Julee Cruise as the Singer in ‘Twin Peaks’ Episode 2.007

Julee Cruise appeared as the Girl Singer in the Twin Peaks pilot episode that aired on April 8, 1990. Her performance sparked a renewed interest in her freshman album, “Floating Into The Night.” Many months passed until she returned to The Roadhouse stage in the highly-anticipated, David Lynch-directed episode 2.007 that aired on Nov. 10, 1990. As part of the Julee In June takeover on Twin Peaks Blog, here’s a look at her moving performance that still brings a tear to my eye three decades later.

JULEE CRUISE AS THE SINGER IN TWIN PEAKS EPISODE 2.007

Unlike the Pilot, Julee Cruise was credited as “Singer” in Twin Peaks episode 2.007. The episode was written by Mark Frost with Department Head’s receiving a first draft on Sept. 5, 1990. A second draft was published using blue pages on Sept. 12 followed by additional revisions a day later on Sept. 13 with pink pages.

Since this was the episode that revealed Laura Palmer’s killer, secrecy around the episode was at an all-time high. The scenes at The Roadhouse are scripted differently than what appeared when this episode was aired on Nov. 10, 1990.

According to Scott Ryan’s essential book, “Always Music In the Air: The Sounds Of Twin Peaks,” Julee’s scene at The Roadhouse was shot on Friday, Sept. 21, 1990 (“Always,” page 81). This means they were filming one of the most important episodes of the second season before the premiere of episode 2.001 on Sunday, Sept. 30.

JULEE CRUISE PERFORMS ‘ROCKIN’ BACK INSIDE MY HEART’

The Roadhouse scene begins with a reflection of the red neon Bang Bang Bar sign in a puddle outside the building exterior found in Fall City, Washington. The action then cuts to Julee on stage in the middle of singing ‘Rockin’ Back Inside My Heart.’

The script doesn’t mention the character “Singer” or Julee singing this particular song for scene 31.

31. INT. ROADHOUSE – NIGHT
A band is playing on stage. DONNA HAYWARD enters. She looks for and finds where James is seated, his back to her, reading.

The action cuts to a shot of the Roadhouse patrons watching Julee Cruise perform on a stage backed by musicians played a keyboard, bass, drums, guitar and three tenor saxophones.

As an aside, I like the guy in the foreground who takes a drag of his cigarette.

He then exhales as Cruise and her band continue playing. The action cuts to Donna Hayward also exhaling cigarette smoke while standing next to James Hurley seated in a booth.

Donna and James have an intense conversation. Sheriff Harry S. Truman, the Log Lady and Special Agent Dale Cooper enter the bar and take a seat at a round table.

The camera jumps back to Julee as he continues singing her first single, “Rockin'” which was released as a video at the end of Dec. 1989 and on the radio in Jan. / Feb. 1990. Cooper and The Log Lady watch the performance while eating peanuts, and James and Donna continue their conversation.

Julee’s close-up at The Roadhouse continues.

As she looks up, the scene cuts back to James and Donna in The Roadhouse booth as a serve delivers a glass of Coca-Cola. More shots of Cooper watching The Log Lady eat peanuts.

A medium shot frames Cruise along with the uncredited drummer and bass player. This cuts to Donna lip syncing to the song. Cruise explained to Scott Ryan why the scene cut to Donna and James.

“David said, ‘You moved too much in that scene,” said Julee, “I said, ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ That is why Lara is mouthing that line, because David said I was moving too much. I think it worked out fine.” (“Always Music in the Air,” page 27).

My favorite little moment from this scene is watching Sheriff Truman smile while tapping his foot and bobbing his head to the music. Agent Cooper gives quite the side glance as the music dances along.

JULEE CRUISE PERFORMS ‘THE WORLD SPINS’

In the script, Donna and James leave The Roadhouse just as Agent Cooper enters with Sheriff Truman. The Log Lady is absent from the scene.

She nods. Tears in her eyes. They exit. We pick up and stay with Cooper and Truman as they enter through another door, move to the bar and order beers. The singer on stage begins a new song. 

The broadcasted version fades between Truman’s toe tapping to Julee Cruise on stage with the band as “The World Spins” begins to play.

The scene fades to Julee on stage. Note the patron in the bottom left corner still blowing smoke.

The script contains a deleted exchange between Cooper and Truman.

TRUMAN
What do we do?

COOPER
I don’t know. Wait.

They watch the band; it’s an emotional song, filled with regret and longing. People lean forward, drawn in by the song, but also by a mounting, palpable sense of tension and fear in
the air.

Cooper picks up on it, looks at Truman, who feels it as well. 

In the broadcasted version, Julee sings as Cooper looking around the bar. He sees the old waiter from The Great Northern and Bobby Briggs at the bar. Shots of Navy sailors are having a great time.

“The dog and bird are far away,” Julee croons. The lighting has changed. She is now bathed in a blue-purple hue.

Cooper continues watching the singer and her band perform.

The scene 32 continues mostly as scripted.

32. COOPER’S POV – THE STAGE
In mid-song, the band vanishes from the stage; the Giant appears in the center of the stage. He looks right at Cooper.

GIANT
It’s happening again. It’s happening again.

Cooper appears to be the only one who sees him. He looks again, unsure of what he’s seen. The Giant fades away, replaced by the band once again, who finish the song.

The action then cuts to the Palmer House which isn’t included in the copy of the script I have (probably part of those security measures).

I love this shot of the Giant fading away as Julee reappearing from another place and time.

As the old waiter walks toward Cooper’s table, you can hear Julee singing, “Dust is dancing the space…”

Sadness descends on The Roadhouse. The Log Lady feels it as does Cooper. Bobby Briggs is moved and Donna sobs uncontrollably as James tries to comfort her.

“Come back and stay forever and ever,” laments Julee.

The scene ends with an incredible slow motion shot of Julee looking down on stage as changing lights illuminate her face. None of this action is mentioned in the script.

This is the final time we’ll see Julee Cruise in a second season episode. She will return to The Roadhouse again in David Lynch’s 1992 masterpiece, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me.

There was more footage of Julee captured the night on The Roadhouse set in Van Nuys, California. They also filmed Julee performing “Falling” for the song’s video released on channels like VH-1. The video included a close up of Julee singing with clips and scenes from the first season and some scenes from the second season. That’s a different story for another time.