Song of the Day 7/13: Rebekah Del Rio, “Llorando”

Guest post by Nathan Arizona

There are many things his fans like about David Lynch, but two songs in Spanish by singer Rebekah Del Rio are standout moments.

We learned this weekend that she died a few weeks ago at 57, and her moody version of Roy Orbison’s “Crying” in the movie “Mulholland Drive” and “No Stars” from TV’s “Twin Peaks: The Return” have been running through the minds of devoted Lynch followers.

Del Rio had a big voice but a smaller career than it should have been. The San Diego native was plagued by ill health (including a recent cancer diagnosis) and music industry setbacks. But her songs have never stopped registering in Lynch Land.

Del Rio had made a few country recordings when the agent she shared with Lynch encouraged him to listen to her sing her cappella version of “Crying” (“Llorando”) for possible inclusion on the soundtrack for 2001’s “Mulholland Drive,” which a recent New York Times survey of industry professionals ranked the second-best film of this century.

Lynch was so impressed by the song and its potential fit for the movie that he accepted it on the spot. In fact, he expanded the scene because of it. Del Rio remembered him saying, “Ding dang, Rebekah Del Rio, that was aces.” Hipster though he was, he never quite lost the “gee whiz” nature of his small-town upbringing.

The song perfectly conveyed the surrealistic sadness of a scene where two troubled characters listen to her performance in an eerie theater called “Cafe Silencio.” The one on your right is Lynch regular Naomi Watts, who plays the main character. There’s a Lynchian surprise at the end of the clip.

Lynch and Del Rio shared writing credit for “No Stars,’ which appeared in Part 10 of “Twin Peaks: The Return,” thought by many superior to the acclaimed original from more than 20 years earlier. This is one of many performances that take place in a dive called the Roadhouse, which booked surprisingly major acts for a place in a small town in Washington state. Among them were Nine Inch Nails, Eddie Vedder, Sharon Van Etten and the Chromatics, all performing in a Lynchian mode.

Take it from Nathan Arizona, the moody performance was showstopper, especially if you’d been following the show for the nine previous episodes. The guitar player is Moby, another surprising face in a small town. Unless, of course, the town is Twin Peaks. The video contains scenes from “Twin Peaks: The Return.”