Soundtrack from Twin Peaks

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Soundtrack from Twin Peaks

Clare Nina Norelli

Bloomsbury Academic
An Imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
 Bloomsbury Academic
An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Inc

1385 Broadway 50 Bedford Square

New York London
NY 10018 WC1B 3DP
USA UK
www.bloomsbury.com
Bloomsbury is a registered trade mark of Bloomsbury Publishing
Plc
First published 2017
© Clare Nina Norelli, 2017
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or
retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers.
No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting
on or refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication
can be accepted by Bloomsbury or the author.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Norelli, Clare Nina.
Title: Soundtrack from Twin Peaks / Clare Nina Norelli.
Description: New York : Bloomsbury Academic, 2017. | Series: 33 1/3 |
Includes bibliographical references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016034722 (print) | LCCN 2016035348 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781501323010 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781501323027 (ePDF) |
ISBN 9781501323034 (ePUB)
Subjects: LCSH: Badalamenti, Angelo--Criticism and interpretation. |
Television music--History and criticism. | Twin Peaks
(Television program)
Classification: LCC ML410.B17375 N67 2017 (print) | LCC ML410.
B17375 (ebook)
| DDC 781.5/46--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016034722
ISBN: PB: 978-1-5013-2301-0
ePub: 978-1-5013-2303-4
ePDF: 978-1-5013-2302-7
Series: 33 1/3
Cover design: 333sound.com
Typeset by Fakenham Prepress Solutions, Fakenham,
Norfolk NR21 8NN
For Ben
• vi •
 Contents

Acknowledgments viii
Track Listing ix

Welcome to Twin Peaks 1

Beautiful Darkness 9
There’s Always Music in the Air 21
Falling 35
Wrapped in Plastic 51
She’s Full of Secrets 69
Freshly Squeezed 91
I’ll See You Again in 25 Years 115

Appendix 125
Notes 137
Bibliography 147

• vii •
 Acknowledgments

Thank you to Bloomsbury for commissioning this book,

and to my editors Leah Babb-Rosenfeld and Michelle
Chen.
To my partner, family, and friends: thank you for your
love, patience, and for supporting my various musical
endeavors and writing projects over the years. To my
wonderful friend and fellow music theory nerd, David
Howell, thank you especially for your expertise and
assistance.
Many thanks to Brad Dukes, Josef Woodard, Peiter
Dom of the Welcome to Twin Peaks online community,
and Ross Dudle of Twin Peaks Soundtrack Design for their
helpful websites and for answering questions I had whilst
writing this book.
Thanks to David Lynch, Mark Frost, and all of the
Twin Peaks players for creating such a timeless and
inspiring television series.
And of course, most importantly, thank you to Angelo
Badalamenti for composing such beautiful, life-changing
music.

• viii •
 Track Listing

1. “Twin Peaks Theme” (Instrumental) (4:45)

2. “Laura Palmer’s Theme” (Instrumental) (5:08)
3. “Audrey’s Dance” (Instrumental) (5:15)
4. “The Nightingale” (Vocal by Julee Cruise) (4:54)
5. “Freshly Squeezed” (Instrumental) (3:48)
6. “The Bookhouse Boys” (Instrumental) (3:24)
7. “Into the Night” (Vocal by Julee Cruise) (4:42)
8. “Night Life in Twin Peaks” (Instrumental) (3:23)
9. “Dance of the Dream Man” (Instrumental) (3:39)
10. “Love Theme from Twin Peaks” (Instrumental)
(4:34)
11. “Falling” (Vocal by Julee Cruise) (5:18)

• ix •
• x •
 Welcome to Twin Peaks

A place both wonderful and strange

A bass sounds a twangy, resonant low F accompanied by

a barely there, quarter-note cymbal ostinato. An F(add2)
chord follows on Rhodes, warm and inviting, like a secret
confession. Straining for resolution, the chord descends
to settle on a straight F chord, its downward trajectory
forming the musical approximation of a lovelorn sigh.
The pattern is repeated, but two steps lower, beginning
on a D in the bass. Suddenly, a wash of synthesized
strings and French horn pours over the mix accompanied
by a cool wave of guitar tremolo, oscillating between
B-flat(sus2) and B-flat major chords and then sliding up to
C(sus2) and C major. The melody in the synth-strings and
French horn swirls, as if caught in a whirlwind, and then
begins to rise, starting on E and joined by another twang
in the bass on C. Up the melody moves to F, then G, A,
B-flat, each note full-bodied and determined in its ascent,
until it finally climaxes on C and then it all comes falling
down again: Welcome to Twin Peaks. Population: 51, 201.
What must the thirty-five million people who tuned
in to the pilot episode of Twin Peaks in April of 1990

• 1 •
 SOUNDTRACK FROM TW IN PEAKS

have thought when they first witnessed the show’s

opening credits? This haunting music, coupled with
images of rural terrain and industrialization, must have
belied audiences’ expectations. Who Killed Laura Palmer?
What of the tantalizing murder mystery that had been
promoted in the press? But those who were watching
that night would soon learn how fitting this opening
sequence and its soundtrack was. Twin Peaks was a town
with secrets, a town whose wholesome Americana was
merely a distraction from what was really going on. Twin
Peaks: Like every town you’ve ever seen. And no place you’ve
ever known.
The announcement that the next project for cult film
director David Lynch was to be a television prime-time
soap opera was initially met with a degree of skepticism,
with news outlets making proclamations such as “Is TV
ready for David Lynch?”1 The director and artist was
primarily known as a purveyor of postmodern weird—the
term “Lynchian” since becoming pop-cultural shorthand
for the decidedly unusual. How would a director known
principally for his arthouse cinema possibly be able
to operate within the confines of prime-time network
television?
David Lynch was introduced to Twin Peaks’ co-creator
Mark Frost in the mid-1980s by the television agent Tony
Krantz, who was working at Creative Artists Agency
(CAA) at the time. Krantz had established a relationship
with Lynch in the hopes of enticing the director to enter
the world of television, believing that Lynch’s unique
directorial style could bring something fresh to the small
screen. Lynch and Frost—the latter of whom was already
a seasoned television writer with the critically acclaimed

• 2 •
 W elcome to T win P eaks

series Hill Street Blues under his belt—began dreaming

up various cinematic projects, including a film adaptation
of Anthony Summers’ book Goddess: The Secret Lives of
Marilyn Monroe (1985). Though the film never came to
be, its subject matter clearly left an indelible mark on the
pair, and their discussions about ‘a woman in trouble’
eventually evolved into a concept for a television show.
Originally called Northwest Passage, the show was to be
centered on the murder of a teenage homecoming queen
in a small Pacific Northwest town and the ensuing inves-
tigations into her death.
At a time in which laugh-track television reigned
supreme, no one could have predicted that a show as
unusual as Twin Peaks would have the cultural impact
that it did. But when it first aired on the US television
network ABC (American Broadcasting Company) in the
early months of 1990, the cult of Twin Peaks proliferated.
Friends gathered for viewing parties accompanied by
cherry pie, donuts, and coffee (dietary staples in the town
of Twin Peaks) and speculated alongside the media as to
the identity of Laura Palmer’s killer. Even the writers of
television programs such as Beverly Hills 90210, The Fresh
Prince of Bel-Air, and Sesame Street made reference to
Twin Peaks to either signify the offbeat and unusual or, if
nothing else, to give their shows a shot of contemporary
cool.
In my small, isolated hometown of Perth, Australia,
the reaction to Twin Peaks was much the same as it
had been in the United States, and on the night of the
show’s highly anticipated premiere in February of 1991
it attracted 42 percent of the viewing audience.2 Shortly
after its Australian television debut, the single for the

• 3 •
 SOUNDTRACK FROM TW IN PEAKS

show’s theme song and its soundtrack album hit the

number 1 spots on the Australian Recording Industry
Association’s (ARIA) singles and album charts. Twin Peaks
mania had found its way all the way to Australia. It would
be a few years later before I was old enough to watch
Twin Peaks, but its impact upon my moody teenage self
was no less immediate. I was already a burgeoning cult
cinema fanatic who was obsessed with Lynch’s first film,
Eraserhead (1977), and when I discovered Twin Peaks I
was instantly enamored with its peculiar amalgam of
the everyday and the otherworldly. The show’s offbeat
characters and visuals aside, what really captured my
attention during what would be the first of many forays
into the world of Twin Peaks was its soundtrack, composed
by Angelo Badalamenti.
Badalamenti, who has been active as a composer since
the late 1950s, has composed in a wide variety of musical
genres over the course of his career: pop, soul, musical
theatre, jazz, and everything in between. Yet, despite his
incredibly diverse compositional output, Badalamenti
has primarily been associated with music of an indelibly
haunting character since first collaborating with Lynch
on the film Blue Velvet (1986) and on Twin Peaks a few
years later. Often referring to his compositional style as
bittersweet or “beautifully dark,” Badalamenti works with
harmonic suspension, dissonance, instrumental timbre,
and melody to create such a sound, and his music has
the ability to romance or disturb the listener even when
removed from the cinematic images it often accom-
panies. And, unlike most music for film and television,
Badalamenti’s soundtracks are able to function success-
fully as stand-alone albums.

• 4 •
 W elcome to T win P eaks

When I first began watching Twin Peaks as a teenager,

I played the show’s soundtrack album on repeat on my
cheap CD player night after night. Lying on the floor
of my room listening, I sang along and copied out the
lyrics written by Lynch and sung by Julee Cruise into
my journal, pondering their meaning and mining their
imagery for inspiration for my own writing. The influence
of the soundtrack eventually found its way into my musical
explorations too. Sitting at my piano, I began to create
my own improvisations over the walking bass line that
permeates the cool jazz of tracks such as “Audrey’s Dance”
and “Freshly Squeezed.” As I slowly began to find my own
voice as a songwriter and composer during these formative
years, the influence of Badalamenti and the Twin Peaks
soundtrack upon my compositions was undeniable.
Badalamenti’s music is still very much part of the
soundtrack of my life, and the music that he created for
Twin Peaks sent me on a path not only as a film music
aficionado, but also as a writer of and about this largely
under-appreciated genre of music. In film and television,
music plays a vital role in anchoring narrative and
assisting with the suspension of disbelief. It is, to quote
the film director Francis Ford Coppola, “the big factor in
helping the illusion of film come to life.”3 Successful film
music works to enhance a film through unconsciously
engaging the listener/viewer. Music is vital in estab-
lishing mood and tone in a visual narrative, whether it is
barely perceptible on the periphery of the soundtrack or
appearing during important moments to strengthen the
power of on-screen action. Music can even take center-
stage and be the focal point of a scene—a plot device
with which to drive a story.

• 5 •
 SOUNDTRACK FROM TW IN PEAKS

There are a few technical terms that I will be using

over the course of this book in order to explore ideas. I
will discuss them as they appear, but one that is worth
noting at this point is referring to the audience—as I
have already done above—as the “listener/viewer.” I will
do this on occasion when discussing Badalamenti’s music
in Twin Peaks because much of this book will concern
itself with how his compositions function in tandem with
the visuals of the show, and I feel that using the words
separately does not accurately convey the act of simulta-
neously watching and listening.
After briefly discussing Badalamenti’s early career and
how he came to establish a collaborative relationship
with David Lynch as a matter of context, I will explore
Badalamenti’s soundtrack for Twin Peaks. How does
Badalamenti’s unique compositional language influence
or strengthen on-screen visuals? What do the associa-
tions we unconsciously make with certain genres of
music mean for their use in Twin Peaks? What commen-
taries of Twin Peaks and its townsfolk are present in the
music?
When one is writing about film music one has to
consider two audiences: music fans and film fans (and
often the twain shall meet). I have tried to write about
Badalamenti’s music in such a way as not to alienate any
readers. Though sections of this book involve musical
analysis—which is necessary on occasion in order to
understand how and why Badalamenti’s music works so
well in strengthening the visual language of Twin Peaks—
it is my hope that it is expressed in such a way that it is
still accessible to those who have not studied a note of
music. This book is an hommage to a highly original and

• 6 •
 W elcome to T win P eaks

inventive composer whom I feel is often overlooked by

the greater public, and to Twin Peaks itself. It is also a
book for Twin Peaks fans: a wonderfully diverse group
of people united in their love for, and dedication to,
a groundbreaking and utterly unforgettable television
show. So without further ado …

Let’s Rock!

• 7 •
• 8 •
 Beautiful Darkness

“I started improvising and writing down music when I

was 10 years old … There is a mood to it, maybe even a
darkness—a beautiful darkness…These things I wrote at
10 or 11 years old show that this has always been a part
of me.”
Angelo Badalamenti1

Angelo Badalamenti was born in Brooklyn, New York

on March 22, 1937 and grew up in a household in which
there was often music in the air. He began taking piano
lessons at the age of eight and showed an early aptitude
for musical improvisation and composition. The young
Badalamenti would listen to the opera and classical music
of his Italian family’s record collection and the jazz of
his trumpeter brother, and the music stuck, leaving a
lasting impression on the budding composer’s musical
identity. He continued his music studies through high
school and went on to study at a graduate level, earning
an undergraduate degree at the Eastman School of
Music in Rochester. After attaining a Master of Arts
majoring in composition, French horn, and piano from
the Manhattan School of Music in 1960, Badalamenti

• 9 •
 SOUNDTRACK FROM TW IN PEAKS

then began his professional career as a teacher at Dyker

Heights Junior High School in Brooklyn.
Badalamenti took great pleasure in writing pop songs
in his spare time and at the cessation of the school day he
commuted into the city to shop-around his compositions.
Composing under an anglicized version of his name,
Andy Badale, out of commercial necessity, Badalamenti
also placed wanted ads under this name in newspapers
and magazines asking for lyricists interested in supplying
words for his songs. This led to a creative partnership
with the writer John Clifford, whose words Badalamenti
found the most “intelligent” of all the lyrics he received.2
The Badalamenti/Clifford creative partnership proved
particularly fruitful in the world of 1960s soul and R&B,
and the duo composed songs that were subsequently
recorded by popular artists of the time, such as “I Had
to Know My Way Around” for R&B singer Della Reese.
Three of their compositions—“I Hold No Grudge,” “He
Ain’t Comin’ Home No More,” and “Another Spring”—
even made their way into the legendary Nina Simone’s
diverse repertoire, and are featured on her albums High
Priestess of Soul (1967) and Nina Simone and Piano (1969).
Of all Badalamenti’s early songs, it is the somber “I
Hold No Grudge” that most embodies the “beautiful
dark” sound that he has become known for, particu-
larly in its opening section. The song consists of two
contrasting sections that combine to create a ternary
structure: an A section, a B section and a repeat of the
A section to close. The downwards movement of its
A section’s chord progression (Dm to Dm/C-sharp to
Dm/C to B-flat) takes the form of a musical lament: a
descending four-chord figure used to invoke sorrow. It

• 10 •
 B eautiful D arkness

also bears a resemblance to a later Badalamenti compo-

sition, “Sycamore Trees,” that is heard in the final
episode of Twin Peaks. “Sycamore Trees” follows a similar
descending chord pattern beginning on an E-flat minor
chord, but at a slower tempo, and features a commanding
vocal performance by Jimmy Scott that is reminiscent of
Nina Simone’s on “I Hold No Grudge.”
Whilst working on a Christmas show at Dyker Heights
in 1964, Badalamenti composed an original musical
based on Charles Dickens’ novella A Christmas Carol
(1843) for his students to perform. Badalamenti called
on his songwriting partner Clifford to write the text, and
the musical proved a hit with faculty and parents alike.
The production was even broadcast on the New York
television station WNDT-TV on Christmas Eve of 1964
at the encouragement of the local board of education.
The New York Herald Tribune reported that the musical’s
non-professional production values were “precisely the
charm of the 45 minutes. It is what we see so seldom on
TV—truly amateur work. It’s refreshing, even the fluffs
and stumbles.”3 Composing this small school musical
would prove a turning point in Badalamenti’s career.
Soon after the musical aired he received a call from a
music publisher named Frank Stanton. Stanton had been
impressed with Badalamenti’s musical and convinced the
young composer to leave his secure teaching position to
become a full-time composer and partner in his business
in New York City.
During his time working alongside Stanton,
Badalamenti continued to write songs and arrange-
ments for other artists (the pair had a hit with Nancy
Wilson’s “Face It Girl, It’s Over” in 1968), musical

• 11 •
 SOUNDTRACK FROM TW IN PEAKS

theatre (they produced a musical starring Sir Winston

Churchill’s daughter, Sarah Churchill, based on her
children’s book The Boy Who Made Magic in 1973), and
even advertising jingles. In 1966, Badalamenti undertook
what appeared to be his first foray into film music. He is
credited alongside Stanton with composing the English
lyrics for “Our World,” a song that is featured in the
1967 US release of the schlocky Italian “shockumentary”
Mondo Balordo (1964) (also known as A Fool’s World). In a
rare vocal performance, Badalamenti can even be heard
crooning the song earnestly during the film’s opening
credits accompanied by the sort of electric-organ-heavy
backing band that was everywhere in 1960s pop and
rock music.
Such a diverse range of musical assignments throughout
the 1960s and 1970s would serve Badalamenti well as a
film composer: a vocation that requires the ability and
adaptability to write in a vast array of musical genres and
styles. “If you want to be a film composer get involved
with all kinds of music,” he would later advise composers
starting out, “because when you get called as a composer
a lot of films [require] different styles [of composition]
and you have to be able to handle that.”4
One of the more unusual partnerships of Badalamenti’s
early career was with the electronic music pioneer
Jean-Jacques Perrey, with whom Badalamenti collabo-
rated on advertisements, jingles, and instrumental pieces.
One such instrumental, “Visa to the Stars,” is featured
on Perrey and Gershon Kingsley’s cult 1966 album The
In Sound from Way Out! and also appeared in an adver-
tisement for the oil company Esso around the same
time as the album’s release.5 The In Sound from Way Out!

• 12 •
 B eautiful D arkness

follows in the tradition of musique concrète, a genre of

electroacoustic music that originated in the first half
of the twentieth century after the invention of the tape
recorder. Characteristic of musique concrète composition
was the splicing, mixing, and modification of recorded
sounds to create new works or sound collages.
A prominent composer of musique concrète works was
Pierre Schaeffer, who trained as a radio engineer, not as a
composer. As a musical novice he could approach musical
composition as an “organization of sound” instead of as
an arrangement of traditional musical notation. It was
Schaeffer who introduced Perrey to tape manipulation.
Perrey hand-spliced and arranged music and sound
effects to create loops for The In Sound from Way Out!
in a process that was incredibly time-consuming. Today,
looping musical material is achieved easily through
merely cutting and pasting on music editing software.
For this reason alone, The In Sound from Way Out!
cannot be dismissed as pure musical novelty, and its
innovative synthesis of pop and musique concrète, as well
as its introduction of the synthesizer to a wider audience,
is why it has retained its status as an influential and
important electronic music album. Badalamenti himself
has created many pieces with David Lynch that have
utilized techniques found in musique concrète. Since the
early 1990s, the pair have recorded long pieces of music
that they call “firewood.” These “firewood” tracks are
then altered and sometimes mixed together to create
different soundscapes for Lynch’s visuals.
“Visa to the Stars” is the most homogenous in texture
of all the pieces that appear on The In Sound from Way Out!
in that it does not feature an abundance of electronically

• 13 •
 SOUNDTRACK FROM TW IN PEAKS

driven sounds. There are no sudden blips or bleeps, or

amusing sound effects overwhelming the piece’s sonic
landscape. The only “unusual” instrument present is the
Ondioline, an early synthesizer with an oscillating tone
like that of a theremin. The composition consists of three
sections (A B A), and features a simple melody performed
by the Ondioline. It is accompanied by electric organs, a
drum kit, and banjo rhythm section supplying a galloping
rhythm that would not be out of place on the soundtrack
of a Western film. What is most striking about “Visa to
the Stars” is that in its B section (approximately a minute
into the piece) there is a key change from C major to
A-flat major, and a secondary melody emerges from the
new harmony. At this moment the piece transforms into
a very early incarnation of “Questions in a World of
Blue,” a song that would later feature in the Twin Peaks
universe. For about four bars, the Ondioline melody
and its accompaniment is similar in its melodic and
harmonic trajectory to that of Julee Cruise’s vocal line
and Badalamenti’s synthesizer in “Questions,” though
Cruise’s vocal line ascends in the fourth bar (see the
boxed notes in Figures 1 and 2). Note that in “Questions
in a World of Blue” the melody is augmented (longer)
and that the whole song is performed a great deal slower
than “Visa to the Stars.” In his musical collaborations
with David Lynch, Badalamenti has adapted to the direc-
tor’s predilection for “slowness,” and it is evident here in
the elongation of the melody.

Figure 1 The Ondioline melody in “Visa to the Stars”

• 14 •
 B eautiful D arkness

Figure 2 Julee Cruise’s vocal line in “Questions in a World of Blue”

Interestingly, in 1970 “Visa to the Stars” was re-orches-

trated and arranged by another film composer, Ennio
Morricone, and released under the title “Tiger Rally.”
It is ironic that Morricone, best known for his brilliant
score for the famous Western The Good, the Bad, and
the Ugly (1966), stripped away the brisk Western-style
accompaniment of the original and instead slowed the
piece down, allowing the melody’s romantic character to
shine. His loungey interpretation of “Visa to the Stars”
expands on the first section of the piece (the second
section I describe above is not used) and strings perform
the melody alongside the heavily reverbed vocals of
I Cantori Moderni di Alessandroni, a choir who had
worked with Morricone on some of his previous film
scores. The singers slink in and out of the mix, sometimes
solo, other times in harmony, occasionally elongating
the “s” at the end of certain words to create a soft hiss.
This wash of languid vocals coupled with the piece’s
leisurely pace allows for a dreamy ambience to permeate
Morricone’s take on Badalamenti and Perrey’s otherwise
brisk original version.

The World of Cinema

One of the earliest film scores Badalamenti composed
was for the 1974 release Law and Disorder, a film about
two men (played by Ernest Borgnine and Carroll

• 15 •
 SOUNDTRACK FROM TW IN PEAKS

O’Connor) who join together to form a vigilante law

enforcement duo. Badalamenti had been working as a
television composer for Palomar Pictures in the early
1970s when he met Law and Disorder’s director, Ivan
Passer. The meeting would prove fortuitous, as Passer
had just finished work on the film. Badalamenti had seen
the script on its travels around the Palomar offices and
had already composed some themes for the film on spec
to show the director. Managing to catch Passer at an
auspicious moment, Badalamenti performed the themes
he had written for the film’s two central characters and
demonstrated how he could integrate the themes so
they could work together in the film’s score. Passer was
suitably impressed and agreed to have Badalamenti score
his film. The composer’s recent electronic music collabo-
rator Jean-Jacques Perrey even took part in the film,
supplying “electronic music effects” for its soundtrack.
Law and Disorder is out of print at the time of writing,
but its trailer is viewable online and gives an impression
of Badalamenti’s scoring for the film.6
Law and Disorder’s main theme features a mournful
melody performed on a synthesizer accompanied by
a quaint mix of woodwinds, strings, other keyboard
instruments, a drum kit, and what sounds like a jangling
triangle keeping time. When removed from the film’s
trailer and its quirky orchestration, a stripped-down
version of the theme reveals a melody that conveys a
sense of longing: another early manifestation of the
beautifully dark, or “bittersweet” compositional style
that Badalamenti would later become known for. “I’ve
always loved things that are bittersweet,” he reflected
in an interview with the writer Josef Woodard. “Things

• 16 •
 B eautiful D arkness

can get very melodic, but it never gets sappy. It grabs

you without going over the top. A lot of things I write
work out that way.”7 But just what is “bittersweet” in the
context of musical composition?
When Badalamenti describes his sound as “bitter-
sweet,” it could refer to a few different aspects of his
music, but in simple terms “bittersweet” can be taken
to mean that although his music often possesses a
sad quality it is still very pleasurable to listen to. One
compositional device that assists Badalamenti in creating
this “bittersweet” sound is his use of harmonic suspension
which can be heard in the opening five bars of the
melody from the “Theme from Law and Disorder.” If
we reduce the theme’s score in these five bars down to
a simple melody and accompaniment, we can observe a
suspension in the third bar (Fig. 3).
Western listeners grow up hearing music that is
predominantly tonal, in that it is centered around a
particular note called the tonic. A scale can be organized
using certain pitches from this tonic which then informs
a piece’s tonality (for example the key of C major or C
minor). Certain notes are more consonant or stable
within a scale, whereas others are dissonant, and there
is an overall tendency for constant resolution to and
reinforcement of the tonic note. A suspension occurs

Figure 3 Suspension in the “Theme from Law and Disorder”

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 SOUNDTRACK FROM TW IN PEAKS

when a note that is dissonant within a particular harmonic

context is sustained before resolving (usually downwards)
to a note that is more consonant. In the “Theme from
Law and Disorder,” the sustained B note of the melody
in the third bar creates a tension against the A minor
harmony—in which it is a dissonant note—and resolves
by moving down to the A (the tonic note) on the second
beat of the following bar. Thus the tension created by the
sustained B creates a feeling of restlessness in the listener
who unconsciously desires resolution to the A.
Law and Disorder was met with mixed reviews upon its
release, with some critics noting that the film’s constant
shifts between humor and heavy drama were discon-
certing. Badalamenti’s work on the film went largely
unnoticed, though the Australian critic Helen Frizell
made positive mention of Badalamenti’s score in her
review of the film, writing that although the film was
muddled “Andy Badale’s music [was] bright.”8
Around the same time as Law and Disorder was in
production, Badalamenti also had the opportunity to
work on another film at Palomar Pictures, requiring him
to compose in a very different style of music. Gordon’s War
(1973), directed by Ossie Davis, also concerns several men
taking the law into their own hands on the gritty streets
of New York City. Once again the savvy Badalamenti
approached the director to write the score for the film,
showing Davis different songs he had written for each
of the characters. Davis was initially apprehensive about
hiring Badalamenti for the job (he had Barry White
in mind to write the film’s music) but conceded after
being impressed by Badalamenti’s stirring compositions.
Badalamenti’s background in writing pop and soul songs

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 B eautiful D arkness

served him well for Gordon’s War, and the R&B singer
Barbara Mason even performed the film’s tie-in single,
“Child of Tomorrow.” The film’s soundtrack—which is
co-written and produced by Badalamenti and Al Elias,
arranged by Horace Ott, and performed by the studio
band Badder Than Evil—is full of driving funk rhythms,
clavinet punctuations, and wah-wah guitar, and has since
become a cult record sampled by numerous hip-hop and
dance artists.9
Despite delivering solid scores for both Law and
Disorder and Gordon’s War, Badalamenti did not find
himself working on further film projects during that
latter half of the 1970s. Instead, he busied himself with
writing songs and musical theatre pieces into the 1980s,
and even had a minor country hit with the novelty
instrumental number “Nashville Beer Garden” (credited
to the Andy Badale Orchestra) in late 1979. His life as
a composer would drastically change, however, in the
mid-1980s when he was asked to assist an actress who
was having a hard time transforming herself into a singer.

