Celebrating Julee Cruise, 1st December 1956 to 9th June 2022.
I first heard the sad news in the wee hours of this morning, about to go to bed, but not wanting to go with the original post that I'd planned. At that moment, I couldn't find the words and just posted the videos for Rockin' Back Inside My Heart and arguably one of the greatest cover versions of all time, The Wedding Present's take on Falling.
More than twelve hours later, I still don't have the words and, if I've honest, Post Punk Monk's tribute yesterday says it all beautifully.
Like many, I only knew of Julee Cruise because of her musical collaborations with David Lynch and Angelo Badlamenti on the ground-breaking TV series Twin Peaks and the astonishing album Floating Into The Night. The former's use of the latter's music and Cruise's own appearances in the show, the prequel film and 2017's "limited event series" have inextricably bound her with Lynch and Badlamenti. It was a revelation but perhaps shouldn't have been a surprise to read that Julee Cruise was so, so much more.
Heartbreaking to read via NPR that Julee's complex and challenging life included some incredible achievements but a number of health and personal issues, including lupus, depression and substance addiction. Julee "left this world on her own terms", according to a statement by her husband Edward Grinnan, her last moments on this world soundtracked by The B-52's Roam, a band that she joined as touring substitute for Cindy Wilson. But clearly, Julee Cruise was nobody's substitute; she was sui generis.
Post title taken from a lyric in Rockin' Back Inside My Heart. Float on into the night, you beautiful person.
Rockin' Back Inside My Heart is my go-to from the debut LP. It's gloriously beautiful and simultaneously mildly unsettling, as so many of her early tunes are. Rest easy Julee.
ReplyDeleteRockin' Back Inside My Heart is a favourite of mine too, Swede, for the reasons you describe. It was played a lot by Triple J when I was in Australia during 1991 so I was surprised to see that it only got to #107 in their singles chart. Eire seemed to appreciate it a lot more as the single peaked at #18 there.
DeleteI was very sad to hear this.
ReplyDeleteIt's been a pretty sad year with so many untimely losses, Rol. I'm particularly upset that I'd not explored Julee's music beyond her debut album and it's taken her passing to prompt me to do it.
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