Cruise studied French horn at Drake University and performed as a singer and actress in New York, where she also worked as a talent scout for Angelo Badalamenti. In 1985, Badalamenti was composing the score for David Lynch's Blue Velvet, as well as serving as the vocal coach for the film's star, Isabella Rossellini. A key scene in Blue Velvet was intended to feature Song to the Siren by This Mortal Coil, but when the rights to the song proved prohibitively expensive, it was suggested that Badalamenti compose a pop song in the same style, with lyrics written by Lynch. Because the song required a vocalist with a haunting, ethereal voice, Badalamenti recommended Julee Cruise, who had sung "like an angel" in a New York theater workshop that Badalamenti had produced. The result of their initial collaboration was "Mysteries of Love", which figures prominently in Blue Velvet's closing scenes.
Positive reaction to "Mysteries of Love" led Badalamenti and Lynch to write and produce additional songs for Cruise, most of which were featured in her debut album, Floating Into the Night. The album was released on 12 September 1989 by Warner Bros. Records, and charted on Billboard the following year. A moody, tightly structured collection of pop songs with lush, idiosyncratic orchestrations and intentionally retro lyrics, Floating Into the Night became a favorite of such musicians as Tim Booth, lead singer of the band James, and techno artist Moby, who would go on to collaborate with Cruise on the unreleased track "Drown Disco". It also provided musical material for two of Lynch's other projects. The first was Industrial Symphony No. 1, a dark, intentionally obscure performance piece in which Cruise performed while "floating" from a harness dozens of feet above a stage at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
The second, more significant project was the soundtrack to Lynch's Twin Peaks, for which Badalamenti composed the original score. The song "Falling", which became the orchestral theme for the television series, caused a minor sensation, winning a Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental, while the Twin Peaks soundtrack, featuring Cruise on the songs "Into the Night" and "The Nightingale" as well as on the vocal version of "Falling", eventually became the best-selling television soundtrack of all time. Cruise made a number of appearances on Twin Peaks as a girl singer at a local bar, and was prominently featured in the show's landmark pilot episode, as well as in 1992's Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me.
The campy but unsettling "Rockin' Back Inside My Heart", the second single from Floating Into the Night, was released in 1990. Cruise also made a controversial appearance on Saturday Night Live on 12 May 1990, when scheduled performer Sinéad O'Connor refused to appear on the same show as guest host Andrew Dice Clay. The following year, Cruise recorded a Lynch- and Badalamenti-produced cover of the Elvis Presley song "Summer Kisses, Winter Tears" for the soundtrack of Wim Wenders's Until the End of the World. Afterwards, Cruise maintained a relatively low profile until her second album, The Voice of Love, was released in 1993. To many listeners and reviewers, this album suffered in comparison to its predecessor, possibly due to the numerous other projects competing for Lynch and Badalamenti's attention. Many of the tracks were little more than instrumentals from Wild at Heart or Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me with added vocals. However, several songs, notably "Questions in a World of Blue", are ranked by fans among Cruise's best.
Cruise's early collaborations with Angelo Badalamenti and David Lynch were closely related to Lynch's film work, and their lyrics often reflect this. For example, "Into the Night" begins with the whispered words "Now it's dark", a line which was repeatedly spoken by Frank Booth, Dennis Hopper's character, in Blue Velvet. Lynch also photographed Cruise for the liner notes of Floating Into the Night and The Voice of Love, and created the sculptures featured on the covers of both albums.
The following decade found Cruise lending her vocals to works by a more miscellaneous list of collaborators, mostly in techno and dance music. She provided vocals and lyrics to several of the songs on Wide Angle, the debut album by Welsh electronic music group Hybrid, notably the epic techno track "If I Survive". She also appeared on two albums by dance artist Khan. The lyrics for many of these songs, such as "Body Dump", reflect Cruise's own interest in true crime. She appears on a number of tracks on the 2003 album "Dreams Top Rock" by German post-rock act Pluramon.
Cruise also acted and sang in the Off Broadway cast of Return to the Forbidden Planet, a spoof of William Shakespeare's The Tempest, and toured with the B-52s in 1992 and 1993.
Cruise's long-delayed third album, The Art of Being a Girl, was released in 2002. This was the first of her albums for which Badalamenti and Lynch did not produce or write any of the music, with music and lyrics for each of the songs being written by Cruise herself (with the exception of an updated version of her classic single "Falling") and guest produced by Rick Strom and Mocean Worker. The following year, Cruise's song "The World Spins" was featured in an extended ballet sequence in Robert Altman's The Company.
Cruise passed away on June 9, 2022 at age 65.
The Voice of Love
Julee Cruise Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And when, when you are here
There's a glow just like the stars
I hear a distant voice
Listen, listen
I dream, I dream of starlight
I dream, I dream of you
There's a glow just like the sun
Listen, listen
I hear the voice
I hear the voice
I hear the voice of love
The Voice of Love by Julee Cruise is a song that conveys a sense of longing and searching for a deeper connection with someone. The lyrics suggest that when everything around us is falling apart and we feel lost, the presence of someone we care about can bring a comforting glow, similar to the light of stars. The distant voice that the singer hears is not necessarily a physical voice, but rather an emotional or spiritual voice that speaks to the power of love. As the singer dreams of starlight, they also dream of the person they love, and the glow becomes as bright as the sun. The repetition of the phrase "listen, listen" emphasises the theme of paying close attention to the voice of love and allowing it to guide us through trying times.
Line by Line Meaning
When, when all the world falls
At a time when everything seems to be going wrong, when the world is at its gloomiest.
And when, when you are here
But with you here by my side, there's hope and light, like a shining star.
There's a glow just like the stars
Your presence brings a brightness to my life, an ethereal glow like the stars shining in the sky.
I hear a distant voice
It's as if the universe is telling me something, whispering in my ear a message I can't quite make out yet.
Listen, listen
But I know I need to pay attention and focus, to listen carefully and intently.
I dream, I dream of starlight
In my dreams, I imagine a world filled with light and wonder, like the twinkling stars in the sky.
I dream, I dream of you
And in those dreams, you're always there, illuminating my life with your love.
There's a glow just like the sun
Your love is like the sun, bright and warm, bringing light and joy to every corner of my being.
I hear the voice
And as I listen more closely, the voice grows clearer and more distinct.
I hear the voice
It's a voice of love, guiding me towards happiness and fulfillment.
I hear the voice of love
And I know that no matter what happens, as long as I have your love surrounding me, everything will be alright.
Contributed by Zoe L. Suggest a correction in the comments below.