“Make it dark and a little scary,” was director David Lynch’s request tocomposer Angelo Badalamenti as they began their decades-long collaboration onthe film Blue Velvet (1986). Lynch added that his music could also be “themost beautiful thing”. Lynch’s words perfectly characterize Badalamenti’smusic: hauntingly romantic, but always with a dark, ominous undertone.Badalamenti also wrote the incantatory music for the Lynch films Wild atHeart , Lost Highway , The Straight Story (more pastoral than gloomy),Mulholland Drive the TV series Twin Peaks and the movie sequel, Fire WalkWith Me. They are atmospheric scores that transition seamlessly into thesoundtrack full of gritty sounds that affect the subconscious.
‘Today, no music’
Badalamenti’s symbiotic partnership with Lynch is legendary. That has now cometo an end: Badalamenti died on Sunday 11 December at the age of 85. In hisdaily YouTube column Weather Report Lynch said on December 12 as a tributeto his friend: “today, no music”. Lynch hired Badalamenti in 1986 as a singingcoach for Isabella Rossellini, the rest is history. He was so impressed thatBadalamenti took the whole score for it Blue Velvet could write.
The songs that Badalamenti wrote together with Lynch are also an inseparablepart of the soundtrack. For example, Isabella Rossellini (with the angelicvoice of Julee Cruise) sings ‘Mysteries of Love’ Blue Velvet : the motifreturns in the film in several beautiful orchestrations.
In 1990, Badalamenti received a Grammy Award for his beautiful theme for thetelevision series Twin Peaks , melancholic, moody synthesizer sounds – thesoundtrack album became a bestseller. In front of Twin Peaks Badalamentiwrote a special theme for each character, including the brooding, jazzy-sounding “Audrey’s Dance” and, of course, “Laura Palmer’s Theme,” named afterthe murdered protagonist of the series. Julee Cruise sang the dreamy ‘TheNightingale’ and ‘Falling’. Lynch and Badalamenti produced her ethereal album_Floating Into the Night_ (1989) which has been described as ‘dream pop’. ThenDavid Lynch Twin Peaks in 2017 Badalamenti also wrote new music for it, someof his last compositions.
Andy Badale
Before Badalamenti got into film music, he co-wrote pop and soul songs underthe name Andy Badale. So are on Nina Simone’s album High Priestess of Soul(1967) to find two songs by him, Nancy Wilson sang his ‘Face It Girl, It’sOver’ and collaborated with electronic music pioneer Jean-Jacques Perrey. ForPerrey’s breakthrough album Mood Indigo (1970) he co-wrote fivecompositions. He also worked as an arranger, including for the Pet Shop Boys.His interest in (alternative) pop music resulted in the group in 1996 Boothand the Bad Angel his collaboration with singer Tim Booth of the British bandJames.
In addition to his soundtrack work for and with Lynch, he has also composedmemorable music for Paul Schrader’s films on several occasions. Badalamenti’sown favorite score – apart from his collaboration with Lynch – was forSchraders The Comfort of Strangers (1990), richly orchestrated, sometimesominous music with a slightly oriental touch. In addition, Badalamenti workedwith several French directors from 1995, including Nicole Garcia ( L’adversaire) and Jean-Pierre Jeunet ( La cité des enfants perdus , Un longdimanche de fiançailles ).