I never noticed it till just a moment ago but after re-watching the beginning and while looking for clues I heard someone speaking what appears to be Spanish just as the jitterbug music starts.

I tried finding information on this site about the words spoken but was unable to. Checked a YouTube site for Angelo Badalamenti's "Jitterbug" and a user was able to decipher it.

The words spoken when the jitterbug music begins is "esto sí que es nuevo" which according the Google translator is "This is something new"

Something new to me.

Thanks!!!!!!! I was about to break out sound editing equipment play it backwards and forwards like my old pink Floyd albums. Appears another mystery solved!!

I don't believe that to be correct. In an interview with John Neff (MD's sound designer) he mentions the following:

"The Jitterbug contest music was the last thing we recorded in Prague during the scoring sessions for Mulholland Drive, in December of 2000. I had made a beatmap of the music piece David had cut the scene to, because either the rights to use that piece were too expensive or it was not available at all. So the musicians had to 'jam' to an existing beat track, and one of them made a comment just as the track started. It is embedded, and David kind of liked it. The language is Czech. Interestingly, the horns were overdubbed and David did not like them at their proper pitch, so I lowered them one octave. That's why they sound so haunting. David and I sort of composed the part back in Hollywood from various parts that were not recorded at the same time, which is why we put an "Arranged By" credit on the track."

http://dugpa.com/interviews/john-neff-% ... ire-part1/

Thanks Bob!

So who knows how to speak Czech???

Bob wrote:I don't believe that to be correct. In an interview with John Neff (MD's sound designer) he mentions the following:

"The Jitterbug contest music was the last thing we recorded in Prague during the scoring sessions for Mulholland Drive, in December of 2000. I had made a beatmap of the music piece David had cut the scene to, because either the rights to use that piece were too expensive or it was not available at all. So the musicians had to 'jam' to an existing beat track, and one of them made a comment just as the track started. It is embedded, and David kind of liked it. The language is Czech. Interestingly, the horns were overdubbed and David did not like them at their proper pitch, so I lowered them one octave. That's why they sound so haunting. David and I sort of composed the part back in Hollywood from various parts that were not recorded at the same time, which is why we put an "Arranged By" credit on the track."

http://dugpa.com/interviews/john-neff-% ... ire-part1/

It's possible that John Neff did not speak Czech and because it was recorded in Prague assumed it was.

I also find it hard to believe that someone as meticulous as David Lynch, especially concerning sound, would allow someone to record their voice on the soundtrack when it had nothing to do with the film. Also professional studio musicians tend to know when recording has started and know not to talk.

After running a sound bite through an audio editor, slowing it down and even playing it in reverse; I am convinced that it is someone saying "esto sí que es nuevo, ah".

The fact that the film ends in Spanish("silencio"), it only seems fitting that it would also begin in the same language.

It seems more likely that Lynch communicated to someone during the recording and had them speak the sentence.

As for John Neff, perhaps he was not informed that someone was going to make a comment and naturally assumed if Lynch asked not to take it out or re-record it he must of "kind of liked it."

I appreciate the link, though after reading both parts I could not find the paragraph you quoted.