A Dream Come True: The Collaboration of David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti

A Dream Come True is an extensive investigation of the working relationship between two revered artists, David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti, as an insightful collage that bridges the gap between academic analysis and investigative journalism. The working-relationship between director David Lynch and composer Angelo Badalamenti is one of the most fruitful and celebrated in cinema history. Yet despite their success and fame, this is the first book written about their decades-long collaboration. It offers new, valuable insights to fans of both Lynch’s and Badalamenti’s work. The book analyses David Lynch the filmmaker through the lens of Angelo Badalamenti’s music via extensive creative biographies of both, in-depth investigations into how the individual music pieces and scores came to be, how they were altered and changed during the editing process, and what clues both music and sound design can give to unlock the mysteries of individual works. It includes several of their collaborations, including Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks, Lost Highway, The Straight Story, and Mulholland Drive, among others. The result is an insightful collage of exclusive interviews with many of Lynch’s and Badalamenti’s colleagues and friends, transcribed music examples, direct quotes, previously unpublished photographs, dialogue taken from the films, and a careful examination of secondary—sometimes contradictory—sources. More than 15 industry professionals, including Oscar-winning sound designer Randy Thom, music editor Lori Eschler, music editor and composer John Neff, musician Barry Adamson, PA John Wentworth and film director Mark Pellington share their experiences and insights in exclusive interviews. For each film, an analysis of both music and sound design reveals how the use of these twin elements helps establish and amplify moods and emotions, and how they serve as keys to interpret the individual films and TV shows.

Table of Contents:
List of Figures List of Tables Acknowledgments Introduction Part I: David. Angelo. 1. Sound and Picture Moving Together in Time 2. Beautiful but Never Saccharine Part II: David & Angelo 3. I Heard a Few Things About the Ear: Blue Velvet 4. Fallen Angel: Twin Peaks 5. Weird on Top: Wild at Heart and Industrial Symphony No. 1 6. Angel Falling: Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me 7. He’s Deranged: Lost Highway 8. Meditation: The Straight Story 9. Questions in a World of Blue: Mulholland Drive Part III: David. Angelo. 10. The Most Wonderful Collaborator 11. The Logical Continuation of a Trajectory Conclusion Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Stephan Eicke is a news editor for the German media corporation Axel Springer in Berlin, Germany, for which he edits and translates television documentaries. He has published two books, The Unfilmable Confederacy of Dunces (2022) and The Struggle Behind the Soundtrack (2019). For ten years, he was the editor-in-chief of the film music magazine Cinema Musica.

Review :
A fascinating journey into the cinematic soundscapes of David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti. Stephan Eike’s book fills the gaps in the discourse exploring this brilliant creative partnership. A fascinating, deep-in-the-weeds exploration of the how, when, and what of the famous duo’s landmark collaborations. A creative approach, as a journalistic, interview-based survey of the David Lynch/Angelo Badalamenti working relationship – what they talk about, how they worked together, how certain pieces of music happened, how they were fitted into each show or film. Stephan Eicke reconstructs the collaboration of Lynch and Badalamenti: it is rigorous, detailed, and entertaining. Interviews with Lynch's collaborators and Eicke's own analyses are assembled in a way that yields a complex picture of a fruitful relationship.