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The Best Musical Moments in David Lynch Movies

The Twin Peaks director has overseen some iconic soundtracks

Headshot of Esquire EditorsBy Esquire Editors
david lynch at his studio, march 15, 2002, in hollywood photo by chris weekswireimagepinterest
Chris Weeks//Getty Images

David Lynch isn't just a heralded filmmaker and coffee connoisseur (tried the David Lynch Signature Cup yet?), he's also a successful recording artists having put out the album BlueBOB in 2001, Crazy Clown Time in 2011, and The Big Dream in 2013, which saw the Blue Velvet director try his hand at a Bob Dylan cover ('The Ballad of Hollis Brown') and team up with Swedish singer Lykke Li for a sprightly little "doo-wop" number.

With the sound-vision intersection being such a key component to Lynch's surreal, off-the-wall style, Esquire hits the rewind button on his film and TV back catalogue to pick out some musical highlights from the Twin Peaks mastermind.

1

Love Me' in 'Wild at Heart'

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Nicolas Cage delivers a sweaty serenade of the Elvis Presley classic to Laura Dern's Lula's in Lynch's 1990 film. Cage would go on to marry a member of the Presley family, while Dern proved to be a lucky charm for Lynch again in Inland Empire.

2

'I'm Deranged' in 'Lost Highway'

Bill Pullman tears down Lynch's Lost Highway to the sound of David Bowie's Outside track. It's a song so good they used it twice; during both the opening and closing credits for the film.

3

In Dreams' in 'Blue Velvet'

Dennis Hopper resurrected his career as the gas-inhaling Frank Booth, and the film's stand-out musical scene came courtesy of drug dealer Ben (Dean Stockwell) lip-synching to Roy Orbison.

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4

'Lenox Avenue Blues' in 'Eraserhead'

Lynch's breakthrough came thanks to this late '70s body horror. Already he was starting to establish his taste for memorably melding sound and image. Fats Waller provided unsettling organ music a little help from Peter Ivers.

5

Falling' in 'Twin Peaks'

Long before Lost sent minds spinning, Lynch was top dog when it came to surreal television. An instrumental version of Julee Cruise's 'Falling' - written by Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti - provided the opener for two seasons of small-screen weirdness.

6

Crying' ('Llorando') in 'Mulholland Drive'

Lynch's stunning 2001 masterpiece returned to Roy Orbison, as Rebekah del Rio turned in a show-stopping a cappella rendition of 'Crying'... in Spanish

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7

Love Me Tender' in 'Wild at Heart'

Nicolas Cage's Sailor Rilpey leaps across cars to reunite with Laura Dern at the close of this wild romance to sing 'Love Me Tender', a song he earlier promised her he would only sing to his wife.

8

This Magic Moment in 'Lost Highway'

Lou Reed's track accompanies a stunning slow-motion sequence where Balthazar Getty's Pete Dayton gets his first glimpse of Patricia Arquette's Alice Wakefield.

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