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• 20 •
 There’s Always Music in the Air

“[Lynch] is a sound, mood and rhythm director.”

Kyle MacLachlan1

“Angelo brought me into the world of music. I didn’t

realize how much I wanted to go there till that happened.”
David Lynch2

In 1986, Angelo Badalamenti received a call from a friend

who was in North Carolina working on the new David
Lynch film, Blue Velvet. Fred Caruso, the film’s producer,
had suggested Badalamenti as a possible vocal coach
for the actress Isabella Rossellini, who had been having
difficulties in singing the song “Blue Velvet” in her role
as nightclub singer Dorothy Vallens. In an interview
for the documentary about the making of Blue Velvet
titled Mysteries of Love (2002), Caruso recalled, “When
it was time to pre-record Isabella … she couldn’t do it.
She’s not a singer. She tried very hard, the piano player
couldn’t get it in the right key … it just didn’t work at
all. So I called a friend of mine, Angelo Badalamenti.”3
Set in the fictional town of Lumberton, Blue Velvet
is centered on Jeffrey Beaumont (played by Kyle

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 SOUNDTRACK FROM TW IN PEAKS

MacLachlan), a young man who discovers a human ear

in a vacant lot and then takes it upon himself to inves-
tigate the dark underbelly of his seemingly wholesome
hometown. Lynch had been inspired to write the film by
the pop song “Blue Velvet,” which was originally written
in 1950 by Bernie Wayne and Lee Morris, and made
famous by Bobby Vinton in the early 1960s. But in the
world of Lynch’s Blue Velvet, the mournful love song’s
romantic conceit is rendered grim and disturbing.
Lynch had initially been dismissive of Caruso’s
suggestion that Badalamenti assist Rossellini, but as
they were not making progress with the recording of
“Blue Velvet” for the film, Lynch finally acquiesced.
Badalamenti made the trip down from New York to
Wilmington to work with Rossellini, and together they
rehearsed for a few hours on an arrangement of the
song with just piano and vocals. Lynch listened to a
recording made of the session and was so impressed with
Badalamenti’s arrangement and success with Rossellini
that the composer was enlisted to write further music for
the film’s soundtrack.
In one dreamlike scene in the film, Dorothy performs
“Blue Velvet” at Lumberton’s local jazz bar, The Slow
Club, whilst her soon-to-be accomplice in amour fou
Jeffrey watches on, mesmerized by her enigmatic
glamor. Badalamenti’s arrangement of “Blue Velvet” in
this scene takes on a cocktail lounge sound—a piano,
lightly brushed drum kit, guitar, saxophone, and upright
bass supports Rossellini’s breathy vocals—and ends
with a unique musical divergence from the original
song. Just over a minute into “Blue Velvet,” we see the
majority of Dorothy’s band suddenly disappear from the

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screen, suggesting the passing of time, until only she and

Badalamenti (in a brief cameo appearance) remain. In
this moment, “Blue Velvet” transforms into a new piece
that is titled “Blue Star,” and the mood of Dorothy’s
performance immediately shifts from that of relaxed
cabaret to doomed torch singer. The lyrics of “Blue
Star” allude to a song from the mid-1950s of the same
name, and also feature fragments of lyrical imagery that
would later appear on Lynch/Badalamenti collaborator
Julee Cruise’s song “Into the Night” from the Twin Peaks
soundtrack. And this isn’t the only connection between
“Into the Night” and Blue Velvet either. Several times
in the film we hear Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper) state
“Now it’s dark”: words whispered softly by Julee Cruise
at the beginning of “Into the Night.”
In “Blue Star” we hear Badalamenti’s bittersweet or
“beautiful dark” in full effect, owing to a few composi-
tional choices on the part of the composer. Firstly, there
is a key change from C major in “Blue Velvet” to G minor
in “Blue Star.” The most obvious difference between a
major key and a minor key is the third and sixth notes
of their corresponding scales. In a minor key, these notes
are flattened. The G major scale for example, consists
of the notes G, A, B, C, D, E, and F-sharp, whereas the
G harmonic minor consists of G, A, B-flat, C, D, E-flat,
and F-sharp. By simply flattening the B and E of the G
major scale we are able to change its musical character.
Western listeners are predisposed to hearing minor
keys as “sad” and major keys as “happy,” and one reason
for this is that years of experiencing certain genres of
music in specific dramatic contexts have conditioned our
emotional responses to such music. This may seem like

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somewhat of a generalization, but consider the difference

in how you feel when hearing Felix Mendelssohn’s
“Wedding March” in C major (1842) compared with the
gloom and doom of Frédéric Chopin’s “Funeral March”
from his Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor (1839).
Classical works such as these have become ingrained in
Western cultural consciousness as definitive signifiers of
joy and sorrow (think of how many films or TV shows
have used the aforementioned pieces over the years) and
film composers and pop songwriters have followed in
the Classical tradition, composing music that works with,
and reinforces, listeners’ associations between tonality
and character. As neuroscientist Daniel Levitin explains
in his book This is Your Brain on Music, “each time we hear
a musical pattern that is new to our ears, our brains try to
make an association … we try to contextualize the new
sounds, and eventually, we create these memory links
between a particular set of notes and [previous listening
experiences].” 4
Another way in which Badalamenti creates his
“beautiful dark” sound is through his use of instrumental
timbre or color. Every musical instrument has its own
unique timbre that differentiates it from others. An
instrument’s individual pitch range also affects its timbre.
For example, the low notes on a piano sound dark and
murky, whereas its high notes are bright. Composers
take this into consideration when writing for individual
instruments. Certain instruments also bring particular
associations with their use, just as major and minor keys
do. A film composer may use an accordion in a film score
to draw on moviegoers’ association of the instrument
with France, or the city of Paris. This brings with it a

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 T here ’ s A lways M usic in the A ir

sense of time and/or place that can help to reinforce

images on screen. When “Blue Velvet” segues into “Blue
Star,” the warm sound of the jazz ensemble is replaced
by a sparse, dissonant, high-register piano ostinato (a
repetitive musical or rhythmic figure) accompanied by
strings. Since the inception of cinema, the string section
of the orchestra has traditionally been used by film
music composers to accompany scenes of high drama,
sometimes to the point of silliness, especially when heavy
vibrato (a slight fluctuation of pitch) is employed. By
simply replacing the jazz ensemble of “Blue Velvet” with
the strings, and combining it with the abrasive piano
ostinato, the composition signifies to the listener/viewer
that there is a change in the atmosphere of Dorothy’s
performance at The Slow Club and injects the scene with
further drama.
“Blue Star” also opens with a lament progression that
is similar to that of the one heard at the beginning of
Badalamenti’s composition for Nina Simone, “I Hold No
Grudge.” The low register strings descend gloomily on
the notes G, F, E-flat, D before the piece concludes on an
unresolved Gmin9(sharp7) chord. In the middle-register
strings we also hear a suspension, with an A being held
over a G minor chord that finally resolves down to an
F-sharp to create a D major harmony when the D is
played in the lower register. This long suspension creates
internal harmonic drama in its need for resolution.
When the suspension is coupled with the dissonance
that occurs between the C and D in the upper register of
the piano and the unresolved final chord, as well as with
the aforementioned choice of tonality and instrumental
timbre, it creates an uneasy ambience.

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Floating
The unique creative relationship between Badalamenti
and Lynch was born out of Lynch’s inability to secure the
rights of a 1983 This Mortal Coil song he loved for use
in Blue Velvet. “Song to the Siren” was originally written
and released by the folk singer Tim Buckley in 1970,
but the dream pop collective’s interpretation thirteen
years later featured layered, heavily reverbed vocals by
Elizabeth Fraser floating above the sparkling guitar of
Robin Guthrie (both also members of the band Cocteau
Twins). Occasionally, a ghostly vocal wail intrudes on the
mix, aches to a climax, and then disappears into the audio
ether, subsumed by an abundance of reverb that washes
over the mix like an ocean wave. Unfortunately for
Lynch, who had his heart set on the song, the synching
rights of “Song to the Siren” proved far too expensive for
Blue Velvet’s budget. Years later, Lynch would be able to
feature the song in his film Lost Highway (1997), but for
Blue Velvet it was simply not affordable.
Fred Caruso had noticed that Lynch was always scrib-
bling little fragments of words on paper, so he suggested
to Lynch that he write a few lyrics to give to Badalamenti
that could be used to compose a song in the same style as
“Song to the Siren.” Lynch was not too keen on the idea,
adamant that there was no way that the beautiful piece
of music he was so in love with could be easily replicated.
“David really knows what he wants, especially when
he listens to existing records and he falls in love with
those things. It’s very hard to turn David around into
something new,” Badalamenti commented of Lynch’s
obstinacy in an interview in 1990.5 But Lynch did as

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Caruso suggested and a confused Badalamenti found

himself stuck with a piece of paper bearing a few abstract
lines of poetry. The composer was initially disappointed
to find that the words—which bore no discernable rhyme
or hook—were unlike any of the lyrics he had encoun-
tered in his long career as a songwriter working with
lyricists. In an interview with Film Score Monthly in 2001,
Badalamenti recounted his initial feelings on Lynch’s
lyrical abilities, explaining that he had no idea what to do
with the lyrics he had been given. He approached Lynch
and asked the director how he would like the piece to
sound, to which Lynch replied, “Oh, just make it like the
wind, Angelo. It should be a song that floats on the sea of
time. Make it cosmic!”6
Badalamenti was somewhat confused by Lynch’s
abstruse instructions. But, ever adaptable, the composer
took in the quasi-spiritualism of Lynch’s descriptions of
nature and the universe and began to create a melody
and arrangement that complemented the unusual lyrics
he had been saddled with. As the pair discussed changes
to the melody and sound of the piece, the seeds of a
unique creative partnership began to take root, and soon
a slow, stately song emerged from their dialogue. They
gave it the title “Mysteries of Love.” Badalamenti had
brought Lynch into the world of music, and Lynch had
challenged Badalamenti to compose in a more impres-
sionistic way, encouraging the veteran songwriter to
eschew more traditional songwriting practices (such as
following a verse/chorus structure and working with
rhyming lyrics) in favor of creating a prevailing mood.
Lynch and Badalamenti decided that a singer who
possessed a voice “like an angel” would be needed to

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 SOUNDTRACK FROM TW IN PEAKS

bring the correct feel to the song in order to truly

convey the piece’s cosmic identity. Badalamenti had
worked with the singer Julee Cruise on various projects
including a musical of his own entitled The Boys in the
Live Country Band and enquired as to whether she knew
of any singers who possessed the ethereal vocal quality
required for “Mysteries of Love.” Initially neither Cruise
nor Badalamenti had considered her for the gig, as
Cruise was known for her ability to “belt.” The singer
later admitted, “I’m a belter … I have a big voice. I’m
a comedienne, and an actress, and a musician … but I
am not an ingénue.”7 Cruise sent numerous singers to
audition for the song but none of them was quite right.
In the end, partly due to frustration, Cruise decided she
would attempt to sing the song.
Cruise went against her propensity to sing in a
bold, musical-theatre style and instead sang very high
and very soft in order to capture the celestial sound
that Badalamenti and Lynch had been looking for. She
explained of the difficulties she initially experienced in
adapting her voice to the song: “There was just the hint
of a melody, no breaks in the music, no place for a singer
to breathe. At first I said I couldn’t do it. I didn’t think
I could hold my breath that long.”8 Eventually Cruise
found her “white angel” sound and she later reflected
that it was necessary for her not only to sing differently,
but to actually adopt a different vocal character. “David’s
lyrics are so spacious and odd that I had to throw out my
usual vocal technique and adopt a slight persona.”9
Imitating the hymn-like execution of This Mortal
Coil’s performance in “Song to the Siren,” Cruise
performs “Mysteries of Love” in a slow, deliberate

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 T here ’ s A lways M usic in the A ir

fashion, her vocal delivery wavering only to oscillate on

the occasional word. The effect of the vocal movement
on these words is referred to as a melisma in music, and is
produced when multiple notes are attributed to a single
syllable. For example, on the word “float” she uses seven
notes—C-sharp, D-sharp, C-sharp, D-sharp, E, F-sharp,
and E. In “Mysteries of Love,” Cruise’s use of melisma
resembles the plainsong (also known as Gregorian chant)
of Western liturgical music in that her vocal line moves
slowly in a stepwise fashion between a limited number
of tones and avoids large melodic jumps. On the word
“float” the ascension of the melodic line is also a form of
word painting, its upwards movement analogous to the
physical act of floating. Further strengthening the song’s
ties to Western liturgy is its spacious synthesizer and
orchestral accompaniment, which swells and envelops
Cruise’s voice like an immense pipe organ. In one scene
in Blue Velvet, the metaphysical overtones of “Mysteries
of Love” are literal. Jeffrey and Sandy (Laura Dern) sit
in Jeffrey’s car outside a church as Sandy recounts a
dream she had the night she met Jeffrey. As she describes
the imagery of her dream, an instrumental version of
“Mysteries of Love” is heard on the soundtrack featuring
the sound of a church pipe organ.
“Mysteries of Love” (in both its instrumental and
Julee Cruise iterations) underscores scenes in the film
that depict the burgeoning romance between Jeffrey and
Sandy. In these scenes, the pair meditate on love and
happiness, and their interaction provides a counterpoint to
the contact that Jeffrey has with the emotionally damaged
Dorothy and the seamy underworld of Lumberton. The
love that Jeffrey has for the somewhat naive Sandy is in

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 SOUNDTRACK FROM TW IN PEAKS

conflict with the erotic longing he feels for Dorothy, and

this is reflected in Badalamenti’s shifts between “light”
and “dark” musical material. In contrast to Sandy and her
association with “Mysteries of Love,” whenever Dorothy
is on screen, the music we hear on the soundtrack is
usually comprised of low-register orchestral rumblings
that intone a sense of impending doom. And of course
we cannot forget Dorothy’s sad performance of “Blue
Star” or her subversive reimagining with Frank of “Blue
Velvet” as a song with far more sinister implications than
were surely intended by its songwriters.

A Perfect Marriage
“The music has to marry to the picture. It’s an exper-
iment to find those things that do that.”
David Lynch10

After the success of Badalamenti’s work with Rossellini

and the creation of “Mysteries of Love,” Lynch tasked
the composer with the film’s entire score. Harnessing
his ability to write in many genres of music, Badalamenti
created additional music for Blue Velvet in the style of
classic Hollywood scores, neo-classical music, and jazz.
His dramatic piece for Blue Velvet’s opening credits twists,
turns, and soars as the names of the film’s personnel
appear over a soft wave of rippling blue velvet. At the end
of the piece a two-note motif is heard in the brass section
that is eerily reminiscent of what would later become a
key piece on the Twin Peaks soundtrack: the opening of
“Laura Palmer’s Theme” (see Fig. 5, p. 70).

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 T here ’ s A lways M usic in the A ir

Lynch had written the script whilst listening to

the composer Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No.
15 (1971), and played the composer’s work on set to
establish an atmosphere. When it came time to write
the film’s score Lynch even requested that Badalamenti
compose his music with the mood of Symphony No. 15
in mind. Lynch’s use of music on set was indicative of
the way in which he, unlike many other film directors,
would often use music to inform the action or mood on
screen instead of having a score written or soundtrack
placed after shooting had been completed. Consider
the following popular sentiment about the role of the
composer in film:

It is the cardinal rule for the film composer that the

visuals on the screen determine the form of the music
written to accompany it … the film composer must
take into consideration the form and rhythm of a scene
established by the visuals. To do otherwise is to invite
argument not only from the film itself but from the
producer and director as well.11

Clearly this is not the case when it comes to a director

such as David Lynch. Lynch’s subservience to music is but
one of the many ways in which the director goes against
traditional moviemaking practices. Lynch often discusses
his films’ music with Badalamenti before production
has commenced, and the composer has explained that
“David’s visuals are very influenced by the music. The
tempo of music helps him set the tempo of the actors
and their dialogue and how they move.”12 Lynch wrote
of using music during filming in his book Catching the

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 SOUNDTRACK FROM TW IN PEAKS

Big Fish (2006), noting that “hearing the music is just a

verification that things are going the right way … it’s a
good thing if you’ve got some music up front to play to
see if the scene works.”13
Lynch delighted in the musical partnership that
had emerged during Blue Velvet, reflecting years later,
“[Badalamenti] was getting me to send lyrics and we’d
sit and work together, and it was so much fun. And
he didn’t mind me saying things. He liked me saying
things.”14 “Saying things” would become a crucial part of
their collaborative process. Sometimes Lynch would just
present ideas on paper to Badalamenti with no musical
direction, or on other occasions Badalamenti would sit
at the piano and improvise with Lynch at his side vividly
describing a scenario and its associated moods. The
key to any great creative partnership is mutual under-
standing, and Lynch and Badalamenti are so successful as
a director/composer duo because they are able to under-
stand each other so implicitly. Badalamenti explained
of their working relationship in an interview with the
Los Angeles Times in 1990, “David describes the moods.
They may appear nebulous; at the same time, they’re
very specific … I listen to him and I start hearing things
almost immediately.”15
The foundation for the Lynch/Badalamenti sound
world had been established in the creation of Blue
Velvet, and it would be one the composer and director
would further explore during the creation of music for
Twin Peaks. Blue Velvet’s transcendental “Mysteries of
Love,” its American pop nostalgia, its ominous orchestral
rumblings, and its hepcat jazz would all find their equiva-
lents on the soundtrack for Twin Peaks. Badalamenti had

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 T here ’ s A lways M usic in the A ir

found the perfect cinematic environment for his moody

compositions to thrive, and Lynch had discovered a
musical partner who understood and enhanced the
baffling and beautiful images he conjured up on screen.

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• 34 •
 Falling

After the release of Blue Velvet, the otherworldly beauty

of the song “Mysteries of Love” caught the attention of
Warner Bros. Records; David Lynch, Angelo Badalamenti,
and Julee Cruise were approached to produce an album
for the label. The resultant Floating into the Night (1989),
expanded on the moods and vocal character of “Mysteries
of Love.” Badalamenti and Lynch collaborated again
on the writing and production of material and Cruise
was able to draw on her new-found angelic persona to
perform the songs.
The period that began with Blue Velvet and culminated
in the release of Cruise’s second album, The Voice of Love,
in 1993 was arguably the most fruitful of the Lynch/
Badalamenti creative partnership. To provide an under-
standing of the close proximity in which the diverse
projects that Lynch and Badalamenti undertook occurred
during this time, consider the following timeline:

1. Blue Velvet premieres in August 1986 at the

Montreal World Film Festival, and then opens
in the US in September 1986 and internationally
in 1987.

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 SOUNDTRACK FROM TW IN PEAKS

2. Floating into the Night begins production in 1988.

3. Twin Peaks begins production early 1989.
4. Wild at Heart commences production in mid-1989
after completion of the Twin Peaks pilot.
5. Floating into the Night is released September 12,
1989.
6. The theater production Industrial Symphony No. 1
premieres November 10, 1989.
7. The Twin Peaks pilot airs in the US on April 8,
1990.
8. Wild at Heart premieres in May 1990 at the Cannes
Film Festival.
9. The Twin Peaks soundtrack is released through
Warner Bros. Records on September 11, 1990 just
prior to the second season of the show airing later
that month.
10. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me begins production in
mid-1991.
11. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me premieres in May
1992 at the Cannes Film Festival.
12. The Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me soundtrack
album is released through Warner Bros. Records on
August 7, 1992.
13. Julee Cruise’s album The Voice of Love is released on
October 12, 1993.

The above list doesn’t even include the advertising work,

television projects, and other endeavors that members of
the so-called “Lynch Mob” undertook during this time!
Songs from Floating into the Night appear in Twin Peaks
and Industrial Symphony No. 1; musical cues and songs
from Industrial Symphony No. 1 underscore Wild at Heart

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 F alling

and Twin Peaks; and songs from Industrial Symphony No.

1, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, and Wild at Heart show
up on The Voice of Love. A brilliant cross-pollination
of ideas occurred as a result of recording sessions and
projects undertaken in such close proximity to one
another, and from this cross-pollination bloomed a rich
musical syntax that slipped effortlessly from one Lynch-
piece to the next.
The recording of Floating into the Night and later Twin
Peaks sessions took place at the Excalibur Sound studio
in New York City under the supervision of engineer
Art Polhemus. Located inside a dilapidated building,
Excalibur’s disheveled appearance and dark lighting
served the character of Badalamenti’s music well, allowing
a gloomy mood to prevail. Alongside Badalamenti on
synthesizer and piano and Cruise on vocals, a group of
talented session musicians were assembled for Floating
into the Night that included Kinny Landrum (synthe-
sizer), Vinnie Bell and Eddie Dixon (electric guitars), Al
Regni (tenor saxophone and clarinet), and Grady Tate
(drums). In an interview for the podcast The Brad Dukes
Show in December 2015, Landrum described the musical
arrangement process that took place during the recording
of Floating into the Night.1 Badalamenti would first bring
the musicians lead sheets* of his compositions from which

* Lead sheets are a simplified form of sheet music distributed to

musicians in an ensemble, and are most often used in jazz and pop
music. They vary in their appearance but often offer a guide melody
and lyrics with chord symbols. This format allows a degree of
freedom in musical interpretation by performers as well as space for
improvisation.

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to work. He would then sit at the piano and perform a

song prior to a recording session in order to communicate
its particular mood or style. This allowed Landrum and
the other musicians to “realize” the song’s basic character
and intent, but in a way that left an interpretive space
so that they could still inject some of their own musical
personality into the recording. Lynch often attended
these sessions, and in his role as producer would “[ask]
for something not in musical terms, but in emotional
or stylistic terms.”2 Sometimes Lynch’s requests were
characteristically abstract. Cruise has joked in several
interviews that Lynch once directed Al Regni to make his
saxophone sound like “big chunks of plastic” on the song
“Rockin’ Back Inside My Heart.”3 Regni achieved this by
heavily accenting, or blasting, individual notes, and this
can be heard from around 1:40 into the track. These noisy
“chunks” aggressively penetrate the mix, disturbing the
otherwise restrained character of the song.
The sessions at Excalibur yielded an album that
combined the sound of 1950s and early 1960s teen pop
with surrealistic lyrics that seemed born in the vacuum of
dreams. Commenting on the sedating quality of Floating
into the Night, the writer Jack Barron even went so far
as to describe the album as “the finest legal romantic
narcotic of 1990 so far.”4 “Mysteries of Love” from Blue
Velvet was included on Floating into the Night as well as
the songs “Falling,” “The Nightingale,” and “Into the
Night,” which would eventually appear on the Twin Peaks
soundtrack release. Three other songs from Floating
into the Night would also feature in one form or another
in Twin Peaks: “Rockin’ Back Inside My Heart,” “The
Swan,” and “The World Spins.”

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 F alling

Falling in Love
The collaborative process that was established between
Lynch and Badalamenti during the filming of Blue Velvet
and further refined in the production of Floating into
the Night continued to prove rewarding. Though Lynch
was not a formally trained musician, he had learned
to speak about music in such a way that was musical,
conveying to Badalamenti the sound he wanted for a
piece through a few carefully selected words. From these
words, Badalamenti was able to intuit the particular
compositional elements required for a piece, such as its
tonality or tempo. In late 1989, the pair were commis-
sioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music to stage two
forty-five-minute performances as part of the line-up of
that year’s Next Wave Festival. With only two weeks to
write a theater piece, Badalamenti and Lynch worked
quickly and came up with Industrial Symphony No. 1: A
“triple-exposure dream. A dream of the broken hearted.
A dream about floating and falling and rising upwards.”5
Separated into three sections—“Love,” “Nature,” and
“Industry”—Julee Cruise featured prominently in the
“Love” section of the piece, performing songs from her
Badalamenti/Lynch catalog and even being suspended
in mid-air whilst singing “I Float Alone.” Bathed in light
and wearing dresses that would not be out of a place at
a mid-century high-school dance, it would be a similar
role to the one Cruise would be seen playing in the pilot
episode of Twin Peaks the following February.
Around the same time as the production of Industrial
Symphony No. 1, Lynch approached Badalamenti to
compose music for a television show he had been working

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 SOUNDTRACK FROM TW IN PEAKS

on. Describing the show as “Blue Velvet gone Peyton Place,”6

Lynch explained to Badalamenti that he wanted to create
a piece of music that would encapsulate the essence of
the series. So, during one particularly special songwriting
session, Badalamenti sat at his old Fender Rhodes piano
in the dimly lit office he used as a studio while Lynch sat
by his side, and the two composed a piece.
Lynch began by explaining to Badalamenti that the
opening of the piece needed to be very dark and very
slow, and that Badalamenti should imagine being alone
in the woods at night surrounded by the sound of wind
passing through the trees. Badalamenti began to play a
repetitive C in the murky lower register of the Rhodes
that lumbered on each beat as if it were part of a funeral
procession. Soon an ominous motif that moved around
the notes A-flat, G, and B-flat emerged, a little higher
than the C. Badalamenti continued to repeat the motif
for a little while until Lynch signaled that there needed
to be a change in the music—a beautiful, sad girl was now
beginning to materialize from deep within the darkness
of the woods. Badalamenti’s motif then began to ascend,
transforming into a beautiful melody that he comple-
mented with a lilting accompaniment in the bass. As
Lynch exclaimed that the troubled girl was getting closer
and closer—each vocalization of “closer” becoming
more and more ecstatic, more and more breathless—
Badalamenti’s melody followed suit. It climbed further
and further up the Rhodes, feeling unending, as if it
would keep rising into oblivion. As Lynch reached fever
pitch in his direction (Let it tear your heart out, Angelo!),
Badalamenti finally allowed the melody to climax on a
high E: Laura Palmer had arrived.

