Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
It is Bowie at his strangest: a menacing king lulling a baby with nonsense while his goblin court bounces around, so the sweetest line in the film belongs to its villain. The line itself is borrowed folklore, which fits a film assembled from fairy tale and playground scraps. Fans still sing the question-and-answer chant back at each other.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for LabyrinthShow the scene
In Jareth's Goblin City throne room, the Goblin King tries to calm baby Toby, whom Sarah wished away, and the goblins turn the evening into a song, "Magic Dance". David Bowie wrote and recorded five songs for Labyrinth, and he performs this one with Toby Froud as the baby and 50 puppets and 12 costumed extras as the goblins. The call-and-response chant that opens it is a playground rhyme popularised by the Cary Grant and Shirley Temple comedy The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer, where it began "You remind me of a man".
Sources (2)
- Magic Dance (Wikipedia)Details and backgroundReference checked
- Magic Dance (Labyrinth Wiki)LyricsReference checked
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