Continuing our look into Twin Peaks twenty years on(see Mike TV and Features). Ed Atlee looks at Angelo Badalamenti’s haunting, mesmerising and borderline perfect soundtrack that not merely accompanied the show but lead us down as many twisting alley-way’s as Lynch or Frost did within the script and direction - then picks out a few choice cuts.
Ah Twin Peaks, the series that made it ok to eat pie and more than ok to talk into a Dictaphone. Like Agent Cooper I too long for the quaint, ill fated town with its scent of pine trees and strange but golden hearted inhabitants. But wait, what’s this, the soundtrack to the series?! On sale! Perfect! What better way to transport me back to mornings at the Double R, afternoons at the sheriff’s office and evenings at One Eyed Jacks! I’m in heaven.
Like the darkness in the forest, Angelo Badalamenti’s soundtrack was more than an incidental presence in the series. In turns hilarious, tender and terrifying, the soundtrack brought to life the internal lives of the characters. Composed of a series of repeating themes and motifs, the soundtrack really did create a whole world for Twin Peaks’ director David Lynch. He would often listen to the music through a pair of headphones while shooting a scene which explains the perfect symbiosis between the action and the sounds.
The music evokes not only Twin Peaks itself but the films and times that the series pays homage to and makes fun of. There are nods to Casablanca and The Third Man alongside ripples from 1950s high school band songs.
My picks:
Just You as sung by James, Donna and Maddie
Audrey’s Dance: a cacophony of wavering bassoon and saxophone. As audacious and sensual as young Miss Horne herself.
Freshly Squeezed: redolent of dirty dealings, film noir detectives, clicking criminals and a seedy underworld.
Dance of the Dream Man , spooky, seductive and jazzy.
Hayward Boogie, Badalamenti’s variation on the 12 bar blues.
Im Hurt Bad , spiralling madness.
Drug Deal Blues , because we’ve all had them.
Hook Rug Dance.