• 40 •
 F alling

In just twenty minutes—one take—Badalamenti

composed what was to become “Laura Palmer’s Theme.”
Lynch loved what the composer had improvised, and
implored Badalamenti not to change a single note:
he had captured the spirit of the world that would
become Twin Peaks. “Laura Palmer’s Theme” appears
in two variations on the soundtrack release as “Love
Theme from Twin Peaks” and “Laura Palmer’s Theme,”
providing the emotional compass for Twin Peaks. Though
the theme was conceived with Laura Palmer in mind and
was initially anchored to her—appearing whenever she
is mourned or when the circumstances around her death
are discussed—it also took on a second life as the show
progressed and new storylines emerged.
Badalamenti was approached to write further music
for the show when it was decided that a Twin Peaks
pilot episode would be going into production, and the
personnel from the Floating into the Night sessions were
retained (with the addition of several other musicians) to
record Badalamenti’s compositions. “Falling” had already
been flagged in Lynch’s mind as the Twin Peaks theme
song and it was reworked into an instrumental for the
show’s opening credits. Using the original recording
from the Floating into the Night album, Cruise’s vocal was
omitted and replaced by Kinny Landrum performing its
melody on his Emulator II synthesizer using a French
horn sound.7
“Twin Peaks Theme” opens with a bass hook accom-
panied by reverberant chords on a Rhodes piano and a
faint cymbal ostinato by Grady Tate. There have been
varying accounts as to the conception of the famous
“twangy” bass hook. Cruise recalls that Vinnie Bell

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 SOUNDTRACK FROM TW IN PEAKS

down-tuned his guitar to create the sound,8 whilst Eddie

Dixon stated in a 2009 interview with Twin Peaks Archive
that he performed the hook whilst working on Floating
into the Night.9 In Brad Dukes’ comprehensive oral history
of the show, Reflections, Badalamenti credits Landrum
with coming up with the bass.10 According to Landrum,
the sound was created using a retro guitar sample on his
Emulator II synthesizer at the request of Lynch, who had
wanted a “fifties” sound. Noticing that there was no bass
part on the recording, Landrum performed the hook in
a lower register to fill out the harmony and Lynch was
immediately pleased with the results.11
Regardless of its origin, the Duane Eddy-inspired
opening of the Twin Peaks theme is incredibly effective in
that it brings with it certain cultural associations. Eddy
was a guitarist who came to prominence at the end of
the 1950s through such hits as “Rebel Rouser” as well
as his famous guitar riff on the theme for the television
series Peter Gunn (composed by Henry Mancini). His
unique sound was created by playing a lead melody
on the lower strings of his guitar which resulted in his
signature “twang.” Added to this was a tremolo device he
used on his guitar that produced a “growling” effect.12 So
synonymous was he with this sound that he even released
a record called Have ‘Twangy’ Guitar Will Travel in 1958.
Eddy’s Gretsch guitar stylings and the genre of rock
’n’ roll and rockabilly they are associated with immedi-
ately signify the world of 1950s Americana to most
contemporary listeners. This is owing to a multitude of
films and television shows produced retrospectively that
have been underscored with such music, resulting in
audiences unconsciously bringing preconceived ideas of

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 F alling

musical meaning whenever they subsequently encounter

classic rock ’n’ roll or rockabilly music. It is because
of these associations that listeners/viewers immediately
make a connection to Americana the moment the first
bass note of “Twin Peaks Theme” resonates from the
soundtrack ether. And it is a connection that is warranted.
The world of Twin Peaks celebrates cherry pie, saddle
shoes, love songs, and surly bikers. It has its origins in the
wholesome Americana of Leave it to Beaver and Lynch’s
own 1950s childhood in Montana just as much as it does
in the supernatural or the dark underworlds of 1940s
film noir and gritty mid-century whodunits—a thematic
ambivalence Lynch also navigated in Blue Velvet. The
theme’s subtle associations with Americana are further
emphasized when it is coupled with the images of the
rural Northwest shown in Twin Peaks’ opening credits: a
native wren, industrial smokestacks and machinery, and
the town’s Welcome sign.
After the first bass note sounds in “Twin Peaks Theme,”
the accompanying chords of the Rhodes reply, falling and
straining for harmonic resolution. The warm timbre of
the swelling melody that emerges in the lower register of
the Rhodes accentuates the tranquility of the images in
the opening credits, and the accompanying chords take
the shape of a musical sigh, garnering a feeling of longing
in the listener. How Badalamenti achieves this feeling of
longing in the theme is through using suspensions in the
middle of the chords. Badalamenti explains, “what makes
it distinctively Angelo Badalamenti is the middle stuff,
beautiful dissonant things that kind of rub you wrong.
Sometimes they resolve, sometimes they don’t.”13 The
suspensions, or “middle stuff that rubs you wrong,” can

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 SOUNDTRACK FROM TW IN PEAKS

Figure 4 “Falling” motif and harmony

be heard in the Rhodes chords at the beginning of “Twin

Peaks Theme” (Fig. 4).
The chords in “Twin Peaks Theme” move from
F(add2) to F and then the pattern repeats two steps
lower in the second bar, moving from a Dmin(add2) to
D minor. The addition of the (add2) notes in the middle
of these chords creates a tension against the harmony
because it is not a note that features in the root chord.
In the first F major chord the (add2) note (G) creates
tension until it resolves through moving down to the
F, the root note of the chord. The same tension and
resolution occur with the movement between the E and
the D of the D minor chords in the second bar. And
therein lies Badalamenti’s “beautiful dissonance.” The
composer and musicologist Norman Cazden explains
of dissonance:

In [Western] musical harmony the critical determinant of

consonance and dissonance is expectation of movement
… A consonant interval is one which sounds stable and
complete in itself, which does not produce a feeling of
necessary movement to other tones. A dissonant interval
causes a restless expectation or resolution, or movement
to a consonant interval … Context is the determining
factor.14

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 F alling

In “Twin Peaks Theme” our “restless expectation” for

harmonic resolution results in a visceral feeling of
longing, which we then transfer to our experience of
watching Twin Peaks. Romantic longing is a key plot
device in Twin Peaks and it is mirrored here, right from
the very first chord in the show’s opening theme music.
The descent of the chords is also analogous to the act of
falling in love, and in Lynch’s world, the act of “falling”—
in both its physical and metaphysical forms—is one of
great significance.
The composer and scholar Michel Chion notes that
“[Falling] is a fundamental word for Lynch, who conju-
gates its various meaning in his lyrics as well as in his
films. ‘I’m falling,’ Dorothy Vallens screams in Blue
Velvet.”15 With this thematic idea in mind, a simplified
motif can be extricated from the descending inner voice
of the chords on the Rhodes (the G, F, E, D notes I have
boxed in Fig. 4) that reflects this musically. Just over
a minute into the track, synthesized strings appear in
the mix and begin to ascend, building to a climax that
eventually envelops the mellow sound of the Rhodes and
takes over recitation of the “Falling” motif. The “Falling”
motif appears again at the end of “Twin Peaks Theme”
but this time it is heard four steps higher in the synth-
strings on the notes C, B-flat, A, and G.
When the track was used in the show’s opening
credits, this section would often be looped. Television
shows loop sections of their theme for different reasons.
The Simpsons loops a section of its accompaniment at the
end of its opening credits to enable the show’s running
visual joke: its couch gag. The loop can be played as long
as necessary, meaning the couch gag is not limited by any

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 SOUNDTRACK FROM TW IN PEAKS

time constraints dictated by the show’s theme music. The

looping of the “Falling” motif at the end of Twin Peaks is
not only a practical choice in that it allows for additional
credits, but it also prolongs harmonic resolution and
thus creates anticipation of what is to come; the listener/
viewer is caught momentarily in a swirling vortex of
synthesizer drama until the original chords heard at the
beginning of the credits return and slowly fade out as the
episode commences.
One of the many genres of television that Twin Peaks
is associated with is soap opera, as much of the show’s
drama is centered on the tumultuous love affairs of its
characters. Some of Twin Peaks’ townsfolk are even shown
watching their very own soap opera, Invitation to Love,
during the first season of the series. Lynch has admitted
in interviews that he became hooked watching daytime
soap operas whilst working in a print shop as a young
man and their influence can be seen in much of his work,
particularly in Twin Peaks. Twin Peaks’ ties to this genre of
television are further strengthened by its theme’s resem-
blance to another television theme song: the opening
music of the classic soap opera The Young and the Restless.
The theme for this soap (“Nadia’s Theme”), composed
by Perry Borkin Jr. and Barry De Vorzon, uses the same
downwards moving chords with an internal suspension
that are heard in Badalamenti’s “Twin Peaks Theme.” The
chords in the opening of the “Twin Peaks Theme” move
from F(add2) to F to Dmin(add2) to Dmin, and “Nadia’s
Theme” moves in a similar fashion: from Dmin(add2) to
Dmin to C(add2) to C. Given the incredible popularity
of “Nadia’s Theme” (it charted successfully, peaking at
number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 1976)

• 46 •
 F alling

and the daytime television ubiquity that The Young and

the Restless has enjoyed since the mid-1970s, the original
listeners/viewers of Twin Peaks no doubt made—and
continue to make—an unconscious connection to the
world of soap opera when they heard its theme song’s
opening chords. Whether it was a conscious choice or
not on Lynch’s behalf, such analysis suggests that the
reworking of “Falling” was an inspired choice for Twin
Peaks.

Something is Different
Twin Peaks’ evocative theme proved immensely popular
with viewers when the show first aired and, owing to its
association with the show, Julee Cruise’s original version
of “Falling” also found a second life. Floating into the
Night had received positive reviews upon its release in
1989, but its critical success had not been reflected in
record sales. The album had gone largely unnoticed until
Twin Peaks mania took hold across the globe in 1990 and
fans clamored for anything and everything related to
the show. In the space of time between the airing of the
pilot in April 1990 and the soundtrack’s official release in
September 1990, there was a surge in sales for Floating
into the Night, with the album entering the Billboard
Top 100 albums chart in June 1990. “There was such a
demand for the main title theme that radio stations were
bootlegging it off the TV,” Badalamenti explained to the
Edmonton Journal in 1990. “We started hearing the theme
being played and there was no soundtrack released so
Warner Brothers Records said, ‘Oh, oh, we better rush

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 SOUNDTRACK FROM TW IN PEAKS

out a single.’”16 The single was released as “Falling

(The Theme from Twin Peaks)” and included both the
show’s instrumental theme and Julee Cruise’s original
version from Floating into the Night. After charting for
several weeks, on June 30, 1990, the single peaked at
number 11 on the Billboard Alternative songs chart. In
September, the official Twin Peaks soundtrack album was
released and entered the Billboard 200 at number 72
before peaking at number 22 on the week of November
3, 1990. At a time when albums by M. C. Hammer and
Vanilla Ice were holding the top two positions in the
album charts, this was no small feat for such an eccentric
musical offering. Soon after the show’s soundtrack release
Badalamenti was awarded a Grammy for “Twin Peaks
Theme” in the “Best Pop Instrumental Performance”
category at the 33rd Annual Grammy Awards, winning
over industry giants Phil Collins and Quincy Jones, and
the poster boy of ’90s adult contemporary pop, Kenny
G. The soundtrack went on to chart well all over the
world into 1991, and even made the number 1 spot on
the Australian chart.
The rush to release a Twin Peaks tie-in single and
soundtrack album was initially met with some skepticism.
Twin Peaks’ detractors chalked the release of the
soundtrack down to the inevitable merchandizing blitz
(T-shirts, the publication of The Secret Diary of Laura
Palmer, talks of Peaks-branded coffee mugs, etc.) that
had begun at the onset of Twin Peaks mania. At the
height of Twin Peaks’ popularity, the Toronto Star ran a
review in November 1990 of a Cruise performance that
compared Twin Peaks’ sudden success to that of the fervor
surrounding the children’s cartoon juggernaut Teenage

• 48 •
 F alling

Mutant Ninja Turtles.17 In his piece for the Star, Lenny

Stoute discussed the ensuing soundtrack releases of the
two vastly different fan bases, observing rather cynically
that “the Mutant Turtles movement took the war onto
music’s turf with their LP and a touring band … Lynch’s
response was the release of the Peaks’ soundtrack album,
followed by putting his touring arm, Ms. Cruise, on
the road.” This is not to say that both brands have not
enjoyed a pop-cultural legacy. But in retrospect, the
demand for, and influence of, Badalamenti’s soundtrack
both during and after the airing of Twin Peaks was far
greater than that of its Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
equivalent. In 2011—over twenty years later—Lynch
began releasing The Twin Peaks Archive, an “open album”
of previously unreleased Twin Peaks music via his personal
website.18 The fan excitement surrounding the release
was testament to the enduring quality of Badalamenti’s
compositions. By contrast, the soundtrack for the film
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) features some strong
pop tracks of its time, but is probably revisited largely
for nostalgia by most listeners, and has not aged quite
so well.
It is understandable that the release of the Twin Peaks
soundtrack may have initially been met with a degree of
skepticism. Soundtracks for film and television have often
proven to be cash grabs that feature unrelated tracks
seemingly selected at the last minute, with the releasing
record company simply adding tracks to showcase new
music and artists on their roster. Consider how many
soundtracks have featured music “inspired by” the film.
In the early 1990s there had been an increase in the
release of soundtrack tie-ins for television shows, both

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good and bad (The Simpsons Sing the Blues anybody?).

Badalamenti lamented this trend in an interview with
the Sunday Times in 1990, his interviewer noting that
“Badalamenti does not subscribe to the current vogue
for soundtracks to consist of an unrelated group of songs
thrown together with an eye on a hit single … It pains
[him] that soundtrack albums are usually dismissed as
musical wallpaper or simply considered a souvenir of the
movie to go with the T-shirt.”19 A record store owner
also interviewed for the Sunday Times piece observed
that it was unusual for a television soundtrack to be so
sought after, and that other Badalamenti soundtracks
were also being requested. Badalamenti had become
a composer in demand. “I’ve already turned down—I
kid you not—12 offers within the last three weeks,”
Badalamenti exclaimed in an interview in September
1990, “I never realized the power of television.”20

• 50 •
 Wrapped in Plastic

On the night of April 8, 1990, thirty-five million

American viewers encountered some of the most unusual
network television of their lives. Written by David Lynch
and Mark Frost and directed by Lynch, the Twin Peaks
pilot episode begins with the discovery of Laura Palmer’s
(Sheryl Lee) plastic-wrapped body by Pete Martell (Jack
Nance) accompanied by “Laura Palmer’s Theme,” and
concludes mysteriously with the dead girl’s mother
Sarah Palmer (Grace Zabriskie) shrieking in terror over
a cacophony of synthesizer dissonance. The viewer’s
curiosity was piqued, and through its feature-length pilot
the character of the show had not only been established
dramatically but also musically.
In early 1989 Badalamenti worked with Lynch to
create key musical themes for the world of Twin Peaks.
“My challenge … was in a very short period of time
to write different kinds of music,” the composer would
later recall.1 “I knew that Twin Peaks had to have a
sound and its own musical identity. It’s so unique.”2
Badalamenti’s soundtrack featured cool jazz, classical,
soap-opera melodrama, retro teen balladry, and every-
thing in between. It was a postmodern melting pot of

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musical genres and an unusually sophisticated outing for

a television soundtrack. This synthesis of styles added to
the anachronistic feel of Twin Peaks; we are never quite
sure when the show takes place, and the world which its
characters inhabit is splintered between the mundane and
the mythical. Badalamenti’s ubiquitous soundtrack also
helped in anchoring Twin Peaks’ oft-unhinged narrative,
supplying a prevailing mood that consolidated the entire
series. “[The music] helped create and support the mood
of the show,” Frost later explained to Brad Dukes, “It
gave you a very specific sense of time and place that felt
outside of real time and real place. It helped elevate the
show into the mythological realm that really separated it
from the usual TV view of what the world is.”3
After the composition of their theme for Laura
Palmer, Lynch and Badalamenti continued to meet
at Badalamenti’s New York office to explore further
ideas for the show’s soundtrack.4 Once Badalamenti had
fleshed out and notated various themes for the show, he
took his compositions to be interpreted by a group of
studio musicians, the majority of whom were fresh from
the stage and studio of Industrial Symphony No. 1 and
Floating into the Night. The recording sessions for this
small ensemble for the small screen occurred at the end
of 1989 into early 1990. As Kinny Landrum explained
in an interview with Keyboard magazine in 1990, all of
the music had been recorded prior to the pilot being
edited, with none of the musicians seeing any footage
of the show whilst the recording sessions occurred.
Badalamenti simply brought in his pieces written out
for the musicians and Lynch described to them what
would be happening on screen.5 For Lynch, it was more

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important that the music created an overall mood than

perfectly matched the on-screen action.
From the pilot recording sessions, a technique
emerged that would be used in subsequent episodes.
While orchestrating the show, Badalamenti and Lynch
developed a habit of recording the different instruments
of the ensemble not only in combination but also solo,
the tracks then being referred to as musical “firewood.”
This “firewood” was then mixed and layered freely to
create new pieces for the show. It was a practice that
the pair explored further in their work together on the
films Lost Highway (1997) and Mulholland Drive (2001).
As well as creating full ensemble versions and solo takes,
Lynch and Badalamenti compiled edits that featured
different combinations of the composite instruments.
Lynch and Badalamenti’s firewood technique allowed
for instrumental timbre to be explored and exploited for
maximum sonorous effect, resulting in multiple realiza-
tions of a single theme. Although this technique required
Badalamenti to relinquish some creative control of his
compositions over to Lynch, it meant that unexpected
sounds could be discovered; warped instrumental timbre
could be used in tandem with many of the show’s
off-center visuals.
One reason the Twin Peaks tracks were so easily mixed
was because the majority of the music Badalamenti
composed for the show was based in the key of C minor.
This tonal homogeneity allowed for the thematic varia-
tions and individual instrumental tracks to be easily
pieced together by the show’s sound editors and directors
depending on the requirements of a scene. David
Lynch’s music supervisor Dean Hurley explained in his

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 SOUNDTRACK FROM TW IN PEAKS

accompanying notes for the Twin Peaks Archive releases

that a music editorial “kit” was created for the show that
catalogued all the various possible cue combinations.
This enabled an episode’s director and music editor to
choose music more easily for their episode, due to the
immense amount of material available.6
The Twin Peaks pilot episode opens with an extended
credit sequence in which the show’s theme is given time
to settle and establish an atmosphere, and when the first
scene begins, we immediately hear the dark introduction
of “Laura Palmer’s Theme.” Like the thematic material
it underscores, Badalamenti’s music for Twin Peaks can
be sorted into two factions: compositions which possess
a light quality and those which possess a dark quality.
The lighter music takes its influence from 1950s and ’60s
teen pop, Americana, soap-operatic schmaltz, and finger-
snappin’ jazz, while the darker musical material features
synth soundscapes, cloying dissonance, and the moodier
jazz pieces. Fittingly, “Laura Palmer’s Theme”—the
musical crux of the show—oscillates somewhere between
these two musical worlds. “For Twin Peaks,” Badalamenti
would later explain, “I was very aware that [Lynch]
wanted music that would be intensely evocative of pain
and sadness but which was also quirky and playful, and
so there are fusions; there are very ’50s melodies such as
‘The Nightingale’ and things like jangling guitars and
tenor saxes for the main themes.”7
Around twenty individual musical cues are present
in the feature-length pilot episode of Twin Peaks, and
the way in which they were used and mixed with each
other provided a blueprint for the selection, mixing, and
placement of cues in subsequent episodes. It is useful to

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delineate between a musical “cue” and musical “track”

at this point. In the context of film and television the
term “cue” has its origins in the music cue sheets of
silent cinema. In early cinema, individual composers
were not employed to write a film’s entire score. Movie
theater pianists were instead provided with cue sheets
by film production companies that outlined appropriate
music to perform in a particular scene.8 The music that
was featured in these sheets was usually gleaned from
classical and popular music of the day and provided a
means by which to establish continuity in silent film
musical accompaniment. Modern cue sheets highlight
when music appears on screen and provide information
such as the name of the cue, its duration, and composer.
In referring to the cues as they are labeled in both the
pilot episode’s original cue sheets and the Twin Peaks
Archive, as well as noting how they appear on the
Twin Peaks soundtrack release as individual tracks or
songs, we can better understand the original motivation
for Badalamenti’s Twin Peaks musical themes and their
evolution and usage in subsequent episodes of the series.9

She’s Dead …
After Twin Peaks is introduced by its captivating theme
music, the pilot episode opens with “Laura Palmer’s
Theme.” In the production notes for the show, “Laura
Palmer’s Theme” was separated into two cues: the
“Dark Introduction” and “Love Theme from Twin
Peaks.” These two cues can be heard combined on
the tracks “Laura Palmer’s Theme” and “Love Theme

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 SOUNDTRACK FROM TW IN PEAKS

from Twin Peaks” on the soundtrack album. The “Dark

Introduction” is fairly self-explanatory in its labeling.
The cue functions as the first section of “Laura Palmer’s
Theme” and Badalamenti’s droning use of harmonic
suspension imbues the theme with foreboding. The
“Love Theme” (henceforth referred to simply as the
“Love” cue) is identified when the melody begins to
rise and the musical character of the theme becomes
more romantic. It is important to make the distinction
between the two cues at this point, as they often appear
independently of each other on the pilot’s soundtrack as
well as throughout the series, snaking in and out of the
televisual narrative.
The “Dark Introduction” appears in the first scene
of the pilot episode when Josie Packard (Joan Chen)
is introduced. As she hums a faint, unrelated melody,
the cue’s ominous character immediately conveys that
something horrible is about to happen. The music
continues as the scene cuts to Pete and Catherine
Martell (Jack Nance and Piper Laurie) in their kitchen:
a domestic setting rendered unnerving by Badalamenti’s
synthesizer drone. Pete leaves their home to go fishing
and discovers a body by the water wrapped in plastic. He
returns home to inform the local law of his discovery
and the “Dark Introduction” ends. The cue then returns
when Pete escorts the police and Dr. Hayward (Warren
Frost) to the location of the body. As the police take
photos of the plastic-shrouded cadaver and Deputy Andy
(Harry Goaz) breaks down at the sight of it, the “Dark
Introduction” lingers, and its repetition helps the scene
build tension (Whose body is this? What is happening
in Twin Peaks?). Dr. Hayward suggests to Sheriff Truman

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 W rapped in P lastic

(Michael Ontkean) that they roll the body over in

order to identify the victim, and as they do, the “Dark
Introduction” immediately shifts into the “Love” cue.
The distraught pair look on in disbelief when Laura
Palmer’s face is revealed, and the theme plays off their
sadness as it ascends to a heartbreaking climax.
In just under five minutes Badalamenti has taken us
on an emotional journey largely driven by the haunting
theme for Laura Palmer, a piece of music that he had
written alongside Lynch just over a year prior to Twin
Peaks being aired. It speaks where characters are too
shocked or saddened to express themselves, and allows
the mystique of Laura Palmer to truly captivate us. We
are left wanting to know more about this mysterious
woman and the circumstances surrounding her death.
Then the scene segues into Laura’s home where her
mother is calling out for her to come downstairs, and the
music follows suit as it begins its descent from the climax
that had been built up upon the reveal of Laura’s identity
in the previous scene. As Sarah Palmer’s iterations of
her daughter’s name become more and more panicked,
the theme then returns to its “Dark Introduction,” as if
provoking Sarah further. When Sarah calls the Briggs’
residence enquiring as to Laura’s whereabouts, the cue
stops abruptly as if to acknowledge that it has no place
within the walls of the Briggs’ home.
The first of several jazz cues enters when Audrey
Horne (Sherilyn Fenn) appears on screen outside The
Great Northern hotel. Grady Tate’s solo snare and
cymbal improvisation underscore this intriguing young
woman in saddle shoes, immediately bestowing her with
an aura of cool detachment. Not long after Audrey is

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shown outside The Great Northern, we are taken inside

the hotel to witness a business meeting occurring between
the hotel’s owner Benjamin Horne (Richard Beymer) and
a group of Norwegian investors. Leland Palmer (Ray
Wise)—Horne’s attorney and Laura Palmer’s father—is
at Benjamin’s side until the meeting is interrupted by an
urgent phone call from Sarah Palmer. As Leland makes
his way to the phone, the “Dark Introduction” resumes
its intonation of dread. Upon the arrival of Sheriff
Truman at the hotel, Leland and Sarah simultaneously
recognize that something terrible has happened. Leland
moves the phone away from his ear and eventually drops
it in shock, and as Sarah pleads with him to let her know
what is happening the “Love” cue begins. Here the
melodic ascent works in contrast to the sinking heart-
break that the parents are experiencing in this moment
(recall the “falling” sensation discussed in the previous
chapter). The theme climaxes when Leland utters the
words “My daughter’s dead” and Sarah’s muffled cries
can be heard emanating from the phone receiver. The
“Dark Introduction” returns as the phone’s cord and
receiver are shown in close-up, and combines with
Sarah’s grief-stricken cries to create such discord that it
almost sounds as if it will create a permanent tear in the
soundtrack.

