies was released almost at the same time. But we did not know at the time they tried for the Bond Theme. And in 2006, Tomorrow Never Dies version was very new to me, i had never heard it before. 

But memory, eh... It's been 28 years. Or a glitch in the matrix, what's true anymore ? 

srhelvetica wrote:

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https://thesongswelove.wordpress.com/2022/10/10/tomorrow-never-lies-pulp/ if you click on the last two vids inserted  in that post you can see the subtle differences between the two versions. The first one is the Tomorrow Never Dies (Rough Mix) that was present to that absurd songs "competition".

andy wrote:

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I dont have a turntable anymore so i cant really check but i listened to that LP a lot back in the day and i cant recall the version on the LP being different than the single one. 

I clearly remember i thought it was odd they had a song Tomorrow Never Lies when Tomorrow Never Dies was released almost at the same time. But we did not know at the time they tried for the Bond Theme. And in 2006, Tomorrow Never Dies version was very new to me, i had never heard it before. 

But memory, eh... It's been 28 years. Or a glitch in the matrix, what's true anymore ? 

-- Edited by andy on Saturday 20th of December 2025 12:36:37 PM

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-- Edited by srhelvetica on Sunday 21st of December 2025 10:23:52 AM

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No one is saying there is only one version, just that the rough mix Tomorrow Never Dies was on the LP instead of Tomorrow Never Lies, which sounds weird to me.  

In your link 

- last one : for, on the Help the Aged single and LP from 98

- second to last: on the 2006 version

But i could be totally wrong. Someone with a turntable and the 1998 LP has the answer 

hawalius1 wrote:

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I've already checked the LP, it was definitely the b-side version. The 'Dies' version was previously unreleased when Deluxe came out. No way would a different version of the song being on the LP have gone unremarked until now! Wikipedia is just wrong.

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So right, i was. Thanx !  

It was unreleased indeed. As i said earlier, when they announced in 2006 the "Dies" version i was completely surprised that they had recorded a Bond theme as it was not a known fact. We then discovered that many bands also tried for it like Duran Duran Saint Etienne, or Swan Lee (a great one but sounds more like 70s bond). (Divine Comedy also tried for the next Bond : The World is Not Enough !) 

In the end, i really love the Sheryl Crow track, and listened to it a lot back in the day. I think it's unfairly criticized. It's got what every other rejected themes (including pulp's) don't have : a really a catchy chorus and it's a great built up, it's a perfect Bond theme. It would sound great with... Jarvis on vocals. 

Ian wrote:

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I'm pretty sure that a Pulp People newsletter in 1997 told us that they were recording a Bond theme. It is also mentioned in Sturdy's book that was released in 2003. Either way, it was definitely a known fact before 2006.

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 Ok so for the general public it was not a known fact 

HoltbyCity wrote:

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andy wrote:

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Ian wrote:

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I'm pretty sure that a Pulp People newsletter in 1997 told us that they were recording a Bond theme. It is also mentioned in Sturdy's book that was released in 2003. Either way, it was definitely a known fact before 2006.

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 Ok so for the general public it was not a known fact 

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It was definitely widely mentioned in NME/on the Evening Session etc. in 1997 that the Help The Aged b-side was their theme tune entry which had lost out to Sheryl Crow

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Well i'm not english, and all the examples listed above points to english "only" knowledge. Remember it's before the wide spread of the internet, so you were limited to the infos available in your own country an what the medias of the time were printing or broadcasting. So for Pulp outside england, not that much ! Was it in mentionned in a magazine ? Maybe, maybe not... i have no recollection of it. Could be a Mandela effect ! 

It kinda felt weird  to me when Help the Aged EP was released and that there was a song Tomorrow Never Lies when the Bond of the almost same name was also released in fall 97. And Pulp also had that Bond cover. So it all pointed to it, but i never for one second imagined back then Tomorrow Never Lies was recorded to be a bond theme. Just felt like a funny coincidence.

That info came to me years and years later. It did not cross the channel, or in a very small way. 

Addendum: wrote the above and then proceeded to listen to both the Crow and Pulp versions, naturally, and now realise that it is the sheer meaningless of the twist in the lyrics Jarvis wrote (if you live tomorrow today then tomorrow will never die) that kills the tension needed for that sense of threat. Because the chorus fails to reassert the risk, you are left only with verses that repeatedly and convincingly reassure Bond that he is totally fine, that the people shooting at him are all going to miss, that progress will be steady and unimpeded, and that there will be no obstacles worthy of the name. He hasnt even moral ambiguity to worry about! Is that a film you want to see?!

andy wrote:

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HoltbyCity wrote:

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andy wrote:

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Ian wrote:

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I'm pretty sure that a Pulp People newsletter in 1997 told us that they were recording a Bond theme. It is also mentioned in Sturdy's book that was released in 2003. Either way, it was definitely a known fact before 2006.

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 Ok so for the general public it was not a known fact 

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It was definitely widely mentioned in NME/on the Evening Session etc. in 1997 that the Help The Aged b-side was their theme tune entry which had lost out to Sheryl Crow

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Well i'm not english, and all the examples listed above points to english "only" knowledge. Remember it's before the wide spread of the internet, so you were limited to the infos available in your own country an what the medias of the time were printing or broadcasting. So for Pulp outside england, not that much ! Was it in mentionned in a magazine ? Maybe, maybe not... i have no recollection of it. Could be a Mandela effect ! 

It kinda felt weird  to me when Help the Aged EP was released and that there was a song Tomorrow Never Lies when the Bond of the almost same name was also released in fall 97. And Pulp also had that Bond cover. So it all pointed to it, but i never for one second imagined back then Tomorrow Never Lies was recorded to be a bond theme. Just felt like a funny coincidence.

That info came to me years and years later. It did not cross the channel, or in a very small way. 

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It wasn't just Pulp - Saint Etienne, Swan Lee and KD Lang all also submitted versions for Tomorrow Never Dies that year. 

It's quite a long tradition of having 'didn't make the cut' Bond themes.  Blondie did a For Your Eyes Only, Pet Shop Boys did a Living Daylights, Alice Cooper did a Man With The Golden Gun, Radiohead did a Spectre, Supremacy by Muse was written as the Skyfall theme etc.

I guess the main gist of the question pertains to when the 'Dies (Rough Mix)' came out, i.e. 98 LP or 2006 deluxe CD, so as answered above, the original 1998 LP of TIH lists and plays LIES, same as the single b-side.

For any pedants out there... The 2016 LP of TIH (MPO pressing / Finyl Tweek cut) lists 'Tomorrow Never LIES' on the sleeve, but 'Tomorrow Never DIES (Rough Mix)' is what is actually cut on the vinyl. Guess somebody just made a mistake - perhaps they were working from the masters made for the 2006 CD? There's nothing mentioned on the sleeve, which is a (coarsened) repro of the original 1998 LP.

The 2020 LP is another MPO / Finyl Tweek jobbie, I don't have it but it looks identical to the 2016 (apart from deadwax etchings), so I'd bet that has DIES on it.

There is also the 2009 Plain Recordings US issue (Rainbo pressing) which also post-dates the deluxe CD, but I don't have that, so can't say what it plays.