3 of David Lynch’s Best Music Moments

Music was crucial to how David Lynch folded morbid tales into the banalities of everyday life.

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Most conversations about Lynch begin with Twin Peaks and its initial two seasons in 1990 and 1991. (The show returned for a third season in 2017.)

Twin Peaks features Lynch’s iconic collaboration with composer Angelo Badalamenti, and his scores were crucial to the show’s groundbreaking influence. Not only were future TV shows inspired by Twin Peaks, but you don’t get to the dream pop of Lana Del Rey or Beach House without Badalamenti’s music.

To celebrate the life and work of the late filmmaker, here’s a look at three of Lynch’s best music moments.

“Wicked Game” by Chris Isaak from Wild at Heart (1990)

Many know Chris Isaak’s signature song for its woozy reverb-drenched guitar and risqué video filmed on a black-sand beach in Hawaii. But it’s also an important piece of Lynch’s 1990 dark romantic comedy Wild at Heart. Isaak blends Elvis Presley’s country croon with Roy Orbison’s falsetto in an ode to obsession. The Elvis allusions continue with Nicolas Cage’s portrayal of Sailor Ripley, whom the actor once described as a “romantic Southern outlaw.”

The world was on fire and no one could save me but you
It’s strange what desire will make foolish people do
I never dreamed that I’d meet somebody like you
And I never dreamed that I’d lose somebody like you

“The Perfect Drug” by Nine Inch Nails from Lost Highway (1997)

The soundtrack to Lynch’s 1997 film Lost Highway features dark industrial artists like Marilyn Manson and the German band Rammstein. Trent Reznor produced the soundtrack, and his Nine Inch Nails’ contribution “The Perfect Drug” distills the film’s noir into five minutes of relentless and punishing drum-and-bass execution. It also contains one of Reznor’s finest hooks.

I’ve got my head, but my head is unraveling
Can’t keep control; can’t keep track of where it’s traveling
I’ve got my heart, but my heart is no good
And you’re the only one that’s understood

“Sycamore Trees” by Jimmy Scott from Twin Peaks (1991)

Jimmy Scott’s high contralto voice on “Sycamore Trees” sounds like a warning. Lynch co-wrote the sorrowful ballad with Badalamenti. It appeared in the final episode of Twin Peaks. Special Agent Dale Cooper enters the extradimensional Red Room and watches Scott singing. The lights flicker, and Scott’s lurching jazz feels like a funeral march. Or at least a march toward some transformation.

I got idea, man
You take me for a walk
Under the sycamore trees
The dark trees that blow, baby
In the dark trees that blow

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