Cool, Cool Jazz

Bobby Briggs (Dana Ashbrook) and Shelly Johnston
(Mädchen Amick) (who are secret lovers) drive away
from the RR diner and encounter a police car with its

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siren wailing. After it tears past, an indifferent Shelly

takes a swig from a hip flask. As soon as she raises the flask
a fast version of “Audrey’s Dance” emerges. Due to the
connotative power of jazz—a music long associated with
countercultural subversion in film and television—the
use of this cue here helps in establishing the rebellious
character of the couple. It is interesting to note that on
the original cue sheets for the pilot episode all of the cool
jazz cues were labeled “Cool, Cool Kyle” or “Bobby’s
Theme,” and associating the music with Audrey appears
to have been an afterthought. In the original cue sheet
for this particular scene, the cue is titled “Cool, Cool
Kyle,” suggesting that the piece of music named for
Audrey on the soundtrack album was originally intended
for Agent Dale Cooper, played by Kyle MacLachlan.
This original intent is further evidenced in an interview
Badalamenti gave with Entertainment Weekly in 1990, in
which writer Ron Givens noted that “each of the scenes
dominated by the young males in the cast is accompanied
by what Badalamenti calls Cool Jazz. The exaggerated
macho hipness of these characters is accentuated by
finger-popping, cocktail-lounge electric piano, pulsing
bass, and lightly brushed percussion.”10 Yet despite their
early machismo-driven influences, Badalamenti’s jazz
cues would go on to provide the perfect conduit for the
dreamy sensuality of the sultry Audrey.
Badalamenti’s cool jazz also appears at Twin Peaks
High School, where there may or may not be music in
the air. The scene opens with the moody cue “Bookhouse
Boys” and on the original production cue sheet it is
referred to explicitly as “James’ Theme.” In Twin Peaks,
James Hurley (James Marshall) is somewhat of a biker

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poseur; a handsome, soap-operatic James Dean who is

often shown brooding and sulking over his romantic
misadventures. James’ 1950s roots are hinted at by the
Duane Eddy-style guitar of the cue and—as with the
use of jazz cues in the earlier scenes—its bluesy riff is
used to connote a sense of youthful rebellion. The music
also serves to underscore the subversive intent of other
characters, as is the case with Audrey who is shown
smoking a cigarette brazenly in the school corridor and
changing from her sensible saddle shoes into a pair of
bright red high-heels. After James and Donna Hayward
(Lara Flynn-Boyle) finish speaking, the scene culminates
with a teenager dancing irreverently across the corridor.
This is the first example of many in Twin Peaks in which
music weaves in and out of the show’s visual “diegesis” or
narrative. We assume that the “Bookhouse Boys” cue is
appearing on a soundtrack audible only to us, but maybe
it is piping out of the school’s loudspeaker system? The
way in which the boy responds to the music—snapping
his fingers and undulating comically to its rhythm—
suggests that he too can hear what we are hearing. The
effect this has on us as listener/viewer is that it challenges
our confidence in what we are seeing and hearing. Can
we really trust anything that seems to be going on this
strange town? Is it real or just a dream?
“The Bookhouse Boys” then segues seamlessly into
“Audrey’s Dance” (owing to their shared key signature) as
Bobby arrives at school. Badalamenti’s cool jazz continues
to underscore many of the scenes in the school, including
one in which Bobby is brought into the office for
questioning. When combined with the jazz, the scene
plays out like a film noir interrogation. But the “Dark

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Introduction” of “Laura Palmer’s Theme” interrupts this

atmosphere of cool after Bobby is told about Laura’s
death and Principal Wolchezk (Troy Evans) makes an
announcement about her passing over the loudspeaker.
After the “Dark Introduction” loops for some time it
makes way for the “Love cue.” The melodic ascent of the
cue mimics Wolchezk’s rising emotions as he struggles
to maintain his composure, and then climaxes after he
finally bursts into tears.

Orchestral Rumblings in the Dark

A more traditional film scoring device is used when
Shelly and Bobby spy Shelly’s husband Leo’s (Eric Da
Re) truck parked outside her home. Leo is unexpectedly
back from a work trip on the road and his presence
startles the lovers, the jazz cue immediately cutting
to a musical “stinger.” In film and television music a
“sting” or “stinger” is a jarring chord that is designed
to work in tandem with action on screen. It can be used
to elicit shock in the listener/viewer or to exaggerate
or reveal something of importance on screen. In this
scene Badalamenti uses a synthesizer drone that gives
way to a dissonant chord in order to emphasize Bobby
and Shelly’s shock at seeing Leo’s truck. The chord is
held as a terrified Bobby reverses his car, sustaining the
atmosphere of fear until the end of the scene. Later
in the episode another stinger related to Leo and his
truck is heard when Agent Cooper and Sheriff Truman
encounter a picture of the vehicle in Laura’s copy of a
Flesh World magazine.

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The episode introduces a new musical idea that

produces a similar atmosphere of unease when Ronette
Pulaski (Phoebe Augustine) is discovered wandering in
a daze along the railroad tracks. As part of the firewood
technique established with Lynch, Badalamenti made
long recordings of synthesized orchestral material for
Twin Peaks that were used alone or in combination with
other cues in order to heighten the mood of dread in a
scene. These lengthy recordings were usually very slow
and were made up of dissonant chords held for long
periods of time. They were then altered by Lynch and
other studio personnel, sometimes being slowed down to
half their original speed or even reversed. On the Twin
Peaks soundtrack, they can be heard in the montage piece
“Night Life in Twin Peaks,” where the long synthesizer
tracks are mixed with recordings of solo improvisation
performed by woodwind instruments. The piece begins
with a faint, low-register synth drone that creeps slowly
into the mix. Around thirty seconds in, synthesized
orchestral doom emerges, supplemented by a clarinet and
bass clarinet, honking and moaning as if in pain. A flute
joins in, seemingly indifferent to the dissonance of the
clarinets, and offers a bluesy improvisation that would
feel right at home in “Freshly Squeezed.” All of this is
accompanied by Grady Tate’s kit explorations, which
simmer underneath and provide a forward momentum,
some semblance of control within the largely chaotic
atmosphere of “Night Life in Twin Peaks.”
When Ronette is shown in her disheveled state,
the “Dark Introduction” of “Laura Palmer’s Theme”
is heard, and underneath it rumbles a few seconds of a
cue labeled in the Twin Peaks Archives as “Half Speed

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Orchestra 1 (Stair Music/Danger Theme).” The rubbing

together of these two ominous cues results in dissonance,
due to the clash occurring in their respective harmonies,
and produces a protracted stinger that responds on
behalf of the audience to the shocking appearance of the
blood-stained, semi-clothed Ronette. The “Half-Speed
Orchestra” cue is also used in combination with
“Bookhouse Boys” in the following scene, characterizing
the drape-obsessed Nadine Hurley (Wendy Robie) as far
more sinister than she would later prove to be.

Agent Cooper Arrives

We first encounter FBI Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle
MacLachlan) driving into Twin Peaks, one hand precari-
ously on his steering wheel and the other holding his
tape recorder to his mouth as he speaks to the enigmatic
“Diane.” He is immediately introduced with the finger-
snapping, saxophone-driven cue that would become
“Dance of the Dream Man.” As Cooper describes his
reasons for travelling to Twin Peaks, the cool jazz
heightens the big-city suave of the slick-haired, suit-
wearing Cooper. When he arrives at the hospital to meet
Sheriff Truman the distant murmurs of the saxophone
from the previous cue can be heard faintly echoing around
the hospital halls until they slowly fade away—perhaps
having used the exit door that is in shot! It’s almost as
if the saxophone melody has followed Cooper from his
car into the hospital, either as a tune stuck in his head
or a ghostly musical talisman. When Cooper enters the
room of the now-hospitalized Ronette, the breezy jazz is

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but a distant memory, and, instead, a brief quotation of

the “Dark Introduction” captures our attention. The
reappearance of the cue when Ronette is on screen
implies to the listener/viewer that she is involved in
the events surrounding the death of Laura Palmer, but
as to how we do not yet know. After viewing Laura’s
body, Agent Cooper and Sheriff Truman make their
way to the local sheriff’s station to look over evidence
collected from Laura’s room at the Palmer residence.
As they peruse Laura’s diary and other items, Tate’s solo
percussion re-emerges, accentuating the passing of time
and helping to create a sense of anticipation, infinitely
looping and mirroring Cooper’s quest for answers (and
our own) with its forward propulsion.
Cooper and Sheriff Truman also begin their
questioning of Donna at the station, who they have
discovered was present at a videotaped picnic involving
Laura and an unknown biker. During her questioning,
we hear the second part of the “Laura Palmer Theme”
(the “Love” cue) performed on a solo Rhodes piano.
The use of the instrument’s warm timbre in isolation
accentuates the beauty of the theme’s climactic rise
and fall, and, coupled with Donna’s obvious distress,
creates an atmosphere of overwhelming sadness that is
not present when Bobby is similarly questioned (sans
music). At the end of the scene, the “Dark Introduction”
(also on Rhodes) is mixed with the “Love” cue to create
an interesting composite version of “Laura Palmer’s
Theme.” It doesn’t work quite as well as the combination
of the “Dark Introduction” and orchestral synth drone
discussed earlier, as the two cues are merely placed on
top of one another in the mix and sound out of synch,

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but it allows for variation, a fresh take on the music, and

a technique for revitalizing the theme that would be used
in subsequent episodes.

The Roadhouse
As the episode progresses, the musical ideas established
earlier in the pilot are repeated and reinforced. The
ominous “Dark Introduction” seems to implicate James
in Laura’s murder and also appears in combination with
a second orchestral cue (“Slow Speed Orchestra 1–24
Hours”) during a search of an abandoned train car
believed to be the scene of Laura’s murder. This mix is
also heard later in the episode when Donna and James
bury the half-heart necklace. Elsewhere, Badalamenti’s
cool jazz underscores Bobby, Mike, and James’s stay
in the local jail as well as Cooper’s continuing inves-
tigations. Cool jazz cues are also used for humorous
effect when Nadine is shown fussing over her drapes,
accompanied by Tate’s quirky solo kit work. In this scene
Nadine’s drape obsession is rendered amusing instead of
unnerving—a contrast from earlier in the episode when
it is accompanied by the dark synth scoring. The “Love”
cue from “Laura Palmer’s Theme” begins to underscore
the burgeoning love affair between James and Donna
(Laura Palmer did bring them together after all) and is
heard on a solo piano when Dr. Hayward tells Donna
that he is thankful to have a daughter like her.
As night descends upon the town of Twin Peaks,
some of the townsfolk meet at the Roadhouse. Here,
Donna awaits the arrival of James while Agent Cooper

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and Sheriff Truman watch on outside, and Big Ed

Hurley (Everett McGill) meets with Norma, with whom
he is having an affair. Amidst the busy activity of the
Roadhouse, a leather-clad Julee Cruise (credited as “Girl
Singer”) performs the original version of “Falling” on
stage. Like the demented, howling pop song “I’m Hurt
Bad” that Bobby plays on the RR’s jukebox earlier in
the episode, the music is uncharacteristic of what would
usually be performed in such a venue. Instead of hearing
the sort of hard rock, head-kickin’ anthem that would
traditionally be associated with biker folk, we are instead
treated to two romantic ballads performed by a fragile-
looking young woman bathed in soft light. Badalamenti
explains the musical irony at work here: “sometimes
music that works against the action … can be the best
kind. You can be in this Midwestern bar where all hell
is breaking loose, and you’ve got this lovely girl singer
doing the most outrageous ballad on stage … I really
love music that goes against what you’re seeing.”11 Lynch
elaborated that “the idea [for this scene] was that the
bikers in Twin Peaks were the intellectuals—the beatniks!
The Jocks were the ones that were outside, listening to
something completely different. They were very much a
cerebral bunch of bikers!”12
As Cruise croons, bikers watch respectfully from
their tables or engage in sedate slow dancing with their
dates. When Bobby and Mike arrive and begin to hassle
Donna, a fight breaks out as the delicate strains of the
neo-retro love song “The Nightingale” waft around the
Roadhouse, Cruise and her band seemingly unperturbed
by the escalating brawl. “The Nightingale” is a song
whose origins can be found in the pop music of the 1950s

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and early ’60s, the time of Lynch’s youth, and features

instrumentation (guitar tremolo, lightly brushed kit,
Cruise’s saccharine vocals) typical of the era. The song
also uses the same “doo-wop” chord progression (I–vi–
IV–V using Roman numeral chord analysis) that was
present in many popular songs of the time, such as The
Penguins’ “Earth Angel” (1954), Ben E. King’s “Stand by
Me” (1961), and The Marcels’ “Blue Moon” (1961). In
“The Nightingale,” the chord progression (B to G-sharp
minor to E to F-sharp-7, the final chord with an added
seventh note) is used for the majority of the song, and is
interrupted twice by two refrains with a different chord
progression. The refrain progression begins instead on
the G-sharp minor chord and then moves down to an
F-sharp-7, then down again to E major, jumps up for a
bar for to C-sharp minor, and back down to finish on the
F-sharp-7 chord.
Lynch often uses the 1950s/early ’60s pop sound in
his work to connote innocence and love, or a sense of
nostalgic longing, and it plays against Badalamenti’s darker
compositions (such as the moody orchestral rumblings)
to great effect. As the series progressed further, pieces
composed in this style were featured in the show, such as
“Hook Rug Dance” and “Just You,” the ballad that James,
Donna, and Maddy infamously sing together in Episode
9.13 Cruise returned to the Roadhouse in Episode 14 as
part of an incredibly memorable and important sequence
directed by Lynch, this time performing another retro-
style love song, “Rockin’ Back Inside My Heart,” and the
devastatingly beautiful “The World Spins.” In Episode 5,
she is also heard on a record player in Jacques Renault’s
(Walter Olkewicz) cabin that is looping “Into the Night”

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as Agent Cooper and Twin Peaks’ law enforcement

conduct an investigation of the site, implying that this
haunting ode to lost love could very well be the last song
that Laura Palmer listened to before her death.
As the episode ends, a fragment of another Julee
Cruise song, “The Swan,” is heard (a few chords on
synthesized strings) as Sheriff Truman arrives at Josie’s
home. Sheriff Truman remarks to Josie that it has been
around twenty-four hours since Laura was murdered
and the “Dark Introduction” of “Laura Palmer’s Theme”
underscores the couple’s fearful ruminations. The intro-
duction then segues into the synth-string cue “Half
Speed Orchestra 1 (Stair Music/Danger Theme)” and
the scene changes to the Palmer home where Sarah
Palmer is shown resting on the couch. She suddenly sits
bolt upright and the cue omits a dissonant stinger as
we are shown her vision of a gloved hand removing the
necklace that James and Donna had buried under a rock.
Then, after Sarah Palmer screams, the episode’s end
credits roll over Laura Palmer’s static portrait in close up
as the haunting “Laura Palmer’s Theme” plays us out of
the world of Twin Peaks.

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“Something she said, though, that stuck on my mind…

after what happened to her, I can’t help hearing it in my
head … like some haunting melody.”
Josie Packard, Episode 1, Twin Peaks

“The music … It’s got a beauty, but with darkness

and sadness. Just as Laura Palmer is beautiful, there’s
something menacing under the surface.”
Angelo Badalamenti1

Throughout Twin Peaks’ thirty episodes (including the

pilot),2 “Laura Palmer’s Theme”—the piece of music that
captured the essence of the show—is a constant presence
that helps the entire series cohere. The theme’s “beautiful
darkness” reflects the double life of Laura Palmer and, on
a macrocosmic level, Laura as metaphor for the dualities
that permeate the series: life and death, love and evil,
light and dark. Even as the memory of Laura gradually
begins to fade once her killer is identified in Episode
14, “Laura Palmer’s Theme” continues to inject itself
into much of the drama, transforming in order to adapt
to new characters and storylines and presiding over the

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soundtrack like a musical ghost, ensuring that Laura is

never far from our thoughts.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly in 1990,
Badalamenti described “Laura Palmer’s Theme” as
having four distinct parts,3 and from these parts two
cues were created that were used either in isolation or
together, depending on the requirements of a particular
scene. The first half of the theme is that which is referred
to as the “Dark Introduction” in the previous chapter of
this book. It appears in various guises throughout the
series—alone, in fragments, combined with other cues—
and can be stripped down to reveal a motif that oscillates
between the notes A-flat and G (Fig. 5).
“Laura Palmer’s Theme” is centered in the key of
C minor and its entire “Dark Introduction” remains
firmly rooted in the theme’s tonic chord (C–E-flat–G).
When this section is heard in the series, it is sometimes
preceded by an ostinato figure that appears in a low
register of the instrument performing the theme. This
takes the form of a repetitive C played on every beat and
not only helps in establishing the theme’s tonality, but
also in contributing to an atmosphere of suspense via its
repetition and slow tempo. Time is distended through
such repetition, and when this section of the “Dark
Introduction” was used in conjunction with a particular
scene in Twin Peaks, the action could feel unending. On

Figure 5 Part 1 of “Laura Palmer’s Theme” (“Dark Introduction”)

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the Twin Peaks soundtrack album this ostinato can be

heard as a barely audible murmur in the lower register of
the Rhodes at the beginning of the track “Love Theme
from Twin Peaks.”
In the first bar of the “Dark Introduction” an expec-
tation for harmonic resolution occurs due to the A-flat
(the sixth note of the C harmonic minor scale) being
sustained for two beats before finally resolving down a
half-step/semitone to the G, allowing the full C minor
chord to be realized. In the fourth chapter of this book,
I discussed how the suspensions used in the show’s
theme song evoked a feeling of longing in the listener/
viewer. In the first bar of “Laura Palmer’s Theme” the
suspension created in moving downwards from the
A-flat to the G instead intones a palpable sense of doom,
owing to several differences between the two themes.
The most conspicuous difference is their tonalities.
“Twin Peaks Theme” is in the key of F major, whereas
“Laura Palmer’s Theme” is centered in the key of C
minor, which, given our innate association of minor keys
with sadness, gives “Laura Palmer’s Theme” an overall
gloomier mood.
The suspension that occurs in the opening bars of
“Laura Palmer’s Theme” between the A-flat and G is
also given greater prominence than the “middle stuff”
in “Twin Peaks Theme.” In the “Dark Introduction” the
suspension is exposed in the upper voice of the piece
whereas in “Twin Peaks Theme” the use of suspension
is subtle: sandwiched between the more consonant
tones in the middle of the falling chords. Added to
this, the melodic line of the upper voice in the “Dark
Introduction” never resolves to a C—the tonic or

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root note of the theme’s key—and adds to the overall

harmonic instability of “Laura Palmer’s Theme.” The
writer Royal S. Brown explains of the role of tonality in
music that “psychologically and aesthetically speaking,
tonality sets up a certain order, creates a sense of loss
and anxiety in its various departures from that order,
and then reassures the listener by periodically returning
to that order, which will generally have the final word.”4
Thus the avoidance of a “return to order” at the end
of the “Dark Introduction” assists in establishing an
atmosphere of dread in Twin Peaks. Not resolving to
the tonic also allowed for the “Dark Introduction” to
be looped easily in the show. For example, in Episode 5,
the troubled Bobby takes part in a therapy session with
Dr. Jacoby to discuss the problems he has been having
with his family and school. When they begin to address
Bobby’s tortured relationship with Laura Palmer, the
“Dark Introduction” enters on the soundtrack. Bobby
reminisces about the corruptive influence of Laura,
giving us an insight into the crueler inclinations of her
personality, and the cue loops for almost two minutes
until he begins crying, and the next section of “Laura
Palmer’s Theme” takes over. We desire to know more
about this mysterious young woman as Bobby reveals
aspects of her secret life, and our curiosity is further
propelled by the forward momentum of Badalamenti’s
unresolved, open-ended cue.
Many television “viewers” experience television
“aurally” as they undertake tasks around their homes,
and for this reason a television episode’s soundtrack is
vital in conveying information as to the on-screen action
to a “viewer” who is in another room or has their gaze

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fixed away from their television screen.5 When Twin

Peaks first aired, viewers at home who may have been
passively engaging with the show would have been
immediately alerted to the fact that something sinister
was happening, or about to happen, every time they
heard the “Dark Introduction” from “Laura Palmer’s
Theme.” The same could be said about viewers who
revisit episodes on DVD or Blu-ray in this fashion. As
proof of Badalamenti’s music’s effectiveness, in May of
1990, the talk show Donahue hosted a Twin Peaks special
which featured Mark Frost and members of the cast
answering questions asked by studio audience members.
Several audience members specifically mentioned the
show’s soundtrack, with one woman even revealing that
Twin Peaks’ music scared her so much that she sometimes
had to leave the room. Clearly referring to the “Dark
Introduction” here, she elaborated that “the music—it’s
what really gets everybody going in the show.”6

Falling into Love

The second section of “Laura Palmer’s Theme,” the
“Climb,” begins the second half of the theme and the
cue I referred to in the previous chapter as the “Love
Theme from Twin Peaks” (Fig. 6). I will henceforth refer
to the piece as simply “Laura Palmer’s Theme” to avoid

Figure 6 Part 2 of “Laura Palmer’s Theme” (“Climb” to “Falling”)

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confusion between the “Love Theme from Twin Peaks”

in its cue form and the second version of the theme that
appears on the soundtrack release under this name.
The “Climb” is preceded by a transitory bar that facil-
itates a change of key from C minor to C major as the
“Climb” begins. The melody begins on an E and moves
steadily upwards in stepwise intervals in this section, and
after one bar of C major the harmony changes suddenly
to E major. After four bars of E major there is yet
another key change to F minor. The melody continues
its dizzying ascent for another three bars until we can
almost bear it no longer and it finally reaches the theme’s
pinnacle: the section Badalamenti calls the “Climax.” It
is at this moment that “Laura Palmer’s Theme” “tears
your heart out.” At the “Climax” an E reverberates in
the melody that is two octaves higher than the original E
that began the “Climb” section. It is held slightly longer
than any of the previous notes in the melody, empha-
sizing its arrival and giving the note space to sound
triumphantly. There is also a return to C major at the
point of “Climax,” which resolves the harmonic ambiva-
lence of the preceding bars and further strengthens the
feeling of musical apotheosis for the listener/viewer. After
the theme climaxes, it hints at a downwards movement
over the course of four bars, hovering around the
climactic E before finally allowing the “Falling” section
to begin. Here, the relationship between “Laura Palmer’s
Theme” and “Twin Peaks Theme” is further solidified
through the use of the latter’s “Falling” motif (Fig. 4, p.
44). In “Laura Palmer’s Theme” the motif is extended
and occurs twice beginning with the notes B–A–G–F
and then E–D–C (minus the final note of the motif) as

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the theme’s melody descends. In the musico-dramatic

context of “Laura Palmer’s Theme,” the “Falling” motif
not only denotes the act of falling in love (as discussed
in the fourth chapter, “Falling”) but is also a signifier of
sadness in that its descent is analogous to the sinking
feeling one experiences with heartbreak or loss.
An early demo that appears on the Twin Peaks Archive
highlights the relationship between “Laura Palmer’s
Theme” and “Twin Peaks Theme” even further. Entitled
“Falling into Love Theme” and performed on a combi-
nation of Rhodes and piano by Badalamenti, the demo
opens with the familiar “Twin Peaks Theme,” and
after the melody’s upward climb it switches suddenly
to the “Climax” of “Laura Palmer’s Theme.” This
beautiful variant of the two themes in their devel-
opmental stages demonstrates once again the close
relationship of the music Badalamenti’s wrote for Twin
Peaks, particularly between “Laura Palmer’s Theme”
and “Twin Peaks Theme.” The two pieces even appear
together in an orchestral arrangement recorded by the
Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra for the album Angelo
Badalamenti: Music for Film and Television (2010).
The appearance of the final three sections of “Laura
Palmer’s Theme” in Twin Peaks often mirrors the swelling
emotions of a character shown on screen (particularly in
the show’s earlier episodes) and in these scenes the arrival
of the “Climax” is sometimes met with an exaggerated
display of sobbing. This occurs in scenes such as the
aforementioned therapy session between Bobby and Dr.
Jacoby, the scene in the pilot in which Principal Wolchezk
announces Laura’s death to the school, when Andy
reacts to Laura’s body in the pilot, when he listens to a

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discussion about the circumstances surrounding her death

in Episode 8, and when Dr. Jacoby listens to the cassette
recordings Laura Palmer had made him in Episode 1.
The theme is also used to particularly heart-wrenching
effect in scenes involving arguably the most emotionally
unhinged resident of Twin Peaks—Leland Palmer.
Apart from the scene in the pilot detailed in the
previous chapter in which Leland first learns of his
daughter’s murder, one of the most powerful examples
of “Laura Palmer’s Theme” used in conjunction with
Leland’s torment is in a scene in Episode 15. Cooper
has deduced that Leland is Laura’s killer and has him
thrown into an interrogation room at the sheriff’s
station. After Leland—who is possessed by the malev-
olent entity BOB—is questioned and confesses to the
murder of Laura, her cousin Maddy, and Teresa Banks
a year prior, Cooper and his associates (Deputy Hawk,
Agent Rosenfield, and Sherriff Truman) discuss his arrest
outside the room as Leland is heard off screen moaning
and muttering. Leland/BOB then interrupts the group’s
conversation by loudly reciting the famous “fire walk
with me” incantation of the one-armed man, Phillip
Gerard/MIKE, until the sheriff’s station’s smoke detector
sprinklers are set off by cigarette smoke. Leland/BOB
immediately begins to howl as water cascades around
him (we also see BOB in his true form as portrayed by
Frank Silva in one shot) and a cacophony of string disso-
nance is heard on the soundtrack that mirrors the chaos
of the moment.7 He then rushes at the heavy metal door
and begins to repeatedly ram his head violently into it.
Cooper and his men rush into the interrogation room as
Leland lies dying on the ground, now free of BOB and

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coming to the horrifying realization that he is respon-

sible for his daughter’s death.
Agonizing over his actions, Leland recalls how he
came to be possessed by BOB as a child and “Laura
Palmer’s Theme” appears on the soundtrack. As he
implores that “God have mercy,” the theme climaxes and
we watch the tragic Leland declare his love for Laura
before the theme commences its “Falling” descent. The
theme is then repeated as Cooper begins to guide Leland
into the afterlife, and as Leland “moves into the light”
the “Climb” accompanies his journey to the “Climax”:
he joyously experiences a vision of Laura waiting for him.
The entire scene is simultaneously heartbreaking and
horrifying. If we ignore Leland’s claims that BOB was to
blame for the abuse Laura suffered for years at the hands
of Leland, the employment of “Laura Palmer’s Theme”
in this scene is incredibly manipulative. We have come
to associate the bittersweet beauty of “Laura Palmer’s
Theme” with tragedy and heartbreak, and because of
this we are made to feel compassion for Leland despite
his horrible acts. Perhaps he really did love Laura, and
was indeed possessed by the malevolent BOB when
he assaulted her? The theme helps to reinforce the
audience’s ambivalence about Leland’s role in Laura’s
demise, and without it, the scene would not exude such
pathos.

