All the songs of Gurney Halleck

"Mood’s a thing for cattle or making love or playing the baliset."

So let’s play the baliset.

Gurney Halleck and his nine-string baliset (Dune: Part 2, 2024)

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In today’s newsletter:

• Dune News

• All the lyrics from the books

• What’s a baliset?

• Movie adaptations

  • Dune (1984)

  • Dune mini-series (2000)

  • Dune: Part 2 (2024)

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Gurney Halleck is a man of many talents - a sharp eye for detail, a mind for strategy, and a bag full of tunes and quotes.

There isn’t a situation for which he wouldn’t have a quote from the O.C. Bible, a quippy remark or a song - even songs that he improvised on the spot.

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Dune News

• Dune 3: Everything we know so far about Denis Villeneuve's Dune: Messiah [GamesRadar]

• Josh Brolin Says Oscars Rejecting Denis Villeneuve Again for Best Director ‘Makes No Sense’: ‘Dune 2’ Is ‘Even Better Than the First’ and ‘You Deserve It’ [Variety]

• Dune: Prophecy Season 2 Filming Window Revealed By Star [ScreenRant]

• Saudi Arabia asks legendary film score composer Hans Zimmer to create new version of national anthem [Sky News]

• All the ‘Dune: Prophecy’ VFX breakdowns in one place [Befores & Afters]

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Do you know anyone who likes to nerd out about Dune?

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All the lyrics from the books

This collection contains every song of Gurney Halleck - whether it was him singing, or someone remembering one of his lyrics.

This includes the original books and everything from the Expanded Universe.

What’s a baliset anyway?

Aside from the instrument having nine strings, the books don’t offer much in terms of description.

At the end of the original book, Herbert explains this much: “a lineal descendant of the zithra, tuned to the Chusuk scale and played by strumming. Favorite instrument of Imperial troubadors.”

This then meant that the movies had free reign in trying to come up with their own versions.

Movie adaptations

Gurney and his baliset are inseperable - so it’s no surprise that every adaptation tried to include a bit of his music.