Just wanted to comment on the similarities between Song to the Sirens in Lost Highway and Llorando in Mulholland Drive.

It struck me first in Lost Highway how this moment when Song to the Sirens played, how poignant that was, how much the lyrics echoed his feelings of how much he wanted this person of Alice/Renee, how primal & within the the depths of his being this song sounded out of, but how it was forever beyond him. That moment seemed to be echoed within Mulholland Drive, in Club Silencio when Llorando was being sung, that again primal desire of Diane for Camilla, being contradicted by the dawning realization of what she in reality has done to Camilla. For me, these are the moments where the emotional truth of the story in it's full depth breaks through into the narrative.

Other Lynch movies seem to hold true to this structure, in there different ways. Blue Velvet definitely has a turning point when Mysteries of Love is played at the party where Jeffery dances with Sandra (Lynch thought of playing Song to the Siren here, but couldn't afford the rights, and had Angelo Badlamenti compose something similar). I even think there is a similar moment in Twin Peaks, when Rockin' Back into my Heart/The World Spins plays in the episode where Maddie is killed, sort of a similar moment of emotional/spiritual depth for Detective Cooper. As for Straight Story, I'm not sure they're is an equivalent moment, but I felt it definitely whereever Lauren's Walking was played.

Lost Highway: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Laf8bhSeGNY

Mullholand Drive: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LME2CK0lXG8

Twin Peaks: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Arcp0rqhDrs

Blue Velvet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miSBpNeefzA

Straight Story: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miSBpNeefzA

Not sure there is such a moment in Eraserhead. "In Heaven Everything Is Fine" is definitely a pivotal song, but it seems to play a different role in the narrative than these other songs do. I'll have to watch it again with this in mind to be sure, but just thinking back now, the visual sequence where Henry's head is turned into a pencil eraser is almost the equivalent for me to these other moments, where the deep & primal emotional truth bubbles up into consciousness...

Love me tender in wild at heart.

Polish poem in inland empire.

Ah, thanks kmkmiller, those are the last two movies for me to see of Lynch's, interested to hear how they fit into the pattern :)

If you like Song of the Siren, you'll love Polish Poem... It's VERY this mortal coil-esque. For anyone who hasn't already, check out Chryta Bell.

Cool thread...

I'm hesitant to check out the song before I see the movie, I want to let it hit me all at once, but hopefully I can get a copy of Inland Empire soon. Interesting to hear about Polish Poem, from what I read in Beautiful Dark, Mortal Coil is might be the original inspiration for the David Lynch/Angelo Badlamenti-style collaboration, I'd be interested to hear where it when from there.

Also, on the topic of David Lynch and music, if anyone has heard Lux Vivens, a David Lynch produced recording of Hildegard von Bingen's music, it incorporates a lot of Lynch's sound effect palette into classical-style music, it's an interesting cross-over project to be sure.

Totally missed Lux Vivens.. That definitely goes back to the days of lost highway... ... Very cool.

Oh, just saw I messed up the link for the Mystery of Love clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBoXNket2pQ

kmkmiller wrote:Polish poem in inland empire.

I finally saw IE, Polish poem definitely matched up with a lot of these other moments in Lynch's films, it was quite a moving scene.

I kind of feel these scenes are moments when some insight is gained into deep emotional knots/long running conditioned behavior, where the characters can see into what was going on, and things sort of unravel from there - literally almost, as Betty disappears after Club Silencio and Nikki fades away during the Polish poem.

Interesting how in LH/Song of the Siren and MD/Llorando, I think the characters realize they'll be separated from the person they desire most forever (by their own actions, depending on your interpretation I guess) and Fred/Dianne seem doomed from that point on, whereas in IE this moment seems like a moment of liberation, freeing the characters from the past.

I loved Sinnerman at then end aswell

Polish Poem in Inland Empire: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcCZu-skuCg

whereas in IE this moment seems like a moment of liberation, freeing the characters from the past.

couldn't have said it better myself.

Here's Chrysta Bell's first band, 8 1/2 Souvenirs:

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