Shades of Laura
Laura Palmer is characterized in Twin Peaks as having
had the ability to make those who became intimate with

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her fall instantly in love. She is a classic Lynchian woman

in trouble: a beautiful woman with dark secrets whom
some want to love, sleep with, save, or a combination
of the three. Laura was also capable, no doubt due to
the abuse she suffered, of being sadistic towards, and
manipulative of, those who adored her. Her teenaged
lovers Bobby and James were subject to her cruelty, the
former forced into selling drugs whilst Laura was alive to
support her escalating drug dependence, and the latter
enduring her taunts whilst trying to help her through
the emotional rollercoaster ride that was the final days of
her life. In Episode 7, the perennially moody James even
has to listen to a tape Laura had made for Dr. Jacoby in
which she describes poor James as boring in comparison
with a mystery lover who excites her. The adult men of
Twin Peaks were also ill-equipped in dealing with Laura.
They had fallen for her angelic beauty, almost as if under
a spell, and were left broken by her death. Leland’s
paternal love for Laura became incestual and homicidal;
Dr. Jacoby’s professional relationship was obsessive and
thus highly unethical; Harold, her agoraphobic Meals
on Wheels client, committed suicide when he could no
longer deal with the world that remained in the wake of
her death. She was even able to captivate one of the town’s
most morally bereft personalities, Benjamin Horne, who
displays a photograph of Laura Palmer on his desk and, in
Episode 14, breaks down after admitting to Audrey that he
loved and had been intimate with Laura. “Laura Palmer’s
Theme” is heard on the soundtrack when many of these
men speak of her and heightens the emotional potency of
their feelings for Laura. And yet, as is the case in scenes
like the one involving Leland’s death, this theme is also a

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beautiful-sounding distraction from the fact that many of

these men used and abused Laura. To paraphrase Bobby’s
accusing cries at Laura’s funeral in Episode 3: everybody
knew she was in trouble but nobody did anything.
In the early episodes of Twin Peaks, “Laura Palmer’s
Theme” is associated primarily with the life and death of
Laura Palmer. It functions as a requiem for her: serving
to preserve her memory and provide the equivalent of a
sonic comforter as we witness Laura’s friends and family’s
distress over her murder. In some scenes the mere
mention of her name summons from the auditory ether
some combination of the sections of the theme discussed
earlier. Badalamenti recorded numerous versions of
“Laura Palmer’s Theme” that featured an array of instru-
mental color and two of these are featured on the
Twin Peaks soundtrack album. “Laura Palmer’s Theme”
combines synth-strings with acoustic piano, whilst “Love
Theme from Twin Peaks” utilizes the warm sound of
Rhodes, alto flute, and lighter synth-strings which allows
for a more mellow rendering of the theme. Varying the
theme in this way reinvigorated “Laura Palmer’s Theme”
with every new quotation in Twin Peaks and allowed the
theme to adapt to the different moods and situations as
they were introduced into the show.
In Episode 1, Dr. Hayward presents the results of the
post-mortem work that was done on Laura’s corpse to
Agent Cooper and Sheriff Truman. As he details with
great discomfort the activities of her final hours, the
“Dark Introduction” is heard on the low register of the
synth-strings accompanied by a piano punctuation on a
low C. This use of the murky low register of the synthe-
sizer and piano augments the ominous quality of the

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“Dark Introduction” and heightens our response to Dr.

Hayward’s shocking revelations. Elsewhere in the show
the “Dark Introduction” again appears in this form when
the life Laura had led before her death is acknowledged.
In Episode 6, for example, Donna, Maddy, and James
listen to a tape of Laura they have stolen from psychia-
trist Dr. Jacoby’s office. On the tape Laura describes her
“naked secrets” and her ability to manipulate men easily,
and as the trio listen to her voice, visibly distressed by
this side of their friend’s life, the “Dark Introduction”
plays underneath Laura’s confessions. In Episode 7,
we hear it when the sleazy Jacques Renault tells Agent
Cooper (who is in disguise at the brothel One-Eyed
Jacks) about the debauchery of Laura’s last night alive. In
all of these scenes, those who care about Laura are forced
to confront her double life, which is reflected in the two
contrasting sections of her theme, and the inherent dread
of the “Dark Introduction” mirrors their anxieties over
learning about Laura’s past.
Throughout Twin Peaks, the “Dark Introduction”
is also heard on a variety of synthesizer patches.
Commenting on the unreal quality of the electronic
timbres of Twin Peaks, the writer John Rockwell noted
in a piece for the New York Times in 1990 that the use of
the synthesizer on the Twin Peaks soundtrack “[invests]
everything with an electronic glow, as if the music were
radioactive.”8 The otherworldly, “unnatural” timbre of
electronic instruments (in that their sound is not achieved
through traditional means such as plucking, striking, or
blowing into the instrument, i.e., not man-made) has
long been exploited in both horror and science fiction
films. From classical Hollywood sound films (roughly the

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late 1920s through to 1960) to the present day, electronic

sonorities have often been used by film composers
to signify the “Other” (that which is not human or
“normal”) or to emphasize psychological disturbance
on screen. Bernard Herrmann exploited the wavering
frequencies of two theremins in his score for The Day the
Earth Stood Still (1951) to accentuate the alien Klaatu’s
otherness, his being non-human. In John Carpenter’s
score for Halloween (1978) an urgent, repetitive piano
motif is played against the unsettling lower register
of a synthesized orchestra to mirror the evil Michael
Myers’ stalking of Laurie and his bloody execution of her
friends. In Twin Peaks, various synthesizer pads are used
to underscore the supernatural and mythological aspects
of Laura Palmer’s death and the town at large.
In Episode 1, we see the picnic videotape of Laura
and Donna twice. It is shown to James whilst he is
being interviewed by Agent Cooper and Sheriff Truman,
and also in isolation. In its second appearance, the
video reveals Laura and Donna dancing and giggling
in happier times, and the melody of the “light” half of
“Laura Palmer’s Theme” (where the “Climb” begins) is
heard on a solo airy-sounding synthesizer pad, performed
slowly and deliberately. Each note of the melody sounds
as if it has been reversed; there is a delay in the initial
attack followed by a short crescendo. This makes each
tone sound like it is rising upwards slightly, as if it were
floating over the grainy, slow-motion footage of Laura
that appears on screen. The theme climaxes as the
camera lingers in close-up on Laura’s face, all the while
accompanied by a windy ambience that surrounds Laura
in the video and suggests that her image has been ripped

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from another dimension. Suddenly we hear Laura’s voice

implore “Help me” though her lips do not move in the
video footage. We are not sure if someone is watching the
video and imagining that Laura’s is asking them for help
at this point as the video footage is sandwiched between
two unrelated scenes featuring Bobby and Mike in jail
and Donna conversing with her mother. It is almost as if
the specter of Laura Palmer has momentarily taken over
the televisual drama of Twin Peaks from her videotaped
ether, rising up from magnetic tape and haunting the
audio-visual space in a bid to bring peace to her spirit.
The choice of a spooky synthesizer pad to perform
this version of Laura’s theme further imbues Laura’s
image with an uncanniness, and the cue’s title on the
Twin Peaks Archive—“Laura Palmer’s Theme (Ghost
Version)”—reinforces its allusions to the afterlife. The
“Ghost Version” of the theme is used again in Episode
10 when Donna visits Harold’s home, and as she surveys
his living room, the theme’s melody floats around her: a
musical manifestation of Donna’s thoughts about Laura
and her relationship with Harold. Amongst various
objects and papers on Harold’s desk Donna finds a red
book and opens it to discover that it is Laura’s secret
diary. At this moment the ethereal tones of the “Ghost
Version” are supplanted by a low synth stinger that
emphasizes Donna’s shock. In this scene it is not Laura’s
visage that haunts the visual space, but her written words.
Solo instruments allow for the beauty of Badalamenti’s
“Laura Palmer’s Theme” to truly stand out in such
moments. We hear this theme not just on various synthe-
sizer pads but also on solo instruments like the clarinet
and piano, which garner a warmer, earthier tone. In

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the episodes in which Leland Palmer is on trial for the

murder of Jacques Renault (Episodes 11 and 12), the
theme’s stark appearance on a heavily reverbed solo
piano is particularly powerful. It reflects the solitary
stand that Leland is taking against the Twin Peaks police
when he is accused of killing Jacques, who is believed
to be Laura’s murderer. “Have you ever experienced
absolute loss?” he asks plaintively as the piano accom-
panies his pained admission of guilt. The reverb builds
an acoustical blanket around the heartbroken Leland,
and the stripped-down beauty of the theme complements
without overwhelming Leland’s poignant monologue.

Doesn’t it Sound Almost Exactly Like Laura Palmer?

The use of “Laura Palmer’s Theme” as a musical constant
in the series serves not only to unify the show’s narrative
(particularly in some of the more harried storylines
that followed the death of Leland Palmer), but also as
a dramatic chorus, guiding and conveying to listeners/
viewers the emotional intent of a particular scene. The
universality of the theme—in that its contrasting dark and
light sections reflect the dichotomies of good/bad, love/
death, and so on presented on the show—also allows for
the theme to extricate itself from Laura to a degree and
roam freely within the show’s other storylines. As early as
the pilot episode, the theme migrates from Laura and her
dalliances to Twin Peaks’ other romantic entanglements.
Borne of their involvement with Laura, a relationship
between James and Donna transpires soon after her
murder. (In fact, they waste little time and have their

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first kiss the same day her body is discovered!) Initially

the pair bond over having lost a lover and best friend
respectively, but as they delve further into Laura’s death,
they inadvertently discover they have feelings for one
another. In Episode 1, James visits the Hayward family
for dinner and as James and Donna nervously smile
and hold hands across the table—unable to say much to
each other due to the presence of Donna’s parents—the
second section of “Laura Palmer’s Theme” appears on
solo piano. Here only the “Climb” and the first note of
the “Climax” is heard. It’s as if the theme is mirroring this
nascent love affair through not being fully realized. In
Episode 2, however, the dinner scene from the previous
episode continues, and after Dr. and Mrs. Hayward leave
Donna and James alone, the two discuss their emerging
romance. This time the entire second half of the theme
(again on solo piano) is heard, and as they begin to kiss
the theme culminates with the first two notes of the
“Dark Introduction” (the “Doom” motif from Fig. 5),
suggesting to us that Donna and James’ relationship
may be ill-fated. “Laura Palmer’s Theme” is also used
in conjunction with the relationships of other townsfolk
such as Josie and Sheriff Truman, Agent Cooper, and
Pete and Catherine Martell. For Pete and Catherine, a
different synthesizer pad version is heard that the Twin
Peaks Archive refers to as the “Guardian Angel Version.”
This breathy pad sounds similar to the one used for the
“Ghost Version” of “Laura Palmer’s Theme,” except
there is no delay as each note is played, and the melody
does not appear in solo. In the case of Cooper, the theme
is used in relation to two different women, but in both
instances a clarinet performs the melody. The warm,

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resonant tone of the instrument, especially in its lower

register as used here, is particularly suited to performing
expressivo melodies such as that in the second part of
“Laura Palmer’s Theme.”
In Episode 4, Cooper and the Twin Peaks law
enforcement crew hit the pistol range to undertake
firearm training. Sheriff Truman enquires as to whether
Cooper has ever been married and Cooper answers
vaguely that he was once close to someone and under-
stands the “pain of a broken heart.” As he alludes to this
past love the clarinet melody of the “Climb” is heard
accompanied by synth-strings and, as in the scene I
discussed previously involving Donna and James, ends
abruptly on the first note of the “Climax.” At this
moment Cooper stares ahead with deadly intent and
begins firing at a target, the sound of gunfire taking over
the soundtrack and obliterating the clarinet’s musical
materialization of Cooper’s memories. Many episodes
later we discover who Cooper had been talking about
in this scene. In Episode 21, Cooper is asked by Truman
as to the nature of his relationship with the mysterious
Windom Earle and Cooper admits that Earle was his
ex-partner and that he had an affair with Earle’s wife
Caroline, whom Cooper believes Earle then killed in
revenge. As Cooper fearfully recounts the events of the
past, a woman’s ghostly face appears and then dissolves
beside him, and a variation of the “Dark Introduction” of
“Laura Palmer’s Theme” is heard on a soft bell-like synth
pad, its ethereal quality heightening Cooper’s painful
invocation of Caroline.
Early in the series we are teased by a possible romance
between Agent Cooper and Audrey Horne. The pair flirt

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and longingly stare at each other in the early episodes

of Twin Peaks, usually accompanied by Badalamenti’s
cool jazz compositions. At the end of Episode 5, Cooper
returns to his room at The Great Northern to discover
a sobbing, naked Audrey Horne waiting for him in
his bed. As she cries and begs for him to not have her
leave, the clarinet melody from the cue used in the
pistol range scene in Episode 4 is heard again but in this
quotation without the synth-string accompaniment. The
episode then ends with both the scene and the cue left
unresolved, and one can imagine that when the episode
first aired, viewers would have been waiting anxiously
to see what developed between Audrey and Cooper
in the next episode. Despite their obvious chemistry,
however, Cooper and Audrey’s relationship remained
purely platonic over the course of the series; in the
continuation of the scene in the next episode Cooper
and Audrey resolve to remain friends. In this scene “Twin
Peaks Theme” is instead heard on the soundtrack.
It is interesting to note that although Twin Peaks’
theme song is occasionally used in association with
romance in the show (particularly in regards to the
love triangle between Big Ed, Norma, and Nadine) it
is more commonly heard in scenes such as this that
depict platonic love between friends and family. Scenes
in the series involving Donna and her mother, Shelly
and Norma, Benjamin Horne watching home movies,
and the friendship between Agent Cooper and Sheriff
Truman are all accompanied with variations of “Twin
Peaks Theme” on instruments such as synth-harp, guitar
and Rhodes, as well as by the theme in its original form
as heard in the Twin Peaks opening credits. One of the

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most memorable uses of the show’s theme in this way

is when it appears in a scene in Episode 10, in which
the prickly Agent Albert Rosenfeld is threatened with
physical violence by a frustrated Sheriff Truman, with
whom Rosenfeld has had a strained relationship since his
arrival in Twin Peaks. Rosenfeld counteracts Truman’s
aggression with a beautiful speech about the virtues of
passive resistance, and as his words become more and
more impassioned, an alternate version of the “Twin
Peaks Theme” swells up from the soundtrack, climaxing
as Albert boldly announces to Sheriff Truman that he
loves him.
Just as “Laura Palmer’s Theme” is associated with
love in the series, it also became a harbinger of doom,
signifying a character’s ill-intent, the presence of dark
forces or the corrupt activities undertaken in the town of
Twin Peaks. In the show’s first season the unscrupulous
businessman Benjamin Horne vies for control of the
Packard Saw Mill owned by Josie Packard, who inherited
it after the death of her husband Andrew Packard.
Benjamin has also been involved in an affair for some
time with Catherine Martell (Josie’s sister-in-law and the
operator of the mill), with whom he is co-plotting to have
the mill burned down. Of course the drama doesn’t end
there, as the duplicitous Benjamin is also in cahoots with
Josie to remove Catherine from the picture. The “Dark
Introduction” can be heard in scenes in which Benjamin
and Catherine discuss burning down the mill (Episode
1), when Catherine listens in as Josie tries to locate a
ledger book of the mill’s falsified accounts that Catherine
has hidden (Episode 3), and when Catherine meets with
an insurance agent to discuss a life insurance policy that

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has been set up by Benjamin and Josie (Episode 6) in

order for the pair to become Catherine’s beneficiaries.
In the two latter scenes a variation referred to as the
“Baritone Guitar Punctuation” by the Twin Peaks Archive
is used that features the famous “twangy” bass sound of
“Twin Peaks Theme” joining synthesized strings in the
bass line of the “Dark Introduction.”
The “Dark Introduction” also underscores several other
storylines that are unrelated to Laura Palmer, including
the terrorization of Twin Peaks by Cooper’s adversary
Wyndham Earle, James’ involvement with Evelyn Marsh,
the re-emergence of Andrew Packard, and the ongoing
tension between Norma and her estranged husband Hank.
Even additional cues such as “Packard’s Theme” and
“James and Evelyn” that were written by Badalamenti
for these new characters bear a resemblance to “Laura
Palmer’s Theme.”9 As the memory of Laura’s death
ventured further and further into the periphery of such
storylines, “Laura Palmer’s Theme” became more aligned
with Twin Peaks’ soap-operatic melodrama. In some scenes
in the show a two-note motif that I have referred to as the
“Doom” motif (Fig. 5) was extrapolated from the theme’s
“Dark Introduction” and utilized as a dramatic stinger to
draw attention to a “shocking” development. As early as
Episode 6 we hear the “Doom” motif when Audrey signs
a contract to work at One-Eyed Jacks, the brothel owned
by her father. But it was more commonly used as a stinger
later in the series, in scenes such as one involving Benjamin
and Josie (after Benjamin says, “Well played, Josie” in
Episode 13) and several in which Cooper receives threat-
ening correspondence from Wyndham Earle (Episode
18 and Episode 26). It is also heard in one of the show’s

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most soap-operatic storylines: a paternity dispute between

Benjamin Horne and Dr. Hayward.
In the latter half of the second series of the show,
Donna discovers that her mother Eileen once had an
affair with Benjamin Horne and that he may in fact be
her biological father. In Episode 25, Donna follows her
mother to The Great Northern where she is meeting
Benjamin. There Donna runs into Audrey and the two
spy on Benjamin and Eileen discussing a love affair they
once shared, with Eileen spurning Benjamin’s advances
and telling him to stay away from Donna. As Audrey and
Donna watch their parents’ passionate discussion, the
“Dark Introduction” is heard on the soundtrack. Later
in the episode Donna questions her father as to Eileen’s
relationship with Benjamin and Dr. Hayward attempts to
evade her scrutiny. During Donna’s interrogation of her
father, a flower delivery conveniently arrives for Eileen
from an unknown admirer, and the two-note “Doom”
motif/stinger appears, emphasizing Dr. Hayward’s
concern over the situation that is emerging between
Donna, his wife, and Benjamin Horne.
In the final episode of Twin Peaks, “Laura Palmer’s
Theme” makes its last appearance in the show in a scene
in which the paternity saga involving the Hornes and the
Haywards comes to a head. Literally. Benjamin Horne
turns up at the Hayward residence to try to address the
situation that has escalated in regards to the identity of
Donna’s real father. As Donna runs to the door to leave,
Dr. Hayward and Sylvia Horne (Benjamin’s often-absent
wife in the show) arrive at the Haywards’ and immedi-
ately realize that Benjamin has confessed something to
the distressed Donna. In an unusual display of aggression

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Dr. Hayward then attacks Benjamin with a sudden

punch that causes him to fall back and hit his head on
the mantelpiece. Benjamin is knocked out as a result
and falls to the ground with a bleeding head wound,
and Dr. Hayward cries out in anger as Sylvia, Eileen,
and a sobbing Donna watch on. The whole scene moves
incredibly quickly and is, in typical Lynch-fashion (he
directed the final episode), imbued with a hyperrealism:
it is soap opera viewed through the absurdist’s lens. The
“Dark Introduction” underscores the action until Dr.
Hayward hits Benjamin, and a dramatic synth-string
cue takes over that ends with a dissonant cacophony of
sound as Dr. Hayward drops to his knees and bawls in an
overtly theatrical fashion.
“Laura Palmer’s Theme” had begun its journey in
Twin Peaks as an ode to a dead girl. A haunting melody
that, like Laura Palmer, never really left the town of
Twin Peaks. It had transformed itself throughout the
series, weaving in and out of the narrative in various
forms, until it uttered its final ominous note as a player
in a soap-operatic cliffhanger. And, like the storyline that
the theme accompanied, there was never any resolution.

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 Freshly Squeezed

One of the most memorable and iconic elements of Twin

Peaks is the show’s use of Badalamenti’s cool jazz cues on
its soundtrack. Compositions such as “Audrey’s Dance”
and “Freshly Squeezed” work with the cultural associa-
tions of the genre and affix themselves to a wide variety
of situations and characters in the show’s narrative. In
Twin Peaks the role of jazz runs the gamut from signifier
of cool to emphasizer of wanton sexuality and on-screen
slapstick. When it is heard in the Red Room, jazz even
aligns itself with supernatural malevolence.

Keep Cool
While writing his music for Twin Peaks, Badalamenti
was asked by David Lynch if he could compose some
“cool jazz” music that conveyed a dark mood and
sounded “slightly off-center.”1 Cool jazz (also known as
“West Coast cool”) came to prominence in the early to
mid-1950s and is characterized by a lighter sound than
the 1940s bebop from which it originated. Cool jazz is
also distinct because of its integration of other musical

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styles and instrumentation not traditionally associated

with jazz. There was also a degree of restraint in the
improvisations of its soloists, whose playing eschewed
the wild, high-velocity improvisations of the bebop
musicians. Compare Al Regni’s controlled saxophone
performance on “Dance of the Dream Man” to the
chaotic sax shredding of Bob Sheppard (as mimed by
Bill Pullman) on the soundtrack of another work of the
Lynch oeuvre, Lost Highway, and you can get an idea
of the difference in sound. Badalamenti had grown up
listening to both of these subgenres of jazz and looked
to the music of legendary figures such as Miles Davis
(often considered one of the key players in bridging
bebop and cool jazz), Oscar Peterson, Charles Mingus,
and Charlie Parker for inspiration whilst composing his
Twin Peaks score.2
The demo of the piece Badalamenti wrote as the
blueprint for Twin Peak’s jazz, “Slow Cool Jazz,” can be
heard on the Twin Peaks Archive album performed on
Badalamenti’s Rhodes piano. What binds Badalamenti’s
jazz in Twin Peaks, and provides a foundation for improvi-
sation, is his use of a distinctive “walking” bass line that is
found in jazz music (Fig. 7). A walking bass line is charac-
terized by its repetitive, stepwise melodic movement that
occurs on each beat: its rhythmic alternations imitative
of the movement of feet when one walks. Badalamenti’s
Twin Peaks walking bass line varies the rhythm slightly in
parts and moves down and then back up, chromatically,3
over the course of an octave starting on C. Many of the
instrumental improvisations that accompanied the bass
line hover around the six notes of the C blues scale: C,
E-flat, F, F-sharp/G-flat, G, and B-flat. This way, the

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 F reshly S queezed

Figure 7 The Twin Peaks walking bass line

various jazz themes could be mixed easily with the other

C minor-based compositions written for the show.
Just as “Laura Palmer’s Theme” had been orchestrated
in a multitude of ways to allow for variation, so too were
the jazz themes and motifs for Twin Peaks. Solo tracks of an
assortment of instruments can be heard on the Twin Peaks
Archive album: shrieking clarinets that border on sound
effect, quivering synthesized vibraphones and Rhodes
lines, mellow saxophone improvisations, and even soft flute
melodies. The Archive also includes numerous recordings
of jazz drummer Grady Tate’s mesmerizing kit work. Tate
is best known for his versatile session drumming, and since
the 1960s he has performed on bop, soul, and pop records
as well as working with legendary artists such as Quincy
Jones, Sarah Vaughan, and Ella Fitzgerald. Tate has also
had a successful career as a vocalist, and his soulful baritone
voice can be heard singing jazz and R&B numbers on his
solo releases Windmills of My Mind (1968) and TNT (1991).
The solo recordings of Tate’s drumming that feature in
the Twin Peaks Archive showcase various aspects of his
technique in isolation, such as his highly nuanced brush
work on the snare drum and his timbral explorations of
the cymbals. Throughout the series, Tate’s kit spits, sizzles,
and dances on the show’s soundtrack, injecting scenes with,
paradoxically, both a sense of urgency and a laid-back
tranquility. It was Tate who was responsible for much of
Twin Peaks’ mood of cool.

