''Eraserhead: Original Soundtrack'' (sometimes referred to as ''Eraserhead: Original Soundtrack Recording'' or just ''Eraserhead'') is a 1982 soundtrack album composed by

David Lynch David Keith Lynch (born January 20, 1946) is an American filmmaker, visual artist and actor. A recipient of an Academy Honorary Award in 2019, Lynch has received three Academy Award nominations for Best Director, and the César Award for Be ...

and

Alan Splet Alan Splet (December 31, 1939 – December 2, 1994) was an American sound designer and sound editor known for his collaborations with director David Lynch on ''Eraserhead'', '' The Elephant Man'', ''Dune'', and '' Blue Velvet''. Due to being leg ...

as the soundtrack for Lynch's 1977 film ''

Eraserhead ''Eraserhead'' is a 1977 American surrealist film, surrealist horror film written, directed, produced, and edited by David Lynch. Lynch also created its Eraserhead (soundtrack), score and sound design, which included pieces by a variety of oth ...

.''

Sacred Bones Records Sacred Bones Records is an American independent record label founded in 2007 and based in Brooklyn, New York. The label has released recordings from artists including Zola Jesus, David Lynch, John Carpenter, Blanck Mass, Crystal Stilts, Marissa ...

remastered and reissued the album in 2012.

Recording

The mood and tone of ''Eraserhead'' and its soundtrack were influenced by

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

's post-industrial history. Lynch lived in the city while studying painting at the

Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Maryl ...

, and was fascinated by its feeling of constant danger; describing it both as a "sick, twisted, violent, fear ridden, decaying place" and "beautiful, if you see it the right way." Lynch and Splet used

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

approaches to recording on the soundtrack; including crafting almost every sound in the soundtrack

from scratch From scratch may refer to: Radio and television * ''From Scratch'' (radio), an American National Public Radio series about "the entrepreneurial life" * ''From Scratch'' (TV series), a 2022 Netflix original series * "From Scratch", a 2006 epis ...

using bizarre methods. The ambiance of the love scene in the movie, for example, was produced by recording air blown through a microphone as it sat inside a bottle floating in a bathtub. Lynch and Splet worked "9 hours a day for 63 days" to produce the soundtrack and all of the

sound effects A sound effect (or audio effect) is an artificially created or enhanced sound, or sound process used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media. Traditi ...

in the film. Splet recalls the sound effects Lynch called on him to produce for ''Eraserhead'' as "snapping, humming, buzzing, banging, like lightning, shrieking, squealing” over the five years it took to produce the film and its soundtrack. Splet had worked with Lynch since his short film '' The Grandmother''. Also during the production of the soundtrack, Lynch drew two telephone wires for Splet, each line indicating between four and five pitches he wanted to be represented in the movie's music and sound effects. When Splet played Lynch

Fats Waller Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller (May 21, 1904 – December 15, 1943) was an American jazz pianist, organist, composer, violinist, singer, and comedic entertainer. His innovations in the Harlem stride style laid much of the basis for modern jazz pi ...

-esque

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ''ranks ...

numbers as soundtrack material, Lynch was immediately confident in the pipe-organ style, stating that he had "never listened to any other kind of music for (''Eraserhead''). I knew that was it."

Release

The original soundtrack for ''Eraserhead'' was released via I.R.S. Records on LP in the United States on June 15, 1982 with 5 tracks. Side A consists of three songs written by Thomas "Fats" Waller and Side B consists of "

In Heaven "In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song)" (often referred to as simply "In Heaven") is a song performed by Peter Ivers, composed by Peter Ivers, with lyrics by David Lynch. The song is featured in Lynch's 1977 film ''Eraserhead'', and was subsequen ...

", the song performed by Laurel Near's character the Lady in the Radiator in the original film. It was reissued in 2012 by

in the form of a deluxe LP box set with additional 7" and as a deluxe CD. Tracklistings vary heavily throughout the numerous variations of the album.

Track listing

Original 1982 I.R.S. LP

Absurda 2001 CD

Sacred Bones 2012 deluxe reissue CD and LP

References

{{David Lynch 1970s film soundtrack albums 1982 soundtrack albums David Lynch albums Horror film soundtracks