“Beyond the beyond”: David Lynch’s favourite vocal performance

Posted On May 1, 2025May 1, 2025

He may not have been a musical maestro of the most overt form, but David Lynch still knew a thing or two about the power of sonics. After all, perhaps more than the acting or the camerawork, filmmaking is solidified through the medium of music, with every shot, narrative arc, and plotline infinitely improved by the strength of the soundtrack that adorns it.

In this sense, although they may not seem the most likely candidates, directors and filmmakers at large have some of the most impeccable music tastes, as they can see exactly which songs will suit which mood, and Lynch was no different. Indeed, perhaps more than any other, the director masterfully treaded the boards of both the filmic and musical realms with graceful aplomb that put him leagues above the rest and, invariably, gave his voice some seismic weight when it came to dishing out his seal of approval.

As such, when Lynch previously dissected his favourite songs, you can only imagine that he had some special scenes in mind that, in an ideal world, he would have liked to soundtrack them against. One of the most seismic was ‘Ball and Chain’ by Janis Joplin with Big Brother and the Holding Company, which the director credited as one of the best vocal performances of all time.

When discussing the song in a 2009 interview with radio station KCRW, Lynch explained, “Janis Joplin is just beyond the beyond in her rendition of this song, and it’s such a powerful song. And it’s the timing of this thing and the way the thing goes with the guitars and drum. Beautiful bassline. It’s thrilling.” But more than just the bare bones of the song itself, it was clear that Joplin’s live performance of ‘Ball and Chain’ at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 had a particularly profound impact on him.

He noted: “In the front row at Monterey Pop, Mama Cass of the Mamas & the Papas is there. In the film you see her and her jaw is on the floor. She cannot believe what she was seeing. It’s so beautiful,” keenly emphasising the tangible effect that the song had on both his perceptions of music and filmmaking. Indeed, the 1968 movie Monterey Pop was almost like a blueprint for Lynch, as performances from not only Joplin but also Otis Redding formed a major part of his sonic psyche.

In the end, the debate regarding the precise role that music plays in a film may never be defined, as in many ways, it’s too ethereal and vital to put into words. Without ever having to explain as much, Lynch could also evidently feel that sense in every inch of his work, as sheer creativity ebbed from his veins, and subsequently manifested in a universe of both filmic and musical revolutions. While Joplin may have represented the beginning of that journey, the path he would go on to take was so transcendental that although the director may not be here physically anymore, his impact will never end.

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