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Also present in Badalamenti’s jazz are its trademark

finger snaps: an instantly recognizable cultural signifier
of cool. Using such a sound effect not only ties the
music to the cool jazz of the 1950s—where musicians
and audience members alike snapped their fingers
in time with the music—but also to the subculture
of the Beats, or “beatniks,” who aligned themselves
with the music and musicians of jazz. Recall Lynch’s
likening of the bikers of Twin Peaks who frequent
the Roadhouse to the world of beatniks (in Chapter
5, “Wrapped in Plastic”). It was common practice
during beatnik poetry readings and performances at
coffeehouses to snap one’s fingers in lieu of applause,
and this originated not in a desire to appear hip,
but to reduce noise so as to not bring the wrath
of indignant neighbors and police upon the venue.4
When the subculture went mainstream at the end
of the 1950s, it became greatly lampooned in pop
culture, with bereted, poetry-spouting, finger-snapping
beatniks satirized in comics, pulp novellas, television
shows, and “beatploitation” films such as High School
Confidential (1958) and The Beat Generation (1959).
The use of finger snaps can also be heard in the film
adaptation of the musical West Side Story (1961) during
the song “Cool.” The song’s vocal line is accompanied
by a pressure cooker of a jazz combo which erupts
whenever one of the performers on screen loses their
cool, and the connection to beatnik culture is further
solidified through the presence of bongo drums and
a variety of beat-speak in the song’s lyrics. The film
also stars none other than Richard Beymer and Russ
Tamblyn: Twin Peaks’ Benjamin Horne and Dr. Jacoby.

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In an interview in 1990, Kinny Landrum revealed that

there was an intentional referencing of West Side Story in
Twin Peaks’ cool jazz:

The finger snaps were completely my idea. David and

Angelo resisted it. I have to admit that part of it was
because Richard Beymer was on the screen, and I was
thinking about [“Cool” in West Side Story]. I said, “David,
just let me put some finger snaps on the backbeat. If you
don’t like them, you can wipe them …”5

Though somewhat of a parody, the finger snaps were an

inspired choice on the part of Landrum and it is hard
to imagine the world of Twin Peaks without them. So
synonymous are finger snaps with Twin Peaks that, in
celebration of the Twin Peaks Blu-ray release in 2014,
the Welcome to Twin Peaks online community created a
fan-sourced music video for “Dance of the Dream Man”
that compiled footage of fans snapping their fingers
in time with the music.6 From the dancing teen in the
corridor of Twin Peaks High School in the pilot episode
to Laura Palmer snapping her fingers at Cooper in the
Red Room in Twin Peaks’ final episode, finger snaps
even appear on screen as a narrative device. After Bobby
discusses his whereabouts the morning of Laura’s murder
in the pilot episode, he states that he didn’t go to football
practice because he didn’t feel like it, insolently hits his
palms on the table, and then snaps his fingers, setting off
“Audrey’s Dance” on the soundtrack. In Episode 2, Agent
Cooper’s finger snaps are also tied to Badalamenti’s
music, this time in a more explicit way. At the end of the
episode Cooper dreams of the Red Room at the Black

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Lodge where he and Laura Palmer watch the Man from

Another Place dance mesmerizingly to “Dance of the
Dream Man,” his body undulating in time to Regni’s
weaving sax line and Tate’s kit. When Cooper wakes
from the dream he immediately calls Sheriff Truman
and excitedly tells him that he knows who killed Laura
Palmer, and the music can still be heard, though barely
discernable, as if still playing in Cooper’s mind. After
putting the phone down, “Dance of the Dream Man”
begins to crescendo on the soundtrack and Cooper
begins snapping his fingers along with the music, staring
intently as he focuses on recalling his dream. Where
Bobby’s finger snaps were a call to action in regards to
the appearance of music, Cooper’s snaps are a reaction,
helping him to focus on the information he was given in
the dream.
Jack Kerouac wrote of finger snaps in a similar way in
his bible of Beatdom, On the Road (1957). While driving
into New York, the narrator, Sal Paradise, mournfully
recalls a conversation he had had with a friend before
the trip about an ominous dream. “Just about that time a
strange thing began to haunt me. It was if I had forgotten
something … I kept snapping my fingers, trying to
remember it.”7
In his essay “Against Cool,” the novelist Rick Moody
explains that jazz “serves not only as the locus for the
meaning of the word cool, but also as a laboratory for
the way in which the term gets disseminated: loosely
in an improvisatory fashion, as a delineator of passions
and moods and styles.”8 In Twin Peaks jazz does just
this, taking many forms to assist the differing charac-
terizations of cool on screen. As I discussed in the

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fifth chapter, when Badalamenti initially composed his

themes for Twin Peaks the use of cool jazz was primarily
associated with the show’s young male characters. The
music is especially prevalent in scenes involving Bobby.
From the pilot episode to later episodes of the show’s
second season, alternate versions of “Audrey’s Dance”
are periodically used in association with Bobby in the
show. The stripped-down “Audrey’s Dance” (Clean) (title
as per the Twin Peaks Archive) features a Rhodes piano
instead of vibraphone and is heard several times in the
pilot when Bobby is on screen: during the aforemen-
tioned interrogation scene and also in several others
when Bobby and his crony Mike are harassing James and
Donna. In these scenes, the connotative power of jazz—a
music that has, historically, been aligned with rebellion
and subversive behavior, particularly in the medium of
cinema—supports Bobby’s rebellious characterization on
screen.
The cue “The Bookhouse Boys” (not to be confused
with the soundtrack album’s track of the same name,
where the cue is mixed with other music from the series)
was originally associated with James in the pilot but is
also used in conjunction with Bobby in the series. “The
Bookhouse Boys” is centered around a slow C minor
guitar riff performed by Vinnie Bell and is heard in the
show either solo or combined with Tate’s kit work, the
finger snaps, and walking bass rhythm section. In “The
Bookhouse Boys” jazz meets the guitar-driven swagger
of Duane Eddy, and the cue injects a macho potency into
the on-screen action through its bluesy guitar tremolo.
Each projection of the full C minor chord at the end of
the riff feels like a disorientating punch to our eardrums.

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The most rebellious character trait of James is his

being a broody biker, but other than this he does not
project the same degree of reckless cool as Bobby.
Superficially James’ 1950s greaser aesthetic (motorbike,
leather jacket et al.) characterizes him as a bad boy, and
though he may have initially been conceived this way,
the majority of James’ storylines in Twin Peaks instead
involve his romantic pratfalls. There is nothing particu-
larly rebellious or disruptive about James and this is
because he tries too hard to do the right thing: he’s an
occasional rebel with due cause. Conversely, with his
intense, defiant gaze and unpredictability Bobby exudes a
devil-may-care attitude to danger. For this reason, “The
Bookhouse Boys” seems more in tune with Bobby in the
earlier episodes of Twin Peaks (he does mellow as the
series progresses) and this is probably the reason why the
cue largely extricated itself from use with James after its
initial association with him in the pilot episode.
A personal favorite “Bookhouse Boys” appearance
of mine is when it is heard during a scene in Episode 3
involving Bobby and Major Briggs. Bobby, who is waiting
to go to Laura’s funeral, is standing in his family’s dining
room facing a large wall-hanging of the Crucifixion
that is surrounded by palm branches. He stretches out
his arms in imitation of Christ and then reaches out to
the cross as if to grab it. Angered by the death of his
girlfriend, Bobby is challenging Christ and, by associ-
ation, the authority figures of Twin Peaks in this moment.
They did nothing to help Laura and as far as Bobby is
concerned they were complicit in her death. As soon as
Major Briggs enters the room to speak with Bobby, the
boy turns quickly to reveal a cigarette dangling from

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his mouth (the Major is not a fan of Bobby’s smoking),

answering the Major’s questions obstinately. Here the
use of the resplendent “The Bookhouse Boys” on the
soundtrack both administers a shot of additional gravitas
to Bobby’s Jesus Christ pose and aligns itself with
youthful rebellion through Bobby’s contempt for both
his father and the establishment.

Northwest Noir
Agent Cooper is cool in a very different way from
Bobby and the younger denizens of Twin Peaks. He
is cool more literally: under pressure, in dangerous
situations or whilst keeping a distance despite Audrey’s
advances. With his super-slick hair and suit he is, at least
initially, a fish out of water in the town of Twin Peaks, a
character who has more in common with the detectives
of gritty film noir cinema than simple small-town law
enforcers like Sheriff Truman and Deputy Hawk. Jazz
and film noir are often associated with each other and
Twin Peaks contains many allusions to the cinema of
film noir, the most obvious being that it is concerned,
at least initially, with the investigation of a crime that is
being undertaken by a male detective. Both Mark Frost
and David Lynch were fans of film noir, and several
characters in Twin Peaks were even named in reference
to classic films of the genre.9 Laura shares her name
with the eponymous character of Laura (1944), which
centers around another dead woman, and Waldo the
bird is named after the character of Waldo Lydecker
from the same film. Gordon Cole is a reference to Sunset

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Boulevard (1950) and Walter Neff, Catherine Martell’s

insurance agent, is named after an insurance agent in
Double Indemnity (1944). Interestingly, although jazz is
associated with film noir, it was not actually prominent
in the scores of such films. The orchestral scores of the
classical film noir period (the early 1940s to the late
1950s) were largely modernist in sound, their dissonant
harmonies and use of dark instrumental timbre working
to support the gloominess of the visuals on screen.
Compared with the romantic scoring that permeated
the cinema of the day, film music writer Mervyn Cooke
explains that Miklós Rózsa’s score for Double Indemnity
was “markedly different in its creation of a brooding,
claustrophobic atmosphere perfectly attuned to both
setting and plot, and its tendency to disturb rather than
romanticize.”10 The darker sections of the score for
Lynch’s neo-noir Blue Velvet evoke just such a sound, and
it can also be heard in the cloying dissonance of “Night
Life in Twin Peaks” on the Twin Peaks soundtrack release.
There are numerous reasons as to why audiences
have come to associate the music of jazz with the cinema
of film noir, and its usage as a signifier of the genre has
become somewhat of a film music cliché. During the
era of classical Hollywood, jazz held largely negative
connotations due to its affiliation with bordellos, strip-
tease, and generally seedy environments. This is not to
mention the inherently bigoted attitudes towards the
music that was prevalent at the time. The film music
writer Katherine Kalinak explains that during this period,
jazz was employed to connote “otherness,” as for white
audiences “jazz represented the urban, the sexual, and
the decadent in a musical idiom perceived in the culture

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at large as an indigenous black form.”11 When jazz did

appear on a film’s soundtrack during the early years of
Hollywood cinema, it was largely as part of the film’s
diegesis: relating directly to the action in the form of live
musicians or emanating from a source on screen such as
a record player. It was not until the 1950s that scores for
film would be written which were explicitly influenced
by jazz forms, though often in combination with more
traditional film scoring. The scores of A Streetcar Named
Desire (1951) and The Man with the Golden Arm (1955),
for example, both incorporate characteristics of jazz such
as swung, syncopated rhythms (playing off the beat)
and melodies based on the blues scale. They also deal
with less “wholesome” subject matters than many other
Hollywood films of their time. A Streetcar Named Desire
presents raw sexual passion in balmy New Orleans,
whilst The Man with the Golden Arm is centered on a jazz
drummer played by Frank Sinatra who is struggling with
heroin addiction.
In his book Jazz Noir, David Butler notes that modern
audiences’ association of jazz music with film noir
probably has its origins in the hardboiled crime films and
television shows that were incredibly popular in the late
1950s.12 Television series such as Peter Gunn and Johnny
Staccato both featured jazz not only on their soundtracks
but also on screen as part of their visual narrative. Johnny
Staccato’s eponymous detective even supplemented his
income as a jazz pianist in a Greenwich Village club!
Peter Gunn first aired in 1958 and over the course of its
114-episode run featured elements of film noir (voice-
over narration, sultry women, a largely nocturnal setting)
as well as a cool jazz soundtrack composed by Henry

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Mancini. One of Mancini’s compositions for the show

(“The Floater”) even featured finger snaps. The show’s
titular character is also a particularly well-dressed, slick-
haired investigator whose style bears a resemblance to
Twin Peaks’ own Agent Cooper. Though Cooper does
not frequent the jazz bars that his Peter Gunn equivalent
does (at least, not that we know of!), he is similarly under-
scored by jazz, particularly in the earlier episodes of Twin
Peaks, and Badalamenti’s jazz cues complement Cooper’s
cool, seemingly detached approach to law enforcement.
As he investigates and questions—alternating between
good cop and bad cop and employing an assortment
of unorthodox investigative methods—syncopated
rhythms sputter from Tate’s drum kit, or solo instru-
ments comment on the proceedings with their bluesy
refrains. Some of Twin Peaks’ most humorous scenes
involve Cooper’s eccentric approach to law enforcement
or his quirky colleagues’ hijinks. Whether it’s Cooper
throwing stones at bottles to deduce suspects in Laura
Palmer’s case (Episode 2), Sheriff Truman trying to stuff
a donut into his mouth as Cooper declares that he needs
to urinate (Episode 1), or Deputy Andy being concussed
by a wayward floorboard (Episode 8), Badalamenti’s
cool take on crime jazz (usually heard at a faster, more
energetic pace) is often present to underscore amusing
scenes such as these in the show.
Just as the use of jazz works with the trope of the film
noir detective in Twin Peaks, it also works to characterize
another hallmark of film noir: the femme fatale. The
classic femme fatale of cinema is usually a beautiful
woman who seduces and destroys her male victim,
usually for financial gain. Her amoral behavior is often

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her undoing and she is punished for her transgressions.

Many of the women of Twin Peaks embody some combi-
nation of the qualities that make up the femme fatale:
they are beautiful, scheming, have dark secrets, and
engage in doomed romance. Even in later episodes of the
second season new female characters were introduced
into the show to maintain the femme fatale production
line in Twin Peaks. Evelyn Marsh schemed to seduce
James so that he would unknowingly aid in the murder
of her husband, and Lana Budding Milford possessed the
ability to captivate any man she came across, usually with
dire consequences. These women, however, particularly
Lana, seem more of a parody; a clichéd rendering of the
femme fatale rather than a nuanced representation. It is
characters such as Laura and Audrey who best embody
the spirit of the classic femme fatale.
We learn through the recollections of Laura’s friends,
family, and lovers, as well as through her secret diary
excerpts, that she possessed the same charms as that of the
sirens of classic noir cinema. Though the enigmatic Laura
is closely aligned with such femmes fatales, it is not jazz
music but her ubiquitous theme that is most used on the
soundtrack in association with her. Within the series (the
film Fire Walk with Me is another matter) Laura’s sensu-
ality is heightened by Badalamenti’s jazz only in scenes
that take place in the Red Room of the Black Lodge,
which she inhabits after her death. Cooper has his first
dream vision of the Red Room at the end of Episode 3,
and there he meets Laura who is dressed in a black 1940s-
style gown, her lips painted red and her hair cascading
over her shoulder like the classic noir icon Veronica Lake.
“Dance of the Dream Man” is heard on the soundtrack,

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and as Regni’s saxophone croons and swoons over the

walking bass line, finger snaps, and Tate’s kit, Laura
saunters over to Cooper and the couple share a lingering
kiss before she whispers the identity of her killer in his ear.
Early in the second season, Twin Peaks’ resident girl
next door Donna Hayward tries her hand at playing the
femme fatale, and the catalyst for her sudden change
in behavior appears to be a pair of sunglasses that once
belonged to Laura. In Episode 8, Maddy meets Donna
at the Double R Diner to give her the sunglasses and
“Freshly Squeezed” can be heard on the soundtrack
featuring a bass clarinet improvisation in place of the
vibraphone melody that appears on the Twin Peaks
soundtrack album version. Using the bass clarinet here
produces a sultrier rendering of “Freshly Squeezed,”
owing to the warm sound of the instrument’s middle
range. When Donna tries the chic black sunglasses on
she begins to exude a mysterious aura, almost as if she
has been taken over by Laura at this point. It’s worth
noting that in the prequel film Fire Walk with Me Laura
becomes incensed when Donna puts on one of her
sweaters. Laura screams at Donna that she is never to
wear her belongings, as if she is afraid that in coming
into contact with her clothing Donna will follow in her
footsteps. Smoking her cigarette as she discusses James
and her investigations into Laura’s death with Maddy,
Donna is both femme and detective in this scene, and
her dialogue is uncharacteristically terse. Later in the
episode Donna (wearing the sunglasses) arrives dramati-
cally at the Twin Peaks sheriff’s station where James
is being detained and is met with a wolf whistle by
an unknown admirer off screen and the bluesy cue

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“Night Bells” on the soundtrack.13 As Donna smokes

her cigarette seductively, Lucy looks on confused and
Vinnie Bell’s guitar softly moans, its tone fluctuating and
reverberating, seemingly woozy in response to Donna’s
provocative new appearance. When she enters the
holding cell area to see James, “Night Bells” is replaced
by the same version of “Freshly Squeezed” that is heard
in the diner (for continuity perhaps) and Donna walks
in slowly still wearing the sunglasses. James whispers
“wow” upon seeing her, excited by her vampy entrance.
Donna then brings a cigarette to her lips and answers
James’ questions slowly, with a breathy intonation. James
is simultaneously aroused and displeased by Donna’s
new-found sexual aggressiveness, and, in this moment,
our long-held association (or stereotyping) of jazz music
with sex intensifies Donna’s behavior on screen.

Isn’t it Too Dreamy?

Arguably the coolest of all of Twin Peaks’ denizens is Miss
Audrey Horne, and it’s telling that one of the jazz tracks
on the Twin Peaks soundtrack is named after her. The
dreamy ambience of “Audrey’s Dance” most resembles
the original “Slow Cool Jazz” demo that Badalamenti
wrote at Lynch’s request, and is the place on Twin Peaks’
soundtrack in which cool jazz and Badalamenti bitter-
sweet converge. “Audrey’s Dance” opens with a chord
that is heard throughout the piece that I will henceforth
refer to as the “Audrey” chord (Fig. 8). The “Audrey”
chord is comprised of the notes G–C–F-sharp and
immediately establishes a mood of unease due to the

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unresolved dissonance that occurs with the inclusion

of the F-sharp, which strains for resolution up to a G.
In Western classical harmony, the interval that occurs
between the C and the F-sharp is referred to as a tritone
interval (an augmented fourth/diminished fifth). When
two notes that form this interval are played together it
garners a highly dissonant sound. Because of this, the
tritone was avoided by composers of medieval music
and even nicknamed the diabolus in musica (the devil in
music). The association of the tritone with the devil, or
malevolence, continued well into the nineteenth century
(Camille Saint-Saëns, for example, used the interval in
the opening of his Danse Macabre (1874) in reference
to death) but by the twentieth century the interval was
utilized by Western composers more for its ability to
unsettle than as a programmatic tool. In “Audrey’s Dance”
the role of the tritone is that of saboteur, a harmonic
insurgent (a troublemaker—like Audrey herself!). It takes
the place of the third in the harmony of the “Audrey”
chord, the determiner of major or minor, and thus
supplants tonality and sets up a harmonic ambivalence
not only in the chord, but in the entire piece.
At the beginning of “Audrey’s Dance,” the “Audrey”
chord is heard on a synthesized vibraphone flanked by
finger snaps, and Grady Tate’s hypnotic circular brush
work on the snare. The inherent instability of the
chord is heightened due to the unsteady timbre of the

Figure 8 The “Audrey” chord

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vibraphone, which garners a dizzy feeling in the listener

as its quivering tone moves quickly between channels in
the stereo mix. It is similar in its effect to Vinnie Bell’s
tremolo on “The Bookhouse Boys.” When the quivering
tone of the vibraphone is combined with the synthesized
big-band brass blasts and dissonant clarinet slides, the
resultant moodscape is not only dreamy but downright
spooky, and it feels as if one has been placed under some
sort of nightmarish trance. What’s more, the otherwise
breezy walking bass line and finger snaps are disrupted
not only by the claustrophobic dissonance of the compo-
sition’s harmony and its woozy instrumental timbre, but
also through the use of fragments of another piece from
the Twin Peaks soundtrack—“Laura Palmer’s Theme.”
Around forty seconds into “Audrey’s Dance” the first
two notes of the “Dark Introduction”—A-flat and G,
which I have previously referred to as the “Doom” motif
(Fig. 5, p. 70)—are heard atop the chord progression on
the vibraphone as clarinets snake in and out of the mix
and synthesized brass shriek in reply. At approximately
1:17 into the piece the extended “Doom” motif is then
heard on vibraphone. The motif is not only present in
the upper voice of the vibraphone chords on the notes
A-flat–G–B-flat–G, but also in the lower voice using the
notes A–G-sharp–B–G-sharp, and results in a jarring
sound due to the harmonic clash that is occurring
between these two voices (Fig. 9).

Figure 9 The “Dark Introduction” in “Audrey’s Theme”

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There is also added dissonance created through the

tritone intervals that are occurring in the lower and
middle voices of the chords (A and E-flat, G-sharp and
D, B and F). At 1:40 the piece slowly crescendos as
further synth and mewing clarinet tracks are layered in
the mix, culminating in a near-deafening cacophony that
slowly winds back down to the slinkiness of its opening.
Then at 2:35 the crescendo layering commences once
more, to a greater extent, and the “Dark Introduction”
of “Laura Palmer’s Theme” is heard very clearly in
the upper register of the clarinets. The vibraphone
even begins the “Climb” section of “Laura Palmer’s
Theme” as the last thirty seconds of the piece plays,
stopping short of climaxing and instead repeating the
“Doom” motif on G and G-flat atop its chords. When
the piece ends, “Audrey’s Theme” is left hanging on a
highly dissonant chord (C–G–D-flat–G-flat) instead of
resolving to a C minor chord.
With such extreme dissonance and fluctuations
in volume it is no wonder that an already stressed
Benjamin Horne’s patience is tested in Episode 1 when
he encounters Audrey listening to the “racket” in his
office. Even though the piece was initially associated
with Agent Cooper in the pilot and also used in scenes
with Bobby, it is almost inseparable in the viewers’ minds
from the image of Audrey Horne moving hypnotically
to its dreamy pulsations. The aforementioned scene in
Episode 1 opens with the camera panning up Audrey’s
body as she is shown with her eyes closed, lost in the
music and swaying sensually in a fixed position to its
languorous beat in her father’s office. We are not sure
as to whether the music exists only in Audrey’s mind

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until Benjamin Horne enters and walks over to a record

player in the corner, switches it off, and admonishes
Audrey for her habit of dancing in his office to loud
music. In Episode 2, we are again treated to Audrey
dancing to the piece in one of Twin Peaks’ most iconic
scenes. Arriving at the Double R Diner, Audrey immedi-
ately programs “Audrey’s Dance” into the jukebox and
the piece is then heard playing in the background during
her conversation with Donna, who is at the diner with
her family. Like “I’m Hurt Bad” which is heard at the
Double R in the pilot episode, it’s an unusual piece
to have playing in a rural diner. The pair giggle over
Audrey’s interest in Agent Cooper and discuss Laura’s
involvement with Audrey’s father until Audrey utters
her famous line, “God, I love this music. Isn’t it too
dreamy?” She then proceeds to get up and dance to the
music in the middle of the Double R in the same way
as she had in her father’s office, in an almost possessed
state, as Donna and her parents look on with a mixture
of concern and amusement. “She’s in her own world,”
Badalamenti explains of Audrey’s response to his music,
“and the music seems to work very well when she’s in her
little naughty mood.”14
“Audrey’s Dance,” like “Into the Night,” which loops
on a record player in Jacques Renault’s cabin, actually
exists within the Twin Peaks universe. Audrey, like many
other teens who become obsessed with a particular song
they adore, just can’t seem to get enough of the spooky
muzak. And it isn’t just Benjamin Horne who dislikes the
piece, as a scene involving Shelly and Bobby in Episode
9 suggests. The couple are parked in Bobby’s car by the
woods and “Audrey’s Dance” (featuring Rhodes in place

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of the vibraphone) is heard on the soundtrack. We are

then made aware that the music is actually emanating
from the car’s radio when Bobby asks Shelly to change
the music. In place of “Audrey’s Dance” the couple listens
to the bluesy stomp of “Drug Deal Blues,”15 nodding
their heads in satisfaction to its beat and agreeing that it is
a better choice of background music. Clearly Bobby and
Shelly, unlike Audrey, prefer bluesy, countrified rock ’n’
roll to dreamy lounge music! Jazz, unlike bluesy rock, is a
music not typically associated with small-town USA, and
thus the scenes above highlight Audrey’s otherness. She
is unusually sophisticated for her age and out of place in
the rural town, and this is evidenced in her taste in music.
Other jazz pieces also accentuate Audrey’s playful
charm. In Episode 1, Audrey enters the dining room of
The Great Northern Hotel underscored by a short flurry
of Grady Tate’s cymbal work before sauntering over
to Agent Cooper to the strains of “Freshly Squeezed,”
which features an improvised synthesized vibraphone
solo by Kinny Landrum that is reminiscent of Al Regni’s
saxophone solo on “Dance of the Dream Man.”16 The
ensuing dialogue between Audrey and Agent Cooper is
heavy in innuendo and features a line that subsequently
gave “Freshly Squeezed” its title. As the pair flirt the jazz
music helps in firmly establishing the precocious Audrey
as the town’s resident tease: a role she would continue
to inhabit in further episodes of Twin Peaks. Who could
forget Audrey’s infamous knotting of a cherry stem with
her tongue in a bid to persuade Blackie to employ her
at One-Eyed Jacks in Episode 6, the naughtiness of the
moment being accentuated by a bluesy riff on a lone
clarinet?

