“The first time I listened to Bob Dylan, I laughed out loud”

ARCHIVE – He had “the blues in his blood” and many other musical passions, from Chris Isaak to Roy Orbison or David Bowie, whose songs carried his films. In 2002, the filmmaker agreed to listen to some favorite songs blindly.

En 2002, David Lynch took to the stage of the Olympia to perform the strange noise blues that he had recorded for his album BlueBob, in the secrecy of his villa-fortress in the Hollywood Hills. “It’s a nightmare, he confided. I can’t imagine playing guitar in front of an audience…” Originally, playing Music was just a hobby of the filmmaker-painter-sculptor-photographer-cabinetmaker, who, over the years, co-wrote with his favorite composer, Angelo Badalamenti, many of the songs used in his movies. But the idea had gained ground and we took the opportunity to make him listen to his favorite records blindly and watch for his reactions.

Elvis Presley, “Mystery Train”

“I remember exactly the moment, in 1956, when he first appeared on television, on the Ed Sullivan Show. I was playing in front of my house [il avait 10 ans, ndlr]night was starting to fall, and I saw my friend Willard rushing out of his house like crazy. He ran up to me and said: “You missed it! – What ? “Elvis!” I was dazed. I missed it! There were no reruns back then. I waited years to see him again. At the same time, it was good that it remained in the realm of the imagination.

I read a book about his beginnings and I couldn’t help but dream of this founding scene where he begins to sing in a totally surprising way “That’s allright, Mama”, while nothing suggests that anything will happen in the studio. Sam Phillips, the producer, came out of the room to take a break. Elvis sinks into the sofa. If I could have filmed, the camera would have approached him slowly. In the seconds that follow, everything will change in the history of music. And it’s all happening inside his head. When the camera is very close to Elvis, this idea comes to him. He gets up suddenly, starts walking like a fool and singing in the same way. The double bass player bangs on his instrument. And Sam Phillips comes running back into the studio saying, “What the hell is that?” It all starts from there. It’s fantastic. »

John Lee Hooker, “Crawling King Snake”

“I had the blues in my blood, but in Boise, Idaho, I didn’t even know it existed, I was very far from anything that was “supercool”, I lived cut off from the world. In fact, it was Peter Wolf, the future singer of the J. Geils Band, who introduced me to it. We shared a room at the Beaux-Arts and, when we left for New York, we transported his entire record collection. There was enough to fill a truck and he wanted me to hear everything. He never played a whole record. As soon as he saw that I was hooked on an artist, it gave him the idea to introduce me to another. He made me listen to a lot of jazz, Thelonious Monk in particular. And blues, lots of blues. I ended up playing and composing it myself afterwards. Like the song we hear in the “pink room” of Twin Peaks (the movie). To some it gives off a very sexual vibe, but these are things I don’t try to explain. When I play music, I don’t think, I just put myself in the state of feeling emotions. »

The Beach Boys, “God Only Knows”

“I went to high school with them. With their songs. We heard them everywhere and their melodies transported me. I didn’t realize until much later what kind of tortured genius Brian Wilson was. In a fairly similar register, I am particularly passionate about the sound of Phil Spector. I was shocked to discover recently that the title of the song that launched his career, To Know Him Is to Love Him, repeated the words inscribed on his father’s grave. He wrote it in high school, it’s the kind of story that fascinates me. Spector, to me, is an absolute genius. His emotions are literally driving him crazy. I like to lock myself in the studio and indulge in some exploration of sounds, but I can’t compare myself to people like Spector or Wilson, because I’m not a musician. For my album BlueBob, we wanted something quite raw, simple and square. But we did some experiments, recorded noises that we processed ourselves. Today, unlike the 1950s, when so many wonderful things were invented, there are databases that allow you to find every type of sound possible and imaginable. Hence the importance of forcing yourself to create more. »

Bob Dylan, “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”

“It’s one of my favorite songs. I remember very specifically the moment I heard Dylan for the first time. I was with my little brother, driving to Washington, and the DJ from some radio station announced this guy as the big revelation of the moment. We turned up the volume and burst into violent fits of laughter when we heard him sing. At the same time, we instantly felt that someone was there. I don’t remember hearing the song in the context of the film it was written for (Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid), but the lyrics and the atmosphere it gives off are so strong that it’s the kind of song that changes our experience as a spectator. When I use a song in a film, that’s what I’m looking for. Everything matters, from the words to the sound texture; the song must resonate deep within the story I’m telling. »

Roy Orbison, “In Dreams”

“I used it in Blue Velvet and it seems to me a perfect example of the very strange union between a song and a film. The lyrics of a popular hit can be perceived in so many different ways! Audiences all have a different interpretation when they watch the scene where Dean Stockwell sings it. Roy Orbison hated the movie the first time he saw it. This song was very personal to him, and he felt betrayed. Friends advised him to watch the film again and he eventually admitted that it worked. For me, it was obvious as soon as I heard it: every molecule of this song was married to the character of Frank Booth, to the story of Blue Velvet. The idea for the film actually came to me from a song. A version of Blue Velvet by Bobby Vinton, who I didn’t particularly like but who made me think of different things. Music often inspires me when I write, inspires me with images. When I’m filming, I sometimes pass it on to the actors to immerse them in a particular state. »

David Bowie, “I’m Afraid of Americans”

“I used this kind of music that mixes techno and rock to Lost Highway. I listened to a lot of them at the time. I like Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails, I think he’s a wonderful creator in his field, but it’s not the kind of records I listen to at home. There is an industrial music side to the record BlueBob, but it’s not at all inspired by that scene, there’s nothing high-tech about it, it’s the sound of old factories, a slow and dormant energy. »

Georges Delerue, soundtrack of “Contempt”, by Jean-Luc Godard

« C’est d’Angelo Badalamenti [le compositeur des musiques de ses films] ? No. The music of Contempt ? It’s been too long since I saw the movie to remember it. Could I have been inspired by it? No. It’s beautiful, but it’s not dark enough, not heavy enough, too fast. It’s nostalgic, it perhaps evokes the memory of a feeling of love but I hear happiness in it, it’s neither scary nor mysterious, just a little nostalgic. »

Chris Isaak, “Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing”

“He’s the biggest. He’s got the guitar sound of the 1950s, the voice of Roy Orbison, and he reigns supreme in this territory. He’s incredible, he’s truly the greatest. He could have been more successful, but that was not his destiny. At the time of Sailor et Lula, where I used his song Wicked Game, he was on the rise, but they made him wait a year before letting him release a new record, and the timing was no longer in his favor. It’s often like that. It’s a shame, because he then wrote Two Hearts, whose intro was a little fast for my taste, but which is one of the most beautiful songs of all time. »

Listen to the playlist in this article (with a bonus)