Light On Dark Water

Julee Cruise, RIP

I first heard her on Peter Schickele's radio program, Schickele Mix. I'll guess the year was about 1991. It was a wonderfully eclectic hour of music and talk about music and I sometimes recorded it to cassette.

One night he played this song. As far as I recall he didn't say anything by way of introduction beyond the singer's name. I had never heard of her. I had never seen Twin Peaks and knew little about David Lynch beyond the fact that he was the director of a movie called Blue Velvet which I had stopped watching part way through because I found it too disturbing. I can only describe my reaction to the song as some weird combination of mesmerized and electrified. And touched by a deep sadness. I kept the tape of that program for a long time, mainly for this song.

This was before the web, and I had no way of learning more about the artist or the music. Of course I had no idea that I would eventually become a big fan of Twin Peaks and some of Lynch's other work. I don't know how much time went by before I got the album, Floating Into the Night, but it was before I ever saw Twin Peaks. That had to wait for Netflix. I liked the album as much as I liked the one song. 

Here's what I wrote about the album in the 52 Albums series. I don't see anything there that I would disagree with now, five years later.

Julee Cruise died within the past day or two. According to this obituary in The Guardian, she had lupus. And the comment from her husband–"she left this realm on her own terms"–makes it sound like she might have taken her own life rather than wait for the disease to take it. I would not judge harshly anyone who takes that step under those conditions, but I hope it's not true. 

Here's the song which was the foundation of the Twin Peaks soundtrack. Of the Twin Peaks sound.

 

Maclin Horton
, ,

22 responses to “Julee Cruise, RIP”

  1. Rob G

    Very sorry to hear this.
    I first heard of the album several years after Twin Peaks, when I happened to be listening to Hearts of Space one night and heard “The World Spins.” I bought the CD not long after that, but didn’t make the connection with T.P. until the second track, “Falling,” started to play, and I had the big “Aha!” moment.
    Funny, but just the other day I was listening to something that was very reminiscent of her music, both vocally and style-wise, but was a bit bigger and louder. Can’t remember what it was right now, but I’m sure it was something I had flagged to go back to, so when I do I’ll let you know.
    Per Discogs it looks like her 2nd LP isn’t too hard to get ahold of, but the later two are more difficult to find. Her last album came out in 2011 and it appears that she only did a couple singles after that.
    RIP

    Reply
  2. Mac

    I have the 2nd, and not surprisingly it’s not as good as Floating. I haven’t really given it that much of a chance. It’s probably better than I give it credit for, but Floating is a pretty hard one to follow. I haven’t heard the others. Didn’t know the last one existed, in fact.

    Reply
  3. Mac

    An excellent commentary:
    https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/jun/10/julee-cruise-died-david-lynchs-americana-twin-peaks-blue-velvet

    Reply
  4. Rob G

    Yes, definitely a good piece. Going to have to listen to the trip-hop album.

    Reply
  5. Rob G

    Just saw that David Lynch has died. Man, that one hurts.

    Reply
  6. Mac

    Yes, that was one of the first things I saw online this morning. In case you didn’t see it, here’s the obituary that was posted on his official Facebook page:

    It is with deep regret that we, his family, announce the passing of the man and the artist, David Lynch. We would appreciate some privacy at this time. There’s a big hole in the world now that he’s no longer with us. But, as he would say, “Keep your eye on the donut and not on the hole.”
    It’s a beautiful day with golden sunshine and blue skies all the way.

    Reply
  7. Stu

    It is a great post by his family, but a really sad day. They like to call lots of filmmakers “visionary”, but with Lynch the title meant something. He’s sort of like a classic author whose works you reread because you continue to see new and interesting things you missed before.
    I suppose we should all keep our eye on the donut. Unfortunately there isn’t one sitting on my desk for me. 😦

    Reply
  8. Mac

    Very true about the word “visionary.” If it can be applied to more conventional people like Spielberg, some other completely different word would be needed for Lynch.
    Isn’t that last sentence of the obit a quote from Agent Cooper in the opening of Twin Peaks, in his phone call to Diane?
    Sad about the donut, but I don’t have one either. Though I did have a bagel earlier, it’s not the same.

    Reply
  9. Stu

    You are probably correct, Mac! I thought it sounded familiar.
    The comedian Jim Gaffigan, who discusses food a lot in his routines, has this one where he says “You never see a still life of donuts”. Meaning that while a bowl of fruit could sit around for days while someone paints it, the donuts would quickly disappear. This idea never fails to make me chuckle.
    I watched the first half of Blue Velvet again last night, before I began nodding off. Kyle McLachlan and Laura Dern were so young; Dern must have been a teen-ager. They really worked with him their entire acting careers.

    Reply
  10. Mac

    There are touching tributes from both of them on Facebook. Facebook decided I should see them so maybe you will too.
    I really think I’ll watch Blue Velvet. I’ve probably mentioned that I started it once back in the ’80s when we briefly had cable, and bailed out when it started getting too creepy. I could probably deal with it now and it seems to be one that fans consider among his best.
    I am not however going to watch Eraserhead. I was considering it so I read the Wikipedia synopsis–figured spoilers were not a consideration. That was quite enough.

    Reply
  11. Stu

    Eraserhead is the one I re-watch the most. Because it is on MAX and is only about 90 minutes long. The idea of it is much more disturbing than what you actually see on the screen, and it is sort of fascinating to me how the aesthetic he used in this film is seen again in that final series of Twin Peaks. Blue Velvet is on MAX also. Where I was watching it last night while nodding off. I have the DVD, but then I would have to get up out of my chair…

    Reply
  12. Rob G

    Lynch was definitely an odd duck but seems to have been a good guy at heart. Did a lot of philanthropic work with the meditation thing, among others.
    I like Blue Velvet but it’s a little too disturbing for me to watch frequently. I don’t find Eraserhead as bad, but I admire it more than I like it. My favorite Lynch works are Twin Peaks (esp. the first season), Straight Story, Mulholland Dr., and Inland Empire. The two I will most likely rewatch soon are Wild at Heart and Lost Highway. Wasn’t crazy about either of those but I haven’t watched them in probably 20 years.
    I agree with Stu about Eraserhead’s aesthetic being present in certain aspects in TP3. You got a little of that in Inland Empre as well.

    Reply
  13. Mac

    Interestingly, none of the appreciations/obits I’ve read have mentioned Inland Empire, apart from the ones that include a list of all his work. I guess people don’t know what to do with it. I certainly didn’t.
    I have either seen Wild at Heart but not Lost Highway, or vice versa. Right now I can’t remember which. Either way, I wasn’t especially keen on it. Didn’t hate it but found it somewhat disappointing. I’ll have to refresh my memory and watch the other one.

    Reply
  14. Rob G

    From what I understand Inland Empire got a very limited theatrical run in the U.S. I don’t think it had a wide release, so my guess is that not a lot of people have seen it. When it was here in Pittsburgh it was at an art house and I think it only ran on a two week limited engagement. I wasn’t aware of its playing here and I managed to catch it on its very last day, which happened to be Easter Sunday of that year. Odd choice for Easter viewing no doubt, but what’re ya gonna do?

    Reply
  15. Stu

    I think Blue Velvet is more disturbing than Eraserhead, which I think is what Rob states above. The abuse to the Isabella Rossellini character is quite upsetting, while a mechanical thing that doesn’t look like a human baby at all is really just repulsive. But if you take the “baby” out of Eraserhead the rest of the movie is what (to me) makes it fascinating and essential.

    Reply
  16. Mac

    I rented BV on Prime last night. I now have 30 days to watch it. We’ll see if I lose my nerve. Eraserhead is on the Criterion Channel, which I subscribe to, so I can watch that anytime I want to…if I want to….
    “The abuse to the Isabella Rossellini character is quite upsetting…” I can well believe it, from the bit I saw way back when. My big problem with stuff like that is not so much the moment of watching it as difficulty getting it out of my head later. Like at 3am when I’m having a spell of wakefulness.

    Reply
  17. Rob G

    Got Wild at Heart on DVD from the library yesterday and plan to watch it tonight.

    Reply
  18. Mac

    I just looked up Wild at Heart and Lost Highway on Wikipedia. I’ve definitely seen WaH and am fairly sure I haven’t seen LH. But maybe I was just so confused by it that I’ve forgotten.

    Reply
  19. Rob G

    I’ve determined that I saw WaH once when it first appeared on video back in the 90’s and that’s it. I’ve watched LH twice, but the most recent viewing was probably back in 2006, in the wake of having just seen Inland Empire. I remember next to nothing about the former, but I do recall that I found parts of LH extremely creepy, and I remember one rather violent death scene.

    Reply
  20. Rob G

    Watched ‘Wild at Heart’ last night and must say I’m not a fan. Very low and seedy, with some quite unnecessary nudity and frequent sex scenes. I get the point of it — love can triumph over a season in hell — but the getting there in this case is just too sordid.

    Reply
  21. Mac

    That pretty much fits with what I recall, though I don’t remember the sex scenes. Maybe I’ve gotten jaded. I think my reaction overall was just that it seemed like pretty ordinary Hollywood stuff, not that Lynchian.

    Reply
  22. Rob G

    Yeah, I’d agree. It had some Lynchian moments but the movie overall was fairly straightforward.
    The sex scenes were pretty short — nothing long and drawn out — but there were quite a few of them. It’s like every time something of moment happened with Sailor and Lula they ended up in bed afterwards. In a way it was kind of cartoonish.

    Reply

Leave a comment

Instagram / TikTok / X

Designed with WordPress