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Aside from being one of the most provocative of

the Twin Peaks players (the living ones anyway), Audrey
is also one its most enquiring. She takes it upon
herself to conduct her own investigation into Laura
Palmer’s murder and, like Donna at the beginning of
Season 2, plays both femme fatale and detective. Born
partly of a fascination with Agent Cooper as well as
a curiosity over her largely absent father’s corrupt
activities, Audrey begins to investigate the life Laura
had led before her death. Like Laura did before her, she
even secures a job at the perfume counter of her father’s
department store that leads to her being interviewed for
a position at One-Eyed Jack’s. During Audrey’s probing
and questioning we often hear different versions of
“Freshly Squeezed” on the soundtrack with varying
instrumentation. A flute takes on the improvisatory
melody of the piece when Audrey discusses her findings
with Donna in the school bathroom in Episode 4, whilst
a solo clarinet version underscores as Audrey threatens
Emory Battis in Episode 5. Once again, the variation
of instrumental timbre allows for a revitalization of the
theme. Audrey’s investigations were such a prominent
part of the Season 1 narrative that a separate cue was
even written for her. Entitled “Sneaky Audrey” on the
Twin Peaks Archive, the cue can be heard on the Twin
Peaks soundtrack album at the end of the montage track
“The Bookhouse Boys” mixed with a solo saxophone
cut from “Dance of the Dream Man,” a kit improvi-
sation by Tate, and the “Bookhouse Boys” cue discussed
earlier in this chapter.
“Sneaky Audrey” opens with the “Dark Introduction”
of “Laura Palmer’s Theme” on synthesized strings and

• 111 •
 SOUNDTRACK FROM TW IN PEAKS

several quotations of Vinnie Bell’s C minor chord from

“The Bookhouse Boys.” After the “Dark Introduction”
is stated once, the synth drone holds its final G and a
distinctive motif, which I will refer to as the “Sneaky
Audrey” motif (Fig. 10), is heard on two clarinets. The
motif is comprised of descending chromatic thirds whose
downward, revolving movement seems imitative of the
feeling one experiences whilst enduring a fainting spell.
Because of this, it works particularly well in the scenes in
which Audrey is shown being drugged by the unsavory
characters of One-Eyed Jacks. The “Sneaky Audrey”
motif is also reminiscent of the vocal melody of another
David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti collaboration:
the song “Up in Flames.” Originally performed by Julee
Cruise in the duo’s theater piece Industrial Symphony
No. 1, the song was also recorded by the blues singer
Koko Taylor for the Wild at Heart soundtrack (albeit
with an altered vocal melody). Indicative of the musical
“bleeding” that occurred between the various projects
that Badalamenti and Lynch undertook during this
period, “Up in Flames” features a similar walking bass
line to the cool jazz of the Twin Peaks soundtrack and an
eerie siren-like accompaniment that is sonically akin to
the wailing clarinets of “Audrey’s Dance.”
For much of the first season, several versions of
“Sneaky Audrey” were used to accompany both Audrey’s
investigations into, and the goings on of, One-Eyed
Jacks. We first hear a version of the cue, “Sneaky Audrey

Figure 10 The “Sneaky Audrey” motif

• 112 •
 F reshly S queezed

(Audrey’s Investigations),” in Episode 2 when Benjamin

Horne meets a new girl employed by One-Eyed Jacks.
This version of “Sneaky Audrey” uses a different
synthesized string pad and does not include the “Dark
Introduction” from “Laura Palmer’s Theme.” It also
features the soft sound of flutes performing the “Sneaky
Audrey” motif in place of clarinets and the occasional
chord on Rhodes piano. In the following episode, we
then hear the version of “Sneaky Audrey” that is featured
on the soundtrack album when Audrey is shown spying
on her family through the peephole in her secret passage.
Though initially associated with her naughtiness, the cue
was often altered or mixed with darker-sounding cues as
the show progressed and as Audrey’s curiosity led to her
finding herself in some particularly precarious situations.
Audrey remained a constant fixture of Twin Peaks
over its thirty-episode run. Though she grew out of her
saddle shoes and moved on from her schoolgirl trouble-
making, she would always retain a little of the brazen
naughtiness that made her one of Twin Peaks’ most
beloved characters. And “Audrey’s Dance,” Badalamenti’s
evocative musical tribute, would forever immortalize her
as the sensual, swaying femme of Twin Peaks.

• 113 •
• 114 •
 I’ll See You Again in 25 Years

On February 15, 1991, after Twin Peaks had been

broadcast for just over a year, ABC announced that the
show would be put on “indefinite hiatus,” a decision that
was widely speculated in the media as the beginning of
the end for the series; Twin Peaks’ viewership had steadily
waned since its pilot episode had aired in February 1990.
After fans waged a vigorous letter-writing campaign in
response to the network’s announcement, ABC agreed
to air six more episodes to complete the season. Four
episodes aired over March and April 1991 before the
show disappeared again until the night of June 10, 1991.
With only a handful of dedicated fans tuning in to
watch it, ABC broadcast Twin Peaks’ final two-episode
cliffhanger.1
Twin Peaks never returned for a third season, and the
show’s fans were left with many unanswered questions.
Was Audrey killed in the bomb blast at the bank? Is
Agent Cooper now possessed by BOB? In the space of
just over fourteen months the perception of Twin Peaks
had shifted from that of groundbreaking television to
pop-cultural fad. Indicative of the attitude prevalent
around this time, the Encyclopedia of Pop Culture (1992)

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 SOUNDTRACK FROM TW IN PEAKS

noted that “Twin Peaks did not change television … As

for its legacy, there wasn’t much. The art of Twin Peaks,
such as it was, was too easily rendered as facile artiness
to have any real meaning.”2 Little did the writers (and
many other Twin Peaks detractors) realize just how much
of a legacy Twin Peaks would have, not only with fans, but
in influencing the medium of serialized television itself.
Shows like The X-Files and The Sopranos owe a debt to
Twin Peaks’ groundbreaking treatment of the uncanny,
the surreal, and the downright weird, and it could be
argued that without a show like Twin Peaks there could
not have been the wave of sophisticated, auteur-driven
television we have been treated to in the last decade and
a half. Twin Peaks took the boundary-pushing aesthetic
of experimental cinema to a prime-time audience, and its
“artiness” was not mere artifice.
After Twin Peaks ended, David Lynch, by his own
admission, was not yet ready to move on. “I happened
to be in love with the world of Twin Peaks,” he explained
later. “I wanted to go back into the world before it started
on the series and to see what was there, to actually see
things that we had [only] heard about.”3 In late 1991 the
director began production (without Mark Frost) on Twin
Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, a feature-length film dedicated
to the last seven days of Laura Palmer’s life. It was an
opportunity to delve where the series could not, and it is
telling that the film opens with a glowing television set
being destroyed in its title sequence. Angelo Badalamenti
returned to contribute music for Lynch’s disturbing opus
and expanded on the themes and mood of his original
Twin Peaks soundtrack, creating a sound world that
reflected the darker subject matter of Fire Walk with Me.

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 I ’ ll S ee Y ou A gain in 2 5 Y ears

The film’s opening credits are accompanied by

the “Theme from Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me” and
immediately set up a very different atmosphere from
that of Badalamenti’s opening theme for the television
series. The “Doom” motif from “Laura Palmer’s Theme”
is heard prominently at the beginning of the piece on
synthesized strings sitting atop gentle snare brushwork,
moving from A-flat to G to form an uneasy Cmin(add2)
chord. This is repeated four times at a very slow place—
drawing out the feeling of impending disaster—until
it makes way for a mournful, muted trumpet melody.
The instrument’s dulled tone sounds resigned, pained,
as if it is a stand-in for the voice of the tortured Laura
Palmer herself. The strained synths that surround the
mix threaten to overwhelm the jazz combo that fills out
the rest of the accompaniment (guitars, Rhodes, and a
creeping double bass), and the overall piece sounds as if
it were the soundtrack to an evening spent at the most
sinister lounge bar in town.
There are other pieces informed by jazz on the Twin
Peaks: Fire Walk with Me soundtrack, such as “Don’t Do
Anything (I Wouldn’t Do)” and “The Pine Float,” but
a decidedly more melancholic disposition is present in
this music. They are slower in pace and their harmonies
and instrumental timbre are much darker than that
of the cool jazz on Twin Peaks. In the television series,
pieces such as “Dance of the Dream Man” and “Audrey’s
Dance” had a playfulness to their sound, which was
reinforced through their association with characters such
as Audrey Horne and Agent Cooper. The gloomy jazz of
Fire Walk with Me, however, even when removed from
the heartbreaking depiction of Laura’s final days on

• 117 •
 SOUNDTRACK FROM TW IN PEAKS

screen, still manages to convey an overwhelming sadness.

Badalamenti’s jazz is no longer cool jazz, it’s doom jazz.
Many of the pieces on the Fire Walk with Me soundtrack
also borrow from, or are reminiscent of, the music from
the series. The film’s theme is based on the harmony
of “New Shoes” (Twin Peaks Music: Season Two Music
and More), the melody and harmony of Julee Cruise’s
“Questions in a World of Blue” bear a resemblance to
“Audrey’s Prayer” (Twin Peaks Music: Season Two Music
and More), and Jimmy Scott’s breathtaking “Sycamore
Trees” is heard in the final episode of the series (with a
cameo by the singer himself) when Agent Cooper enters
the Black Lodge to retrieve Annie. A montage track
(“Montage from Twin Peaks”) is also present, and moves
from sweet pop nostalgia into string dissonance (the cues
“Girl Talk” and “Birds in Hell”) before the second half
of “Laura Palmer’s Theme” emerges and then segues
into “Twin Peaks Theme.” Though not quite as popular,
at least commercially, as the 1990 soundtrack release
for Twin Peaks, Fire Walk with Me’s soundtrack is just as
varied and satisfying a musical offering. Indicative of the
music’s lasting popularity, the album was named in the
number 1 position in a 2011 NME listing of the “50 Best
Film Soundtracks Ever.”4
Post-Peaks, Angelo Badalamenti has continued
to enjoy a great deal of success as a composer for
film, television, pop music, and more. After achieving
mainstream popularity through his soundtrack for Twin
Peaks, the composer’s unique sound has been harnessed
by a wide range of filmmakers and musicians, and, along
with a diverse group of directors from all over the world,
he has worked with everyone from Paul McCartney

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 I ’ ll S ee Y ou A gain in 2 5 Y ears

to Marianne Faithfull and even the thrash metal band

Anthrax. Badalamenti co-wrote and arranged the song
“Black Lodge” (an obvious reference to Twin Peaks)
for Anthrax’s 1993 album Sound of White Noise. His
characteristic synthesized string suspensions sit atop
a sparkling guitar riff, later offset by guitar distortion
and Charlie Benante’s driving rhythms. Other Twin
Peaks musical alumni also took part in the recording
of the song, with Kinny Landrum on synthesizer and
Vinnie Bell contributing some “Bookhouse Boys”-style
tremolo guitar chords. Around the same time as his
collaboration with Anthrax, Badalamenti was commis-
sioned to compose music for the opening ceremony of
the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. Though far
more traditional than any of the music the composer
had written in his collaborations with David Lynch, at
the beginning of his piece for the lighting of the torch,
“The Torch Theme (The Flaming Arrow),” we can
hear Badalamenti’s beautiful, dark string suspensions
showcased briefly before making way for a triumphant
brass fanfare.
Since writing the score for Twin Peaks: Fire Walk
with Me, Badalamenti’s diverse film work has included
composing demented carnivalia for Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s
La cité des enfants perdus (The City of Lost Children)
(1995), a quirky score for Secretary (Shainberg, 2002),
orchestral atmospherics for the horror film Dark Water
(Salles, 2005), and, more recently, the score for the
Russian war drama Stalingrad (Bondarchuk, 2013). Even
in scoring for such a wide range of cinema Badalamenti’s
compositions have retained the composer’s signature
sound. The layered strings, the haunting synthesizers,

• 119 •
 SOUNDTRACK FROM TW IN PEAKS

and the climactic emotional heights of his Twin Peaks

soundtrack can all be heard in his subsequent composi-
tions for film. He has been rewarded for his talent too,
winning not only a Grammy in 1990, but a Lifetime
Achievement Award at the World Soundtrack Awards
in 2008 as well as the prestigious Henry Mancini Award
from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and
Publishers (ASCAP) in 2011.
Of all of Badalamenti’s collaborations, it is the music
he has created alongside David Lynch in the second
half of his career that has become the most memorable.
It is with Lynch that he has been able to explore and
refine his signature “beautiful dark” sound. From the
neo-classical noir of Blue Velvet (1986), the retro dream
pop of Julee Cruise, the bittersweet ambience of Twin
Peaks, to the tortured synth-string soundscapes of their
last film together, Mulholland Drive (2001), the pair have
forged an instantly recognizable sound that has gone
on to influence many artists. The electronic musician
Moby famously sampled “Laura Palmer’s Theme” in
his 1990 single “Go.” Brooding singers such as Lana
Del Rey and Skye Ferreira have featured references to
Twin Peaks in their work, Del Rey’s breathy vocals clearly
informed by the “white angel” vocal styling of Julee
Cruise. More literally, bands such as Twin Peaks and
Audrey Horne have taken their names directly from the
show’s narrative.5
In 2015, a series of concerts paid homage to the
haunting music of David Lynch’s filmography and
featured a myriad of different musical artists from around
the world. The In Dreams: David Lynch Revisited concerts
were conceived by musician David Coulter in late 2014

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 I ’ ll S ee Y ou A gain in 2 5 Y ears

and showcased a wide variety of pieces from Lynch’s

film and music back catalog at theaters and concert
halls all over the globe. I was lucky enough to attend a
concert at the Sydney Opera House in March of 2015,
and the music of Twin Peaks was lovingly interpreted
by artists such as the Australian chanteuse Sarah Blasko
(“The Nightingale”), harpist Marshall McGuire (“Laura
Palmer’s Theme”), and the Canadian singer and violinist
Owen Pallet (“Twin Peaks Theme/“Falling”). In April
of 2015 a concert took place at the Ace Hotel in Los
Angeles that directly involved both Angelo Badalamenti
and David Lynch. The Music of David Lynch opened with
Badalamenti and Kinny Landrum performing “Laura
Palmer’s Theme” and featured a diverse line-up that
included Karen O, members of The Flaming Lips, Duran
Duran, and Lynch’s most recent muse, Chrysta Bell.
In the twenty-five years since Twin Peaks originally
aired, the show’s fan base has steadily grown as each
new generation has discovered the eccentric, unclassi-
fiable series for themselves. When my teenaged friends
and I stumbled across the show in the latter half of the
1990s, renting cumbersome multi-VHS bricks from our
local video stores adorned with Laura Palmer’s famous
portrait, it was over six years since Twin Peaks had first
appeared on television screens. And now, after years
of poor treatment through its haphazard home video
releases, the series can be viewed easily by fans both old
and new on DVD, Blu-ray, and through streaming and
rental services online.6 What is more, the series is set to
return for a third season in 2017. On October 3, 2014,
both David Lynch and Mark Frost cryptically tweeted on
their respective Twitter accounts, “Dear Twitter Friends:

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 SOUNDTRACK FROM TW IN PEAKS

That gum you like is going to come back in style.” The

tweets came at 11:30 a.m.: the same time Agent Cooper
drives in to Twin Peaks in the pilot episode. The internet
was promptly abuzz with speculation as to whether the
tweets implied that Twin Peaks would be returning to
screens. Several days later, it was officially confirmed
in the press: Lynch and Frost would be reuniting to
write nine new episodes of Twin Peaks for the Showtime
network, with Lynch to direct.7 After years of Peaks
withdrawal, the show’s fans were ecstatic.
Since the initial announcement there have been a few
setbacks, most notably Lynch temporarily pulling out of
the project at the beginning of 2015, but at the time of
writing, eighteen episodes of the show are scheduled to
air in the first half of 2017. Some original cast members
will be reprising their roles, and in May of 2015, Angelo
Badalamenti was confirmed to be returning as the show’s
composer. At a Twin Peaks panel discussion with Sheryl
Lee and Sherilyn Fenn that took place at the Crypticon
Seattle convention on May 23, 2015, the revelation by
Fenn that Badalamenti would be writing new music for
the show was met with applause by audience members.8 At
a separate panel discussion featuring Dana Ashbrook and
James Marsden at the Living Dead Horror convention
that took place later that year, a brief mention of
Badalamenti’s return as composer brought excited gasps
and applause from the audience.9 It was, and is, testament
to just how special Badalamenti’s music is to the fans
of Twin Peaks. Coinciding with the announcement of
the show’s return was the news in February 2015 that
both the Twin Peaks and Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with
Me soundtracks are scheduled to be reissued on vinyl,

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 I ’ ll S ee Y ou A gain in 2 5 Y ears

allowing fans of the music the opportunity to spin the

previously very hard-to-acquire original LPs on their
home turntables.
There are many reasons that made, and continue to
make, Twin Peaks one of the most memorable television
shows in history, but without Badalamenti’s music it
would have been a very different series. From his unfor-
gettable opening credit music and tragically beautiful
theme for Laura Palmer, to his cool finger-snappin’
jazz pieces, Badalamenti’s compositional character is all
over Twin Peaks and his music was integral in helping
to solidify the show’s aesthetic and cultural legacy. “It’s
quite a compliment to know you’re evoking a special
world,” Badalamenti reflected. “Through the years some
people have told me that it was impossible to think of
Twin Peaks without hearing the music … that really
blows my mind.”10 It is indeed hard to imagine the world
of Twin Peaks without recalling Angelo Badalamenti’s
evocative soundtrack. All these years later, with his
original compositions for Twin Peaks still haunting both
screens and stereos and a new score in production for the
upcoming continuation of the series, it seems unlikely
that his music will ever lose its power or influence.
May there always be the music of Angelo Badalamenti
in the air.

• 123 •
• 124 •
 Appendix

Variations of central themes from the

Soundtrack from Twin Peaks, as discussed
in the book

Titles as per the Twin Peaks Archive

• 125 •
 SOUNDTRACK FROM TW IN PEAKS

“Twin Peaks Theme”

Variation Instrumentation/ Commonly Example of

arrangement associated scene(s) as
characters discussed in
the book
“Twin Synthesizer, Various Norma
Peaks twangy bass, and Big Ed
(Alternate Rhodes piano. discuss their
Version)” feelings for
each other
(Episode 5).
Albert tells
Sheriff
Truman that
he loves him
(Episode 10).
“Twin Synth-harp, synth- Benjamin Benjamin
Peaks strings, acoustic Horne Horne
Theme guitar, Rhodes. watches old
(Nostalgia home movies
Version)” (Episode 18).

• 126 •
 A ppendi x

“Laura Palmer’s Theme”/“Love Theme from Twin Peaks”

Variation Instrumentation/ Commonly Example of

arrangement associated scene(s) as
characters discussed in
the book
“Laura Heavily reverbed Various Donna and
Palmer’s solo piano, Dr. Hayward
Theme beginning with (Pilot).
(Piano A)” second part of the James and
theme and ending Donna
with the “Dark discuss their
Introduction.” feelings for
one another
(Episodes 1
and 2).
Leland
Palmer
arrested for
the murder
of Jacques
Renault
(Episodes 11
and 12).

• 127 •
 SOUNDTRACK FROM TW IN PEAKS

Variation Instrumentation/ Commonly Example of

arrangement associated scene(s) as
characters discussed in
the book
“Laura Solo synthesizer Laura Video
Palmer’s pad, no “Dark footage
Theme (Ghost Introduction.” of Laura
Version)” (Episode 1).
Donna
discovers
Laura’s diary
in Harold’s
home
(Episode
10).
“Laura Solo synthesizer Pete and
Palmer’s pad, variation Catherine
Theme of the “Dark
(Guardian Introduction.”
Angel
Version)”

“Laura Solo clarinet Agent Agent

Palmer’s accompanied by Cooper Cooper
Theme synth-strings, discusses
(Clarinet no “Dark heartbreak
Strings Introduction.” with Sheriff
Bridge)” Truman at
the pistol
range
(Episode 4).

• 128 •
 A ppendi x

Variation Instrumentation/ Commonly Example of

arrangement associated scene(s) as
characters discussed in
the book
“Laura Solo clarinet, Agent Agent
Palmer’s no “Dark Cooper Cooper
Theme Introduction.” discovers
(Clarinet Audrey
Bridge)” Horne in
his bed
(Episode 5).
“Laura Solo synthesizer Agent Agent
Palmer’s pad, variation Cooper Cooper
Theme of the “Dark tells Sheriff
(Caroline)” Introduction.” Truman
about
Caroline
(Episode
21).
“Laura Synth-strings, Various Josie
Palmer’s twangy bass, Packard
Theme piano. looks for
(Baritone the mill’s
Guitar accounts
Punctuation)” ledger
(Episode 3).
Catherine
meets the
insurance
agent
(Episode 6).

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 SOUNDTRACK FROM TW IN PEAKS

“Audrey’s Dance”

Variation Instrumentation/ Commonly Example of

arrangement associated scene(s) as
characters discussed in
the book
“Audrey’s Synth-vibraphone, Bobby Bobby
Dance synth-bass, drum and Shelly
(clean kit, finger snaps; driving away
fast)” faster speed than from the
that of the version Double R
on the soundtrack diner (Pilot).
album.
“Audrey’s Rhodes, synth- Bobby Bobby being
Dance bass, drum kit, interviewed
(clean)” finger snaps. by police
at school
(Pilot).
Bobby held
at station
with Mike
(Pilot).
Bobby and
Shelly in
parked car
(Episode 9).

• 130 •
 A ppendi x

“Freshly Squeezed”

Variation Instrumentation/ Commonly Example of

arrangement associated scene(s) as
characters discussed
in the book
“Freshly Bass clarinet, Various Donna puts
Squeezed synth-bass with on Laura’s
(Bass synth-strings glasses
Clarinet)” walking bass line, and visits
drum kit, finger James in jail
snaps. (Episode 8).
“Freshly Solo clarinet Audrey Audrey
Squeezed improvisation. threatens
(Solo Emory
Clarinet)” Battis
(Episode 5).
Audrey
ties knot
in cherry
stem with
her tongue
(Episode 6).
“Freshly Solo flute Audrey, Audrey tells
Squeezed improvisation. Agent Donna what
(Solo Cooper she has
Flute)” discovered
about Laura
(Episode 4).

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 SOUNDTRACK FROM TW IN PEAKS

“Dance of the Dream Man”

Variation Instrumentation/ Commonly Example of

arrangement associated scene(s) as
characters discussed
in the book
“Dance of Solo saxophone Agent Agent
the Dream improvisation. Cooper Cooper
Man (Solo meets
Sax)” Sheriff
(also used Truman
in “The at hospital
Bookhouse (Pilot).
Boys”)

• 132 •
 A ppendi x

“The Bookhouse Boys”

Cues Instrumentation/ Commonly Example of

featured in arrangement associated scene(s) as
soundtrack characters discussed in
montage the book
track
and their
variations
“The Electric guitars, James, James talks
Bookhouse synth-bass, drum Bobby to Donna
Boys” kit, finger snaps. and Audrey
at school
(Pilot).
James talks
to Big Ed
at the gas
station
(Pilot).
Bobby
strikes
a Jesus
Christ pose
(Episode 3).

• 133 •
 SOUNDTRACK FROM TW IN PEAKS

Cues Instrumentation/ Commonly Example of

featured in arrangement associated scene(s) as
soundtrack characters discussed in
montage the book
track
and their
variations
“Sneaky Clarinets, various Audrey Audrey
Audrey” synthesizer pads, spies on
synth-strings, her family
electric guitar. through
peephole in
her secret
hiding place
(Episode 3).
Audrey
drugged at
One-Eyed
Jacks
(Episode
11).

• 134 •
 A ppendi x

Cues Instrumentation/ Commonly Example of

featured in arrangement associated scene(s) as
soundtrack characters discussed in
montage the book
track
and their
variations
“Sneaky Flutes, synth- Audrey, Benjamin
Audrey strings, Rhodes. Benjamin meets the
(Audrey’s new girl at
Investigation)” One-Eyed
(variation Jacks
of “Sneaky (Episode 2).
Audrey”) Audrey spies
on Benjamin
and
Catherine
through the
peephole
(Episode 5).

• 135 •
• 136 •
 Notes

All online material accessed between November 2015 and

April 2016

Welcome to Twin Peaks

1. Steve Weinstein, “Is TV Ready for David Lynch?:

The director of ‘Blue Velvet’ and ‘Eraserhead’ brings
his unique vision to the prime-time soap opera ‘Twin
Peaks.’” Los Angeles Times, February 18, 1990 [http://
articles.latimes.com/1990-02-18/entertainment/
ca-1500_1_twin-peaks].
2. Figures reported in “Twin Peaks tops its TV rivals.”
Canberra Times, February 20, 1991, 2.
3. “Tunes of Glory.” Sight & Sound, September 2004, 30.

Beautiful Darkness
1. Michael Fensom, “Angelo Badalamenti: Boonton composer
makes music for movies.” Inside Jersey, November 18,
2014 [http://www.nj.com/inside-jersey/index.ssf/2014/11/
angelo_badalamenti_boonton_composer_makes_music_
for_movies.html].
• 137 •
 SOUNDTRACK FROM TW IN PEAKS

2. Yelena Deyneko, “The Dream Man.” SpiritandFleshMag.

com, undated [http://spiritandfleshmag.com/interviews/
interview-with-angelo-badalamenti].
3. Quoted in Fred Guida, A Christmas Carol and its
Adaptations: Dickens’s Story on Screen and Television
(Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2006), 192.
4. Angelo Badalamenti, interview by Dr. Stephen Marcone
and Professor David Philp, Music Biz 101 & More,
audio podcast, August 2, 2015 [https://soundcloud.com/
musicbiz-101-more/angelo-badalamenti-twin-peaks-
music-biz-101-more-podcast].
5. The piece is discussed in “Jean Jacques Perrey: Favorite
Top 20 Vanguard Tracks” on Jean-Jacques Perrey’s
website, accessed January 14, 2016 [http://www.jean-
jacquesperrey.com].
6. YouTube, “Law and Disorder (1974) Trailer.” YouTube.
com, December 1, 2011 [https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=jQOi3CXIYac].
7. Josef Woodard, “The Sound of Twin Peaks.” Option,
unknown month, 1990, 22.
8. Helen Frizell, “Films.” Sydney Morning Herald, July 29,
1975, 7.
9. Refer to the website whosampled.com for a full list of
sampling from the Gordon’s War soundtrack.

