Image: Henson Associates, Inc. / Lucasfilm Ltd.
About This Quiz
It may surprise you to learn that when the movie "Labyrinth" came out in 1986, it was a pretty big flop. The film only made $12.5 million back from its $25 million budget. It was the first big failure that Jim Henson ever had to deal with. That said, the movie developed a cult following soon after its release and has gone on to become one of the most beloved fantasy stories of the 1980s. And if we're honest, a lot of the credit for that accomplishment has to be laid at the feet of David Bowie and the amazing soundtrack he came up with for this movie.
Unlike in most fantasy movies, David Bowie's character sings songs in the story that Bowie wrote. Because David Bowie was so involved in the filmmaking process, the songs reflect the tone of each scene in which they appear. They're a big part of why we all remember this movie so fondly. From the haunting "Within You" at the end of the film to the fun and peppy "Magic Dance," which he sang along with a small army of Muppets, it's hard not to be in love with every song in this movie.
If you're a true fan of the film, then it should be no problem for you to sing along with the songs and fill in some of the blanks. So grab your faithful steed Ambrosius and head into the Labyrinth to sing along with us.
"Voodoo"
The power Jareth sings of the baby having is the power of voodoo, although in the movie that the original quotes came from, the conversation between Cary Grant and Shirley Temple uses the word "hoodoo" instead.
"Hoodoo"
"Magic"
"Love"
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"The world falls down"
"It's only forever"
Setting the tone at the very beginning of the film, Jareth/David Bowie sings "It's only forever/Not long at all/Lost and lonely." In the original drafts of the movie's script, Jareth was meant to be another Muppet like the rest of the creatures.
"There's nothing to fear"
"Look in the mirror"
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"Fire and brimstone"
"Gold and silver"
"Thunder or lightning"
The lyrics to the song end with the words "thunder or lightning" which are actually sung by a Muppet as opposed to David Bowie who sang the rest of the song. David Bowie was iconic in the role of Jareth, but Michael Jackson was also considered for the role.
"Blood and tears"
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"Moon"
That Jareth was some kind of smooth talker, alright. The missing lyric here is the word "moon." All the cool tricks you see Jareth do in the movie with those crystal balls were not special effects, they were actually done by choreographer Michael Moschen.
"Kiss"
"Light"
"Sun"
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"This is the way it goes"
"We walk in the moonlight"
"Don't got no problems"
This is a bit of a weird one. In the movie, the Fiery Muppets begin the song with the lyric, "Don't got no problems." If you listened to the entire song on the soundtrack, you'd hear that the song has an entire verse before that line, though.
"Ain't nothing to worry about"
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"Being yourself"
"Going astray"
"Losing yourself"
"Walking away"
The song, "Underground", bookends the movie, though the arrangements are different. The line in this one is "No one can blame you for walking away." There's a CG owl that flies around during this song, and it's actually the first realistic CG effect in a movie ever.
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"Time"
"Stars"
This line is spoken by Jareth rather than sung in a bit of an ominous way. Maurice Sendak was not pleased with the movie when he heard about it, feeling it was too close to his book, "Where the Wild Things Are." He even sent a letter from his lawyer when he heard some of the creatures were to be called "Wild Things."
"Heaven and Earth"
"Mountains"
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"Home at Last"
"Magic Dance"
"Thirteen O'Clock"
"As the World Falls Down"
The chorus of "As the World Falls Down" begins with this line and is followed by "Makes no sense for you/Every thrill has gone/Wasn't too much fun at all." David Bowie reportedly had a hard time interacting with the goblins at first because their voices would come from behind them or off stage.
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"Food"
The Fireys are a weird bunch of creatures so the song they sing is equally weird. The line in their song is "good times, bad food." Ally Sheedy, most well-known for her roles in "The Breakfast Club" and "Short Circuit," was almost chosen for the role of Sarah.
"Ideas"
"Weather"
"Times"
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"I traveled the world"
"My baby's love had gone"
"My baby's love had gone" is the next line of this famous song. In the beginning of that song, Jareth has a small speech that begins with, "You remind me of the babe." That entire part is from an exchange between Cary Grant and Shirley Temple in the movie, "The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer."
"Makes no sense to me"
"I tried everything"
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Deep
"There's such a sad love deep in your eyes" is the line from this particular song. It's very hard to see, but in the movie, there's a photo of Jareth and a woman in Sarah's room. That woman is her mother and Jareth was an actor that she left her husband and daughter to be with.
Lost
Swimming
Hidden
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"All there is"
"Enough"
"Underground"
The lyric that ends this line is the word "underground." The song is also called "Underground." Despite how much time Jim Henson spent in his career working with Muppets to entertain children, Labyrinth was the first time he ever worked with a baby.
"How it ends"
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"Spell"
"Jump"
The lyrics in "Magic Dance" are lively but odd. This line goes, "Put that magic jump on me. Slap that baby, make him free." You might have noticed that David Bowie had the same haircut in the movie as Limahl did in the video for the song, "Never-Ending Story."
"Hex"
"Word"
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"Forgotten places"
"Midnight memories"
"Beautiful pictures"
"Mornings of gold"
"I'll paint you mornings of gold" is the line Bowie sings in "As the World Falls." David Bowie had to spend a lot of time with the baby on set. The actor who played the baby, Toby Froud, says he remembers nothing but thinks he may have peed on Bowie.
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"Between the stars"
"We're choosing the path between the stars" is the proper line here from the song, "As the World Falls Down." In the original script, Sarah defeats Jareth by beating him until he turns into a tiny and weak goblin.
"Out of darkness"
"Under the moon"
"No one has traveled"
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"Dream"
"Morning"
"Thrill"
This line is, "Every thrill has gone, wasn't too much fun at all," which is a little depressing, but "As the World Falls Down" is a bit of a downer song. "Labyrinth" was filmed next to the Tom Cruise movie, "Legend," at the same time.
"Hope"
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"An embrace"
"Warm light"
"Some answers"
"New dreams"
"As The World Falls Down" features the line, "There's such a fooled heart, beating so fast in search of new dreams." Nearly everything that Sarah discovers in the Labyrinth is a reflection of something that exists in her room.
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Life
A storm
Lions
Thunder
It's thunder that the Fierys sing about in "Chilly Down," which, of course, also pops up in the song, "Magic Dance." When the movie premiered in the U.K. in 1986, the giant Ludo Muppet was on hand and met Princess Di and Prince Charles.
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"Try"
"Blight"
"Starve"
This line is finished with the word "starve." You'll notice in the movie David Bowie carries a staff with a crystal ball on it. That's called a swagger stick and was designed that way to specifically look like a microphone which plays into Jareth being like a fantasy rock star.
"Refresh"
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"Heartbeat"
"Live without the sunlight, love without your heartbeat" is the line from "Within You," which Bowie sings near the end of the movie. The choreography for the dance scene at the end of the movie was done by Gates McFadden, who went on to play Dr. Beverly Crusher on "Star Trek: The Next Generation."
"Trust"
"Darkness"
"Fear"
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"Give my life"
"Turn my back"
"Move the stars"
Apparently, Jareth is not willing to move the stars for Sarah. Jennifer Connelly also sang in the movie. Her character sings a lullaby to the baby, but it was edited out of the film. Connelly thought it was because of her singing voice.
"Tell a lie"
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"Your heart"
"Your lips"
"Your eyes"
The full line is, "Your eyes can be so cruel, just as I can be so cruel." Not many people notice this on the first run through the movie, but Jareth's face in statue form can be seen in seven different places throughout the movie if you search for it.
"Your dreams"
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"Forever more"
"Nothing more"
"Your dreams"
"Someone true"
"But down in the underground, you'll find someone true" is the line from the song, "Underground." While David Bowie wrote all of the music, the script was rewritten at least 25 times with work on it done by Terry Jones and George Lucas.
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"Around"
"Injection"
"Too much rejection, no love injection" is how this line goes. Not only does David Bowie do all the singing in the movie, he also added the baby sounds to the songs because the real baby just wasn't good enough.
"Correction"
"Lost"
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"Hurts like hell"
"Don't tell me truth hurts, little girl, 'cause it hurts like hell" is how this song goes. In the movie, the Ludo puppet had a camera installed inside of its horn that displayed on a TV in the puppet's stomach so the puppeteer could see what he was doing.
"Hurts so bad"
"Burns you deep"
"Tears you apart"
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"Makes any sense"
"Never hurts again"
"Heard about a place today (daddy, get me out of here). Where nothing never hurts again" is part of the second verse of "Underground." Bowie filmed a video for the song with him singing in an underground club that transitions into an animated sequence inspired by the movie.
"Gets you down"
"Takes you away"
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"Gettng, going"
"Running, falling"
"Sister, sister"
There's a familial element to the song, "Underground," and the lyrics here are, "Sister, sister please take me down (now get me underground). I'm, I'm underground." Throughout the movie, Sarah constantly goes to the right, which is never the right direction.
"Father, please"
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"Moon"
It's a "crystal moon" David Bowie sings of in the first verse of "Underground." The puppet Hoggle was lost after the movie was made and found years later in unclaimed baggage at an Alabama airport. They have it on display at a museum there now.
"Dream"
"Voice"
"Castle"
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"Ever stop"
"Slow down"
"Slack off"
"Charge nothin'"
"We can show you a good time and we don't charge nothin'" is how the Fierys roll in this song. Though Sarah takes a lot of wrong turns in the movie, the point of the film is also that you need to learn from mistakes, and the wrong choice may also turn out right in the end.
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"Luck"
"Day"
"Hep"
"Bad hep with the fire gang" is the line here, and who wants bad hep? Jim Henson's son has said that his father was really taken aback by the fact the movie was a bomb when it opened as he had always been used to people loving his work.
"Night"
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One time
Two times
Three times
Four times
In the chorus for "Magic Dance," we hear the line, "Dance magic, dance," four times before the jump line begins. In the original screenplay, the baby's name was Freddie, but they changed it to Toby because that was the baby's real name and he wouldn't respond to anything else.
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"Bouncin'"
This song starts with the word "bouncin'." This is the only song in the movie that isn't sung by Jareth at least in part, but David Bowie wrote the song as he did every other song in the movie.
"Jumpin"
"Slammin"
"Runnin'"
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"Stars"
"Kids"
"Bats"
"When the sun goes down and the bats are back to bed" is the first line of this song, as weird as it sounds. Bats tend to be nocturnal, so wouldn't they wake up from bed when the sun goes down? The song is a weird one though, so maybe it was intentionally contrary.
"Flames"
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"Worries"
"Troubles"
"Plans"
"Suitcase"
This very weird line goes, "Don't got no problems, ain't got no suitcase" because, well, the puppets singing this song clearly don't have suitcases. The Fierys were the specific puppets which were called "Wild Things" in the screenplay.
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"Fire gang"
The Fierys refer to themselves as the "fire gang" in this song. Aside from Michael Jackson, Jim Henson had also considered Mick Jagger for the role of Jareth and especially Sting, who was hs first choice.
"Goblin King"
"Party people"
"Night crew"
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You Got:
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