As part of the “Julee in June” take over on Twin Peaks Blog, I asked author Scott Ryan for his top five songs by Julee Cruise. Ryan, who served as author and editor of Blue Rose Magazine, has penned “Always Music in the Air: The Sounds of Twin Peaks,” the definitive book examining all 290 music cues from David Lynch and Mark Frost’s Twin Peaks. With his book releasing nationwide on June 3, he shared favorite songs and the reasons why they made his list.
ALWAYS MUSIC IN THE AIR: THE SOUNDS OF TWIN PEAKS
For the first time ever, Scott’s book reviews all the music that played in the three seasons of Twin Peaks and Lynch’s 1992 feature film, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. Filled with insights from the individuals who created the music and others who used the music to create the sound world we love, this book is a must-have for Julee Cruise and Angelo Badalamenti fans.
Scott was recently joined by long-time fan Josh Eisenstadt at the Real Twin Peaks 2025 event for a panel discussion about his new work. Having read the book cover to cover, it’s a treasure trove of things you never knew about the show and film’s iconic sounds.
You can find it for sale from the Blue Rose Magazine website or from other national retailers.
AUTHOR SCOTT RYAN’S TOP FIVE JULEE CRUISE SONGS
Scott created this short video highlighting his five favorite songs by Julee. If you stay until the end, you’ll see a bonus song from one of my favorite non-Twin Peaks films.
#1: “SHE WOULD DIE FOR LOVE” FROM ‘THE VOICE OF LOVE’
“These may be fighting words, but ‘The Voice of Love‘ is a far superior work to Cruise’s first album, ‘Floating Into the Night,” explained Scott. “I love every song on it, and it is a bit more polished, well-rounded and sophisticated.”
So it’s no surprise his favorite Julee Cruise song comes from this album. “She Would Die For Love” is the lyrical version of the main theme to Lynch’ 1992 film, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me.
“I believe this is Angelo [Badalamenti’s] best written piece of music, and Julee’s vocals on the album are angelic,” continued Ryan.
#2: “THE VOICE OF LOVE” FROM ‘THE VOICE OF LOVE’
Scott’s second favorite song also comes from Cruise’s 1993 album. Like his first choice, “The Voice of Love” first appeared as an instrumental track on the Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me soundtrack. It’s heard at the end of the film as Laura Palmer sees her angel while in The Red Room with Special Agent Dale Cooper standing by her side. Scott believes this scene takes place after the final scenes of Twin Peaks: The Return.
“To me, the end of ‘Twin Peaks’ is captured in the music of Angelo when he wrote this song,” said Scott. “Adding the lyrics and Julee’s singing makes me feel the same way about the music … I like ending it all with Julee signing and whispering those words that I like to imagine Laura heard at the very end: ‘Listen. Listen. I hear the voice of love.'”
#3: “THE WORLD SPINS” FROM ‘FLOATING INTO THE NIGHT’
For Scott’s third song, he selected “The World Spins” heard both in episode 2.007 from the second season and again in Part 17 from the show’s third season. The song first appeared on Cruise’s 1989 album Floating Into The Night. With lyrics written by David Lynch, this haunting tune hangs in the air long after it the last notes are played. I can see why it’s in his top five.
According to an interview with Lynch in a May 1990 issue of The Gavin Report, he wrote the lyrics while having lunch with his daughter Jennifer Lynch.
“I wrote the lyrics to that in a restaurant,” Lynch explained. “I was having lunch with my daughter and I wrote this certain kind of five line poem.”
Scott felt Cruise’s performance held nothing back – she gave it her everything.
“Bad things happen; love comes and goes. People are born; people die. The world just spins along, insensitive to all of the drama. Uninterested in its effect to you,” Scott suggested. “The depths of Lynch’s lyrics on ‘Floating into the Night’ is truly impressive.”
#4: “FLOATING” FROM ‘FLOATING INTO THE NIGHT’
The title track from Cruise’s 1989, “Floating,” takes Scott’s number four position.
“This song has really moved up in my love [of Julee’s songs],” Scott shared. “I love Al Regni’s saxophone at the beginning of the song. He’s incredible!”
Regni knew Angelo from their time together at the Eastman School of Music in 1954. He played clarinet, bass clarinet, flute, alto flute and tenor saxophone throughout the series. He also contributed the woodwind sounds to Cruise’s debut album. In Scott’s new book, he interviews Regni about his involvement on the soundtrack. The interview happened because he sent a handwritten letter to Regni’s home address. The story of how “Dance of the Dream Man” was created is worth the entire price of the book (I don’t want to ruin it).
#5 “KOOL KAT WALK” FROM ‘THE VOICE OF LOVE’
Julee Cruise’s lyrical version of “Kool Kat Walk” takes Scott’s fifth spot. An instrumental version was first heard in David Lynch’s 1990 film, Wild At Heart. Cruise’s version of “Up In Flames” first sung by Koko Taylor for Lynch’s film also appears on the 1993 album.
For this track, David Lynch wrote the lyrics while Reggie Hamilton played the walking bass line.
BONUS TRACK – “SUMMER KISSES, WINTER TEARS” FROM ‘UNTIL THE END OF THE WORLD’ SOUNDTRACK
Scott added one more song to his favorite list – Julee Cruise’s cover of Elvis Presley’s “Summer Kisses, Winter Tears.” She recorded it for Wim Wenders’ 1991 roadtrip film, Until the End of the World. I have fallen in love with this film ever since Criterion Collection released the four-and-a-half hour version on Blu-ray in 2019.
In the early 1990s, I wore out this film’s soundtrack that is filled with music from some of the biggest names at the time like U2, Talking Heads, Elvis Costello, R.E.M., Depeche Mode, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, and more. Both Julee and Elvis’ versions are heard in Winders feature film. Look for a deeper dive into this recording later this month.
Thank you Scott for your time and congratulations on the release of this incredible new book.
What are your top five Julee Cruise songs? Please share in the comments below.
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Great choices, Scott! Also great explanations why. My sister and I also prefer The Voice of Love album too.