There’s Always Music in the Air

1. Jim Jerome, “David Lynch: The Brooding Filmmaker
Behind TV’s Twin Peaks Lives Simply, But He’s Wild
at Art.” People, September 3, 1990 [http://www.people.
com/people/archive/article/0,,20118607,00.html].
2. David Lynch and Chris Rodley (ed.), Lynch on Lynch,
rev. edn (London: Faber & Faber, 2005), 133.

• 138 •
 N otes

3. Mysteries of Love. Directed by Jeffrey Schwarz (Los

Angeles: Automat Pictures, 2002). Appears on the Blue
Velvet DVD release included in the filmography.
4. Daniel Levitin, This is Your Brain on Music:
Understanding a Human Obsession (London: Atlantic
Books, 2008), 39.
5. YouTube, “Angelo Badalamenti Rare Twin Peaks
Interview and Performance.” YouTube.com, April 8, 2015
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_KEnZ-dbfc].
6. Daniel Schweiger, “The Mad Man and His Muse.” Film
Score Monthly, September 2001, 25–6.
7. YouTube, “Julee Cruise discusses her first encounter
with David Lynch.” YouTube.com, November 28, 2010
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ww5_hK7iyfA].
8. Greg Kot, “A Star is Born: ‘Twin Peaks’ Did For Julee
Cruise What Her Record Alone Couldn’t.” Chicago
Tribune, June 17, 1990 [http://articles.chicagotribune.
com/1990-06-17/features/9002190295_1_julee-cruise-
blue-velvet-angelo-badalamenti].
9. Justin Mitchell, “Julee Cruise riding high with ‘Twin
Peaks’ theme.” Telegraph, November 10, 1990, 11.
10. YouTube, “David Lynch In Conversation | Presented
by QAGOMA in association with QPAC.” YouTube.
com, June 15, 2015 [https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=jGd6lnYTTY8].
11. Roy M. Prendergast, Film Music: A Neglected Art: A
Critical Study of Music in Films, 2nd edn (New York:
Norton, 1992), 227–8.
12. Brian Wise, “MUSIC; David Lynch’s Not-So-Silent
Partner.” New York Times, May 22, 2005 [http://query.
nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9900E6D71739F93
1A15756C0A9639C8B63].
13. David Lynch, Catching the Big Fish: Meditation,

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 SOUNDTRACK FROM TW IN PEAKS

Consciousness, and Creativity (New York: Jeremy Tarcher/

Penguin, 2006), 67.
14. Lynch and Rodley, Lynch on Lynch, 132.
15. Chris Willman, “Setting Lynch’s Muse to Music:
Director, Offbeat Composer Have Struck a Common
Chord.” Los Angeles Times, September 29, 1990 [http://
articles.latimes.com/1990-09-29/entertainment/
ca-1142_1_twin-peaks].

Falling
1. Kinny Landrum, interview by Brad Dukes, The Brad
Dukes Show, audio podcast, December 28, 2015
[https://soundcloud.com/the-brad-dukes-show/
ep-4-kinny-landrum-twin-peaks-1].
2. Reddit, “I am the Twin Peaks Synthesizer player (and
more) Kinny Landrum. AMA!” Reddit.com, June 8, 2015
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Music/comments/391bfa/i_
am_the_twin_peaks_synthesizer_player_and_more].
3. YouTube, “Twin Peaks Series Retrospective Week
7: Part 1.” YouTube.com, April 15, 2013 [https://www.
youtube.com/watch?v=ltZtyYI-9Uc].
4. Jack Barron, “Cruise’s Peak.” NME, December
1990, 16.
5. The program details can be viewed at: Sarah Gentile,
“David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti’s Industrial
Symphony #1.” BAMblog, April 29, 2014 [http://
bam150years.blogspot.com/2014/04/david-lynch-and-
angelo-badalamentis.html].
6. Ron Givens, “The music of ‘Twin Peaks’: Angelo
Badalamenti discusses his compositions for the show.”
Entertainment Weekly, April 6, 1990 [http://www.ew.com/
article/1990/04/06/music-twin-peaks].

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 N otes

7. Landrum, The Brad Dukes Show.

8. YouTube, “Twin Peaks Series Retrospective Week
7: Part 4.” YouTube.com, April 15, 2013 [https://www.
youtube.com/watch?v=bQ_0pGSobDI].
9. Twin Peaks Archive, “Exclusive Eddy Dixon Interview!”
Twin Peaks Archive (blog), May, 2009 [http://
twinpeaksarchive.blogspot.com/2009/05/exclusive-eddy-
dixon-interview.html].
10. Brad Dukes, Reflections: An Oral History of Twin Peaks
(Nashville: short/Tall Press, 2014), 135.
11. Reddit, “I am the Twin Peaks Synthesizer player (and
more) Kinny Landrum. AMA!”
12. Charlie Gillett, The Sound of the City: The Rise of Rock
and Roll (London: Sphere Books Limited, 1971), 120.
13. Luke Lewis, “Angelo Badalamenti Interview – ‘Twin
Peaks Just Will Not Die.’” The Movies Blog, NME.
com, April 20, 2011 [http://www.nme.com/blogs/
the-movies-blog/angelo-badalamenti-interview-twin-
peaks-just-will-not-die].
14. Norman Cazden, “Musical Consonance and
Dissonance: A Cultural Criterion,” Journal of Aesthetics
IV (1945): 4–5, quoted in Leonard B. Meyer, Emotion
and Meaning in Music (Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1961), 230.
15. Michel Chion, David Lynch, 2nd edn (London: British
Film Institute, 2006), 111.
16. Bob Remington, “TV cashing in on mood music;
Twin Peaks pirating triggers album.” Edmonton Journal,
September 23, 1990.
17. Lenny Stoute, “Cruise’s music fit for elevator.” Toronto
Star, November 19, 1990.
18. The Twin Peaks Archive open album was initially
released in bundles (a few related tracks at a time) from

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 SOUNDTRACK FROM TW IN PEAKS

2011 to 2012. At the time of writing it is available as a

digital download online.
19. Rob Ryan, “Peak time for theme tunes.” Sunday Times,
October 14, 1990, sec. 3, p. 3.
20. Remington, “TV cashing in on mood music; Twin Peaks
pirating triggers album.”

Wrapped in Plastic
1. Secrets from Another Place: Creating Twin Peaks. Directed
by Charles de Lauzirika (Los Angeles: Lauzirika Motion
Picture Company, 2007). Appears on the Twin Peaks
Blu-ray release included in the filmography.
2. Woodard, “The Sound of Twin Peaks,” 21.
3. Dukes, Reflections, 94.
4. Givens, “The Music of Twin Peaks.”
5. Jim Combs, “Wrapped in Plastic: Would You Believe
Midi Cables?” Keyboard, November, 1990, 71.
6. Dean Hurley’s original notes for the Twin Peaks
Archive have since been removed from David Lynch’s
website but have been archived on both the Twin Peaks
soundtrack design blog and the Welcome to Twin Peaks
website.
7. Paul A. Woods, Weirdsville USA: The Obsessive Universe of
David Lynch (London: Plexus, 1997), 105.
8. Mervyn Cooke, A History of Film Music, 3rd printing
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), 15.
9. Some of the original production notes, including
those for the pilot, were scanned and uploaded by user
“thegreatnorthern” on February 11, 2011 to the forum
at dugpa.com, an online community dedicated to the
work of David Lynch [http://www.dugpa.com/forum/
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2016].

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 N otes

10. Givens, “The Music of Twin Peaks.”

11. Schweiger, “The Mad Man and His Muse,” 26.
12. Lynch and Rodley, Lynch on Lynch, 170.
13. Both of these pieces are included on the 2007 album
Twin Peaks Music: Season Two Music and More.

She’s Full of Secrets

1. Deyneko, “The Dream Man.”
2. I refer to episodes as they are labeled on the Twin Peaks
DVD and Blu-ray releases: Pilot, Episode 1, Episode 2,
etc.
3. Givens, “The Music of Twin Peaks.”
4. Royal S. Brown, Overtones and Undertones: Reading
Film Music (California: University of California Press,
1994), 3.
5. Kathryn Kalinak, “‘Disturbing the Guests with This
Racket’: Music and Twin Peaks,” in Full of Secrets: Critical
Approaches to Twin Peaks, ed. David Lavery (Detroit:
Wayne State University Press, 1995), 84.
6. YouTube, “‘Donahue’ with the cast of ‘Twin Peaks’
1900-05-21 (Part 3 of 5).” YouTube.com, July 11, 2010
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjUy-K1UClU].
7. This cue is titled “The Culmination” on the Twin Peaks
Archive open album.
8. John Rockwell, “POP VIEW; The Music That Haunts
‘Twin Peaks.’” New York Times, July 1, 1990 [http://www.
nytimes.com/1990/07/01/arts/pop-view-the-music-that-
haunts-twin-peaks.html].
9. Both appear on the Twin Peaks Archive.

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 SOUNDTRACK FROM TW IN PEAKS

Freshly Squeezed
1. Richard B. Woodward, “Snapping, Humming, Buzzing,
Banging: Remembering Alan Splet.” On Film (blog), The
Paris Review, May 13, 2004 [http://www.theparisreview.
org/blog/2014/05/13/snapping-humming-buzzing-
banging-remembering-alan-splet].
2. Kory Grow, “Dream Team: The Semi-Mysterious Story
Behind the Music of ‘Twin Peaks.’” RollingStone.com,
July 25, 2014 [http://www.rollingstone.com/tv/news/
dream-team-the-semi-mysterious-story-behind-the-
music-of-twin-peaks-20140725].
3. Chromatic movement refers to movement in
semitones/half-steps, such as a white note to a black
note on piano.
4. Paul Colby with Martin Fitzpatrick, The Bitter End:
Hanging Out at America’s Nightclub (New York: Cooper
Square Press, 2002), 37.
5. Combs, “Wrapped in Plastic” 72.
6. The video can be viewed at: http://welcometotwinpeaks.
com/music/fansourced-twin-peaks-music-video.
7. Jack Kerouac, On The Road (London: Viking/Penguin
Classics, 2000), 112.
8. Rick Moody, On Celestial Music: And Other Adventures in
Listening (New York: Back Bay Books, 2012), 17.
9. Dukes, Reflections, 200.
10. Cooke, A History of Film Music, 111.
11. Kathryn Kalinak, Settling the Score: Music and the
Classical Hollywood Film (Madison, WI: University of
Wisconsin Press, 1992), 167.
12. David Butler, Jazz Noir: Listening to Music from Phantom
Lady to The Last Seduction (Westport, CT: Praeger
Publishers, 2002), 150.

• 144 •
 N otes

13. The track appears on Twin Peaks Music: Season Two Music
and More.
14. Jon Burlingame, TV’s Biggest Hits: The Story of Television
Themes from “Dragnet” to “Friends” (New York: Schirmer
Books, 1996), 129.
15. The track appears on Twin Peaks Music: Season Two Music
and More.
16. Landrum, The Brad Dukes Show.

I’ll See You Again in 25 Years

1. The show’s final episode garnered an audience of 10.4
million people, less than a third of the number that the
pilot episode had originally attracted in February 1990.
2. Jane and Michael Stern, Jane & Michael Stern’s
Encyclopedia of Pop Culture (New York: HarperCollins,
1992), 541.
3. Scott Murray, “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me: The
Press Conference.” Cinema Papers, no. 89 (August 1992):
28.
4. Lewis, “Angelo Badalamenti Interview.”
5. For a comprehensive list of Lynch-inspired band
names see: http://rateyourmusic.com/list/monocle/
absurd_encounters__music_inspired_by_the_world_of_
david_lynch.
6. For a detailed explanation of the issues that have
plagued the various home video releases of Twin Peaks
see: http://dugpa.com/features/a-history-of-twin-peaks-
on-home-video
7. Cynthia Littleton, “Twin Peaks’ Revival to Air on
Showtime in 2016.” Variety.com, October 6, 2014 [http://
variety.com/2014/tv/news/twin-peaks-revival-to-air-
on-showtime-in-2016-1201322329].

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 SOUNDTRACK FROM TW IN PEAKS

8. YouTube, “Twin Peaks panel with Sheryl Lee &

Sherilyn Fenn at Seattle Crypticon – 5/23/15.”
YouTube.com, May 25, 2015 [https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=uNZSiYLOWXg].
9. YouTube, “Twin Peaks panel at Living Dead
Horror Con 11/14/15 – Portland, OR.” YouTube.
com, November 17, 2015 [https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=VaN1kzg3iDI].
10. Secrets from Another Place: Creating Twin Peaks.

• 146 •
 Bibliography

Books and articles

Barron, Jack. “Cruise’s Peak.” NME, December 1990.
Brown, Royal S. Overtones and Undertones: Reading Film Music.
California: University of California Press, 1994.
Burlingame, Jon. TV’s Biggest Hits: The Story of Television Themes
from “Dragnet” to “Friends.” New York: Schirmer Books, 1996.
Burns, Andy. Wrapped in Plastic: Twin Peaks. Ontario: ECW Press,
2015.
Butler, David. Jazz Noir: Listening to Music from Phantom Lady to
The Last Seduction. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2002.
Cazden, Norman. “Musical Consonance and Dissonance: A
Cultural Criterion.” Journal of Aesthetics IV (1945): 4–5.
Chion, Michel. David Lynch, 2nd edn. London: British Film
Institute, 2006.
Colby, Paul, with Martin Fitzpatrick. The Bitter End: Hanging Out
at America’s Nightclub. New York: Cooper Square Press, 2002.
Combs, Jim. “Wrapped in Plastic: Would You Believe Midi
Cables?” Keyboard, November, 1990.
Cooke, Mervyn. A History of Film Music, 3rd edn. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2010.
Dukes, Brad. Reflections: An Oral History of Twin Peaks. Nashville:
short/Tall Press, 2014.
Frizell, Helen. “Films.” Sydney Morning Herald, July 29, 1975.

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 SOUNDTRACK FROM TW IN PEAKS

Gillett, Charlie. The Sound of the City: The Rise of Rock and Roll.
London: Sphere Books Ltd, 1971.
Guida, Fred. A Christmas Carol and its Adaptations: Dickens’s Story
on Screen and Television. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2006.
The Harvard Dictionary of Music, 4th edn. Edited by Don Michael
Randel. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard
University Press, 2003.
Hughes, David. The Complete Lynch. London: Virgin, 2003.
Kalinak, Kathryn. “‘Disturbing the Guests with This Racket’:
Music and Twin Peaks” in Full of Secrets: Critical Approaches to
Twin Peaks. Edited by David Lavery, 82–92. Detroit: Wayne
State University Press, 1995.
­­Kalinak, Kathryn. Settling the Score: Music and the Classical
Hollywood Film. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press,
1992.
Kerouac, Jack. On The Road. London: Viking/Penguin Classics,
2000.
Levine, Mark. The Jazz Theory Book. Pentaluma, CA: Sher Music
Co., 1995.
Levitin, Daniel. This is Your Brain on Music: Understanding a
Human Obsession. London: Atlantic Books, 2008.
Lynch, David. Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and
Creativity. New York: Jeremy Tarcher/Penguin, 2006.
Lynch, David and Chris Rodley (ed.). Lynch on Lynch, rev. edn.
London: Faber & Faber, 2005.
Meyer, Leonard B. Emotion and Meaning in Music. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1961.
Mitchell, Justin. “Julee Cruise riding high with ‘Twin Peaks’
theme.” Telegraph, November 10, 1990.
Moody, Rick. On Celestial Music: And Other Adventures in Listening.
New York: Back Bay Books, 2012.
Murray, Scott. “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me: The Press
Conference.” Cinema Papers, 89 (August 1992): 26–31.
Prendergast, Roy M. Film Music: A Neglected Art: A Critical Study
of Music in Films, 2nd edn. New York: Norton, 1992.

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 B ibliography

Remington, Bob. “TV cashing in on mood music; Twin Peaks

pirating triggers album.” Edmonton Journal, September 23, 1990.
Richardson, John. “Laura and Twin Peaks: Postmodern Parody
and the Musical Reconstruction of the Absent Femme Fatale”
in The Cinema of David Lynch: American Dreams, Nightmare
Visions. Edited by Erica Sheen and Annette Davison, 77–92.
London and New York: Wallflower Press, 2004.
Rodman, Ronald W. Tuning In: American Narrative Television
Music. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.
Ryan, Rob. “Peak time for theme tunes.” Sunday Times, October
14, 1990.
Sandall, Robert. “Whispery balladeer of the Lynch mob.” Sunday
Times, January 27, 1991.
Schweiger, Daniel. “The Mad Man and His Muse.” Film Score
Monthly, September 2001.
Stern, Jane and Michael. Jane & Michael Stern’s Encyclopedia of Pop
Culture. New York: HarperCollins, 1992.
Stoute, Lenny. “Cruise’s music fit for elevator.” Toronto Star,
November 19, 1990.
“Tunes of Glory.” Sight & Sound, September 2004.
“Twin Peaks tops its TV rivals.” Canberra Times, February 20,
1991.
Woodard, Josef. “The Sound of Twin Peaks.” Option, unknown
month, 1990.
Woods, Paul A. Weirdsville USA: The Obsessive Universe of David
Lynch. London: Plexus, 1997.

Online material
All material accessed between November 2015 and April 2016

“Angelo Badalamenti Rare Twin Peaks Interview and

Performance.” YouTube.com, April 8, 2015 [https://www.
youtube.com/watch?v=r_KEnZ-dbfc].

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 SOUNDTRACK FROM TW IN PEAKS

Badalamenti, Angelo. Interview by Dennis Raimondi. Speaking

Freely with Dennis, audio podcast, May 11, 2010 [http://speak-
ingfreelywithdennis.com/angelo-badalamenti/].
Badalamenti, Angelo. Interview by Dr. Stephen Marcone and
Professor David Philp. Music Biz 101 & More, audio podcast,
August 2, 2015 [https://soundcloud.com/musicbiz-101-more/
angelo-badalamenti-twin-peaks-music-biz-101-more-
podcast].
“David Lynch In Conversation | Presented by QAGOMA in
association with QPAC.” YouTube.com, June 15, 2015 [https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGd6lnYTTY8].
Deyneko, Yelena. “The Dream Man.” SpiritandFleshMag.com,
undated [http://spiritandfleshmag.com/interviews/interview-
with-angelo-badalamenti].
“‘Donahue’ with the cast of ‘Twin Peaks’ 1900-05-21 (Part 3 of
5).” YouTube.com, July 11, 2010 [https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=jjUy-K1UClU].
Fensom, Michael. “Angelo Badalamenti: Boonton composer
makes music for movies.” Inside Jersey, November 18, 2014
[http://www.nj.com/inside-jersey/index.ssf/2014/11/angelo_
badalamenti_boonton_composer_makes_music_for_movies.
html].
Gentile, Sarah. “David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti’s Industrial
Symphony #1.” BAMblog, April 29, 2014 [http://bam150years.
blogspot.com/2014/04/david-lynch-and-angelo-badala-
mentis.html].
Givens, Ron. “The music of ‘Twin Peaks’: Angelo Badalamenti
discusses his compositions for the show.” Entertainment
Weekly, April 6, 1990 [http://www.ew.com/article/1990/04/06/
music-twin-peaks].
Grow, Kory. “Dream Team: The Semi-Mysterious Story Behind the
Music of ‘Twin Peaks.’” RollingStone.com, July 25, 2014 [http://
www.rollingstone.com/tv/news/dream-team-the-semi-myste-
rious-story-behind-the-music-of-twin-peaks-20140725].
“Jean-Jacques Perrey: Favorite Top 20 Vanguard Tracks,” on

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 B ibliography

Jean-Jacques Perrey’s website, accessed January 14, 2016

[http://www.jean-jacquesperrey.com].
Jerome, Jim. “David Lynch: The Brooding Filmmaker Behind
TV’s Twin Peaks Lives Simply, But He’s Wild at Art.” People,
September 3, 1990 [http://www.people.com/people/archive/
article/0,,20118607,00.html].
“Julee Cruise discusses her first encounter with David Lynch.”
YouTube.com, November 28, 2010 [https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=ww5_hK7iyfA].
Kot, Greg. “A Star is Born: ‘Twin Peaks’ Did For Julee
Cruise What Her Record Alone Couldn’t.” Chicago
Tribune, June 17, 1990 [http://articles.chicagotribune.com/
1990-06-17/features/9002190295_1_julee-cruise-blue-vel-
vet-angelo-badalamenti].
Landrum, Kinny. Interview by Brad Dukes. The Brad Dukes Show,
podcast audio, December 28, 2015 [https://soundcloud.com/
the-brad-dukes-show/ep-4-kinny-landrum-twin-peaks-1].
“Law and Disorder (1974) Trailer.” YouTube.com, December 1,
2011 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQOi3CXIYac].
Lewis, Luke. “Angelo Badalamenti Interview – ‘Twin Peaks Just Will
Not Die.” The Movies Blog, NME.com, April 20, 2011 [http://
www.nme.com/blogs/the-movies-blog/angelo-badalamenti-
interview-twin-peaks-just-will-not-die].
Littleton, Cynthia. “Twin Peaks’ Revival to Air on Showtime
in 2016.” Variety.com, October 6, 2014 [http://variety.
com/2014/tv/news/twin-peaks-revival-to-air-on-show-
time-in-2016-1201322329].
Reddit. “I am the Twin Peaks Synthesizer player (and more)
Kinny Landrum. AMA!” Reddit.com, June 8, 2015 [https://
www.reddit.com/r/Music/comments/391bfa/i_am_the_twin_
peaks_synthesizer_player_and_more].
Rockwell, John. “POP VIEW; The Music That Haunts ‘Twin
Peaks.’” New York Times, July 1, 1990 [http://www.nytimes.
com/1990/07/01/arts/pop-view-the-music-that-haunts-twin-
peaks.html].

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 SOUNDTRACK FROM TW IN PEAKS

Twin Peaks Archive. “Exclusive Eddy Dixon Interview!” Twin

Peaks Archive (blog), May, 2009 [http://twinpeaksarchive.
blogspot.com/2009/05/exclusive-eddy-dixon-interview.html].
“Twin Peaks panel at Living Dead Horror Con 11/14/15 –
Portland, OR.” YouTube.com, November 17, 2015 [https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaN1kzg3iDI].
“Twin Peaks panel with Sheryl Lee & Sherilyn Fenn at Seattle
Crypticon – 5/23/15.” YouTube.com, May 25, 2015 [https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNZSiYLOWXg].
“Twin Peaks Series Retrospective Week 7: Part 1.” YouTube.
com, April 15, 2013 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
ltZtyYI-9Uc].
“Twin Peaks Series Retrospective Week 7: Part 4.” YouTube.
com, April 15, 2013 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
bQ_0pGSobDI].
Weinstein, Steve. “Is TV Ready for David Lynch?: The director
of ‘Blue Velvet’ and ‘Eraserhead’ brings his unique vision to
the prime-time soap opera ‘Twin Peaks.’” Los Angeles Times,
February 18, 1990 [http://articles.latimes.com/1990-02-18/
entertainment/ca-1500_1_twin-peaks].
Willman, Chris. “Setting Lynch’s Muse to Music: Director,
Offbeat Composer Have Struck a Common Chord.” Los
Angeles Times, September 29, 1990 [http://articles.latimes.
com/1990-09-29/entertainment/ca-1142_1_twin-peaks].
Wise, Brian. “MUSIC; David Lynch’s Not-So-Silent Partner.”
New York Times, May 22, 2005 [http://query.nytimes.
com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9900E6D71739F931A15756
C0A9639C8B63].
Woodward, Richard B. “Snapping, Humming, Buzzing,
Banging: Remembering Alan Splet.” On Film (blog), The
Paris Review, May 13, 2004 [http://www.theparisreview.org/
blog/2014/05/13/snapping-humming-buzzing-banging-re-
membering-alan-splet].

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 B ibliography

Selected filmography
Blue Velvet, special edition. Directed by David Lynch, 1986.
Beverly Hills, CA: MGM Home Entertainment, 2003. DVD.
Mysteries of Love. Directed by Jeffrey Schwarz. Los Angeles:
Automat Pictures, 2002. Video.
Secrets from Another Place: Creating Twin Peaks. Directed by
Charles de Lauzirika. Los Angeles: Lauzirika Motion Picture
Company, 2007. Video.
Twin Peaks: The Entire Mystery. Los Angeles: Paramount Home
Media Distribution, 2014. Blu-ray.

Selected discography
Badalamenti, Angelo. Music from Twin Peaks. Warner Bros.
Records 7599-26316-2, 1990, compact disc.
Badalmenti, Angelo. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (Music
from the Motion Picture Soundtrack). Warner Bros. Records
9362-45019-2, 1992, compact disc.
Badalmenti, Angelo and David Lynch. Twin Peaks Archive. david-
lynch.com, 2011–12, online release.
Badalamenti, Angelo and David Lynch. Twin Peaks Music: Season
Two Music and More. Absurda/David Lynch Music Company
DLMC003, 2007, compact disc.
Cruise, Julee. Floating into the Night. Warner Bros. Records
925 859-2, 1989, compact disc.
Various artists. Blue Velvet. Varese Sarabande VSD-47277, 1986,
compact disc.

Selected websites
dugpa.com
twinpeaksarchive.blogspot.com
twinpeakssoundtrackdesign.blogspot.com
welcometotwinpeaks.com

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