Tomorrow, Tuesday, July 29 is day that me and my fellow 20-year-plus-and-counting obsessive fans of David Lynch and Mark Frost's seminal 1990-1991 television serial Twin Peaks have been waiting for: the release of CBS Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Media Distribution's exhaustively comprehensive Blu-ray set, which also includes Lynch's 1992 feature film prequel Fire Walk with Me. Reinforcing the ongoing influence of a series that ran a mere 30 episodes on network television and spawned a movie that was a commercial failure and, at the time, a critical one as well (though the ensuing years has brought on a fair amount of reassessment and appreciation), Angelo Badalamenti's Grammy-winning theme song for the television series, "Falling," has been covered a multitude of times and in a multitude of ways; even its far lesser known film counterpart, "Theme from Twin Peaks--Fire Walk with Me"/"She Would Die for Love", has also received the cover treatment. Here are a few of my favorites.
Max Lilja plays a stunningly impassioned rendition on his cello (with nicely produced video to match):
Jason Torbert, a.k.a. Goddamn Electric Bill, recorded a faithful yet uniquely dreamy take:
Mr. Piano Solo plays the tune on a keyboard directly from the Black Lodge, also segueing into "Laura Palmer's Theme":
A lovely version on the flute:
Rod Thomas, a.k.a. Bright Light Bright Light, does a rare male vocal cover (though he gets a lyric wrong; it should be "Then your touch so warm"):
An unconventional cover by Lex Land and Gavin Caselton (even if the lyrics in the final verse are wrong; it should be "Are we falling in love"):
Fantômas recorded and released this incredibly intense version of the Fire Walk with Me title tune on their 2001 album The Director's Cut, with an appropriately ghoulish official video that gives new meaning to "She Would Die for Love":
Finally, the Danish DJ project going by the name of (yes) One-Eyed Jacks recorded this version of the "Falling" for the clubs in 1991. Even more, shall we say, interesting than the brief rap interlude is the track's official video:
The Twin Peaks The Entire Mystery Blu-ray set will be released tomorrow, Tuesday, July 29, 2014 from CBS Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Media Distribution.
Buy the Twin Peaks television soundtrack here.
Buy the Twin Peaks--Fire Walk with Me motion picture soundtrack here.
Buy the Twin Peaks: Season Two Music and More television soundtrack here.
Buy the Twin Peaks The Entire Mystery Blu-ray set here.
