"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
Peter Scott Ivers (born Peter Scott Rose, September 20, 1946 – March 3, 1983) was an American musician, singer, songwriter, and television personality. He was the host of the experimental music television show '' New Wave Theatre''. Despite Iv ...
, with lyrics 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 ...
. The song is featured in 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 ...
'', and was subsequently released on its
1982 soundtrack album.
Cover versions
*The song's co-writer, Peter Ivers, recorded a version in the late 1970s, though it was not released until its inclusion on the 2019 album, ''Becoming Peter Ivers''.
*
Devo
Devo (, originally ) is an American rock band from Akron, Ohio, formed in 1973. Their classic line-up consisted of two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs (Mark and Bob) and the Casales (Gerald and Bob), along with Alan Myers. The band had a ...
(sung by
Booji Boy
Booji Boy is a character created in the early 1970s by the American new wave band Devo. The name is pronounced "Boogie Boy"—the strange spelling "Booji" resulted when the band was using Letraset to produce captions for a film, and ran out of ...
) covered the song live in 1978-1979 as the penultimate song in their set.
*It was sung at the start of gigs by fans of Psychobilly band
The Meteors
The Meteors are an English psychobilly band formed in 1980. Originally from London, England, they are often credited with giving the psychobilly subgenre — which fuses punk rock with rockabilly — its distinctive sound and style.
About.co ...
. A Recording of this features on the start of their debut 1981 album 'The Case Of The Meteors In Heaven'.
*A cover by
Tuxedomoon
Tuxedomoon is an experimental, post-punk, new wave band from San Francisco, California, United States. The band formed in the late 1970s at the beginning of the punk rock movement. Pulling influence from punk and electronic music, the group, or ...
with
Winston Tong
Winston Tong (born 1951 in San Francisco, California) is an actor, playwright, visual artist, puppeteer, and singer-songwriter. He is best known for his vocals in Tuxedomoon and for winning an Obie award in puppetry for ''Bound Feet'' in 1978.
E ...
was released in 1980 on the multiband live album ''
Can You Hear Me? Music From The Deaf Club'', and later rereleased on their 1987 album ''Pinheads on the Move''. A different live version was also released on their 1989 ''Ten Years in One Night'' live album.
*Elements from the end of a
Cardiacs
Cardiacs are an English rock band formed in Kingston upon Thames by Tim Smith (lead guitar and vocals) and his brother Jim (bass, backing vocals) in 1977 under the name Cardiac Arrest. The band's sound fused circus, baroque pop and medieval mu ...
song called "A Time For Rejoicing" at the end of their 1981 independent album called "
Toy World
''Toy World'' is the second demo album by the English rock band Cardiacs (including '' The Obvious Identity'', released on cassette the previous year under the band name "Cardiac Arrest"). The cassette is a mixture of older songs by the earl ...
" specifically reference this song.
*
Bauhaus
The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 200 ...
covered the song on their regular set for their final UK tour in the summer of 1983 and was featured on the ''
Rest in Peace: The Final Concert'' album. The band's former bassist,
David J
David John Haskins (born 24 April 1957, Northampton, Northamptonshire, England), better known as David J, is a British alternative rock musician, producer, and writer. He is the bassist for the gothic rock band Bauhaus and for Love and Rock ...
, later performed "In Heaven" live as a duet with Pixies singer
Black Francis at a solo show at the Los Angeles
Echoplex
The Echoplex is a tape delay effect, first made in 1959. Designed by Mike Battle, the Echoplex set a standard for the effect in the 1960s—it is still regarded as "the standard by which everything else is measured." It was used by some of the ...
in December 2009.
*It was covered by the
Pixies
A pixie (also pisky, pixy, pixi, pizkie, and piskie in Cornwall and Devon, and pigsie or puggsy in the New Forest) is a mythical creature of British folklore. Pixies are considered to be particularly concentrated in the high moorland areas aro ...
in 1987 for their initial demo tape and was later released in 2002 on the ''
Pixies
A pixie (also pisky, pixy, pixi, pizkie, and piskie in Cornwall and Devon, and pigsie or puggsy in the New Forest) is a mythical creature of British folklore. Pixies are considered to be particularly concentrated in the high moorland areas aro ...
'' EP.
[
] The band re-recorded the track for a session for
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...
's
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
'' album. The song was a regular part of the Pixies' setlist, and a live version by the band appeared as a B-side of the
. The lines used were: "In Heaven, everything is fine. In Heaven, everything is fine. You've got your good things, and I've got mine."