Angelo Badalamenti (March 22, 1937 - December 11, 2022) was an American com… Read Full Bio ↴Angelo Badalamenti (March 22, 1937 - December 11, 2022) was an American composer for film and television, best known for his hauntingly atmospheric work with filmmaker David Lynch, whose collaborations include Blue Velvet, Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive. He received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the World Soundtrack Awards in 2008.

Angelo Badalamenti was born in Brooklyn, New York, United States to an Italian family. He began taking piano lessons at age eight and spent much of his childhood listening to opera and classical music. He studied at the Eastman School of Music and at Manhattan School of Music where he earned a master's degree in music. A classically trained performer, he spent the early years of his career playing the Catskills resort area, later writing and arranging for singers including Shirley Bassey and country star Mel Tillis. Under the pseudonym Andy Badale, he entered the film industry in 1973, debuting with the score to the action film Gordon's War. Despite subsequent work on such features as Law and Disorder (1974) and Across the Great Divide (1976), Badalamenti remained largely unknown.

In 1986, Badalamenti was hired to compose the score for David Lynch's Blue Velvet; subsequently, they continued their partnership, Badalamenti composing scores for films such as Wild at Heart and The Straight Story. Arguably the most famous collaboration of theirs was the cult hit television series Twin Peaks, for which Badalamenti created one of the most distinctive and evocative theme songs in television history. The duo also wrote and produced a pair of records for ethereal chanteuse Julee Cruise: Floating Into the Night (1989), which contained some songs from Twin Peaks, and The Voice of Love (1993). They also staged an avant-garde musical theater piece titled Industrial Symphony No. 1, which was shown onstage twice in 1989.

In 1996 collaborated with James vocalist Tim Booth, the fruits of their labors being the LP Booth and the Bad Angel. In 2005, Badalamenti composed part of the score for the video game Fahrenheit (known in North America as Indigo Prophecy), bringing his atmospheric ambience to a new medium.

On December 11, 2022, Badalamenti died at his home in Lincoln Park, New Jersey, aged 85.

Falling
Angelo Badalamenti Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Don't let yourself be hurt this time
Don't let yourself be hurt this time

Then I saw your face
Then I saw your smile

The sky is still blue
The clouds come and go

Yet something is different
Are we falling in love?

Don't let yourself be hurt this time
Don't let yourself be hurt this time

Then your kiss so soft
Then your touch so warm

The stars still shine bright
The mountains still high
Yet something is different
Are we falling in love?

Falling, falling
Falling, falling in love

Falling, falling
Falling, falling in love

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Angelo Badalamenti's song "Falling" seem to be about falling in love and the fear of getting hurt. The singer warns himself or someone else not to be hurt this time, suggesting that there may have been a past experience of getting hurt in love. However, the fear of getting hurt is replaced by the excitement and joy of falling in love when the singer sees the object of their affection's smile and experiences their warm touch and soft kiss. The imagery of the sky, clouds, stars, and mountains suggest that the world around the singer is unchanged, yet everything feels different because they are falling in love. The repetition of the phrase "Are we falling in love?" reinforces the uncertainty and questioning that often accompanies the early stages of a relationship.

The song was originally written for the television series "Twin Peaks," where it served as the theme song for the character Laura Palmer. The show became a cultural phenomenon in the early 1990s and helped to popularize the "dream pop" genre of music, which features ethereal vocals, atmospheric sounds, and a dreamy, otherworldly quality. "Falling" perfectly captures the eerie and mysterious mood of the show, as well as the romantic tension between the characters, making it a beloved and iconic song.

Line by Line Meaning

Don't let yourself be hurt this time
Protect yourself from getting hurt again

Don't let yourself be hurt this time
Repeating the previous line as a reminder

Then I saw your face
I caught a glimpse of your face

Then I saw your smile
I noticed your smile

The sky is still blue
The sky hasn't changed

The clouds come and go
The clouds have their usual pattern

Yet something is different
Despite the usual patterns, there's an unusual feeling

Are we falling in love?
Is this the feeling of falling in love?

Don't let yourself be hurt this time
Another reminder to protect oneself

Don't let yourself be hurt this time
Repeating the reminder again

Then your kiss so soft
Then you kissed me softly