A side-by-side comparison of "Crying"

It's not unusual (to borrow that famous line from Tom Jones) to find a Roy Orbison song in a David Lynch movie. Two of his most famous examples are "In Dreams," which Dennis Hopper and Dean Stockwell immortalized in Lynch's film Blue Velvet, and "Crying," which hit glorious pay dirt in Mulholland Dr.

The video below is Orbison's original version of "Crying."



In Mulholland Dr., Orbison's song takes on a whole new world: being performed a cappella, in Spanish, and with an intensity that raises it to mysterious yet heavenly heights.



Having grown accustomed to the Spanish a cappella version, I find it fascinating to listen to them both side by side, because in a way, you have two versions that are mysteriously similar yet unique enough to stand on its own. Both express a certain pain, and both express it in heartbreaking, beautiful tones. But they're different enough in tempo, in timbre, and inflection that you almost have two totally different songs, each with a wondrous magic that sets it apart from the other.

I honestly can't say one is better than the other, but all the same, my kudos to both Orbison and whoever arranged the Spanish version (I'm guessing Lynch composer Angelo Badalamenti?) for creating something wondrous.