My Top 1000 Songs #516: Falling

 [I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

Would I think as highly of this song without the Twin Peaks context? I'm honestly not sure. But back in '90, as a second-year law student, gathering around the tv for Twin Peaks was kind of a thing, and that haunting theme music was as much a part of the show's aesthetic as the story and characters. Still, singer Julee Cruise's 1989 debut Floating Into The Night, with lyrics from director David Lynch and music from composer Angelo Badalamenti, is hypnotic and enchanting even divorced from the various Lynch projects with which the songs are associated. "Falling," like much of the album, is truly haunting, Cruise's airy whisper and striking bassline making for a beautiful ballad that's been seared in my brain ever since Twin Peaks' first episode aired.

It's a standard fixture on my late night/insomnia mixtapes, and while that nostalgic vibe is inescapable, still draws me in.

Live 2010: