We've discussed a few great pairings between director and composer in this space before: the energetic, dynamic films of Sergio Leone, accompanied by the postmodernist, propulsive music of Ennio Morricone; the accomplished, thrilling work of Alfred Hitchcock, paired with the inventive, restless music of Bernard Herrmann; and others. Today we're going to look at one of the great film partnerships at its very inception: the mystefying, surreal films of David Lynch and the eerily gorgeous music of Angelo Badalamenti that frequently accompanies them. Blue Velvet was the first of a creative partnership that would last for two decades (and arguably reach its zenith in the Twin Peaks soundtrack) but this is where it all began in 1986.
Like a lot of the best collaborations, the one between David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti (who, despite the florid name, hails from the Mediterranean clime of Brooklyn) almost didn't happen. Mixing as it did a great deal of original score, all written by Badalamenti, and rights-managed classic rock and pop songs, the soundtrack to Blue Velvet was almost scuttled early on by clearance issues. In particular, the title track, as sung by Bobby Vinton, proved costlier to license than the studio would allow, so Badalamenti recorded his own sound-alike version -- before getting news that Vinton himself was willing to re-record it (albeit two registers lower, thanks to age's effect on his pipes). That didn't quite work out either, and they were faced with the legal and aesthetic problems of going with the copycat, until, finally, the studio decided to finally pony up for the original. Roy Orbison likewise held out permissions for "In Dreams" until the last moment, and Lynch, who'd been trying for months to secure the rights to This Mortal Coil's "Song to the Siren", eventually had to give up when the band wouldn't budge on giving him the licence. (Ironically, Balalamenti's replacement song turned out to be one of the most moving and effective pieces in the score.)
"In Dreams" is perhaps the finest example of Blue Velvet's stunning use of classic songs given a rich new dimension by out-of-context placement, even more so than the title track. Once seen, Dean Stockwell crooning the number in a freakish lip-synch as Frank Booth rampages in front of him changes the meaning of the song forever -- this a decade before Quentin Tarantino became famous for doing much the same thing. However, it's Badalamenti's original music that's the most powerful and shattering. Lynch, who'd been listening to a great deal of Shostakovich while writing the script for Blue Velvet, used the Russian composer as an earmark to guide Badalamenti, who ended up incorporating quotes from the 15th Symphony into the finished material, but while it has elements of the great Russian musical themes of beauty and tragedy, the score is all Badalamenti -- soaked in atmosphere, powerful but never overpowering, and deeply strange without ever calling excess attention to itself. Combined with the wonderful classic songs on the soundtrack, it makes for a great, if always slightly unsettling, listening experience.
BEST TRACKS: Curiously, due to copyright issues, some versions of the Blue Velvet soundtrack don't feature any version of the title song -- Vinton's or anyone else's. However, it's easy to find one that does, and it combines with Roy Orbison's otherworldly "In Dreams" for one of the most stunning one-two punches in the history of pop on film. Amongst Badalamenti's original score compositions, the standout is "Mysteries of Love", his collaboration with partern Julee Cruse, which replaced (and improved upon) "Song to the Siren". Also noteworthy is the mysterious, brooding main title track, the elegaic "Blue Star", and the screeching, slashing, almost atonal "Jeffrey's Dark Side", which recalls Bernard Herrmann at his best.