David Bowie: As the World Falls Down (Eat Your Heart Out Disney Love Songs)

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As a "90s Kid" and someone who has worked at Disney for a few years, I'm no stranger to the fact that Disney movies are renowned for their love songs with top-notch romantic lyrics.  Who wouldn't want to go on a magic carpet ride or meet their true love once upon a dream? But this post is here to say David Bowie beats all of these songs meant for tales as old as time with his composition "As the World Falls Down".

Note: This piece is meant to examine love songs as typically used in children's movies - specifically Disney films.  This is because Labyrinth is a children's film, and the way Bowie interprets songwriting meant for children can be fairly compared to what Disney thinks is appropriate for children.  This is in comparison to love songs written in and for a variety of different genres like Bowie's "'Heroes'". The Disney love songs I considered for this article were taken from sources like Oh My Disney, the D23 fan club, and various lists on the Internet.  And finally, I do want to say that I love Disney films.  They're part of my childhood, and most of them are solid movies that also stand the test of time.

For context, the song in question is from Jim Henson's 1986 coming-of-age children's movie Labyrinth.  In the film, the protagonist, a teenaged girl named Sarah, is tasked with rescuing her baby brother by solving Jareth the Goblin King's labyrinth.  This is not your typical Disney film, however, as the children's film-a-la-fairy-tale is quickly revealed to be an allegory about Sarah's journey from girlhood to womanhood - awakening sexuality and all.

This is evidenced by the scene "As the World Falls Down" is taken from.  In Disney films, the quintessential Romantic Scene is usually pretty straightforward.  Sometimes the love interests have interacted before, sometimes they haven't, but they usually involve some sort of dance and singing (here, I think of Aurora dancing with Prince Phillip for the first time).  Labyrinth takes this fairly innocent, but two-dimensional concept and expands on it, breathing nuance and dynamic complexity into the traditional narrative device.

In the scene, Sarah is under an enchantment by Jareth in order to distract her from solving his labyrinth (via eating a be-spelled peach). The fact that this scene is entitled "Sarah's Fantasty" is revealing.  Although Jareth has enchanted her, the title suggests that Sarah is responsible for the details of the sensual dream.

In her magic-induced trance, Sarah finds herself cast as Cinderella in a decadent ballroom.  However, the scene itself is much more "adult" than any Disney ballroom.  Sarah may be cast as the virginal princess (with her white ball gown and youthful features), but that's where the similarities between this dance and Disney's end.

At the opening of the scene, Sarah spies Jareth across the room.  Unlike Cinderella's grand entrance at the ball, it is Jareth who has the dramatic reveal.  He is seemingly waiting to reveal himself to her, as evidenced by the choreography and camera work.  Enraptured and enamoured, Sarah begins to look for him in a confused, troubled search amongst a crowd of debauched adults.  Everyone except for herself is dressed in decadent Venitian-styled costumes and grotesque masks.  As production designer Elliot Scott said of the scene, "The [other] people in the ballroom were meant to be vaguely depraved, as it were."

Meanwhile, amongst the revelling of the partygoers, Jareth himself watches her hunt for him while he participates in the party activities.  Finally, after a game of cat-and-mouse, he whisks her off to dance and sings "As the World Falls Down" to her.  However, throughout the song, Sarah struggles to focus on Jareth and get "lost" in their romantic dance.  At the toll of midnight, she breaks free of his arms and runs away from him, escaping from the enchantment.

This scene is quickly revealed to be, as many analyses have written, about Sarah's attempt to wrestle with her awakening sexuality.  The act of eating the peach in the first place is paired with feeling an inner "hunger" for the first time.  The environment of the ballroom relates to a teenager's perspective on the mysterious, lascivious world of adulthood.  Sarah's comparative innocence is striking, and throughout her search for Jareth, she is seen as being disturbed by what she sees - as if she knows she's not quite ready to attend the ball.  Meanwhile, the dance with the king himself refers to the obvious metaphor of "dancing" as relating to "engaging in sexual acts", while her inability to focus on Jareth shows how she is confused about her inner desire for pleasure.  Her escape at the end further symbolises her conflicting desire to remain in childhood while embracing adulthood.

Moreover, Jareth is not your typical Disney Prince.  Although he watches Sarah throughout her quest for to find him in the ballroom, Jareth still takes the time to enjoy the pleasures of the adult partygoers around her before appearing at just the right moment to dance with her.  As George Lucas put it about Bowie's casting, "Like the devil, you know, [Jareth is] completely alluring, completely a character that draws people in and that people are infatuated with, and what better to play the part than a rockstar because that's what they are.  But at the same time David Bowie is very very smart, and very talented."  While Jim Henson simply said, "Every age group really has a whole thing about David."  Both producer and director understood and wanted to incorporate the sex appeal Bowie's reputation as...well...Bowie...brought to the role.  And as such the film doesn't hide the inherent sexuality of Jareth as the romantic counterpart to Sarah.  As Costume Designer Brian Froud stated:

The way I built the Jareth character, I gave him a lot of qualities.  He's also a romantic hero, he's also a contemporary with a leather jacket that has armour on it, which refers to 15th century knights, I gave him a swagger stick that has a crystal ball, but if you look at it it's a microphone.  A lot of subtleties going on.  He is supposed to be a young girl's dream of a popstar.  We got in a lot of trouble about maybe how tight his pants were, but that was deliberate - it's very electic.

This is in sharp contrast to depictions of characters like the Beast in Beauty in the Beast.  A gentleman to the end, the romance between Belle and the Beast never incorporates physical attraction (which is a plot-hole as many Interneters point out, although it does lead to some uncomfortable questions about bestiality).  This would be fine if by the end of the film they become friends, but after his transformation,  Belle immediately kisses the newly-human Beast.  A rather odd contrast to the fact that for the majority of the film physical attraction is never addressed.

Meanwhile, Bowie himself characterised Jareth thusly:

Jareth is the Goblin King.  One feels that he's rather reluctantly inherited the position of being Goblin King as though he would really like to be - I don't know - down in SoHo or something.  But he's not.  His thing in life is to be Goblin King.  And he runs the whole place as well as he can.  And he's kind of spoiled.  He gets everything his own way - he's a big kid.

Thus, Bowie's leading man is nowhere close to being a "goody-two-shoes" hero.  He may be the antagonist in the film, but he is also the one that the protagonist becomes fascinated with.  And Bowie offers this dynamic complexity in his portrayal of the Goblin King.  He is more than someone who is simply charming.  Jareth is capricious, powerful, intelligent, arrogant, romantic, spoiled, and alluring all at once.  And in comparison, figures like Prince Eric from The Little Mermaid or Prince Naveen from The Princess and the Frog quickly fall flat.  Sure, Eric helps save Ariel from an evil sea witch, and Naveen learns how to be less selfish, but there are little, if any, layers to their character other than "being the good guy".

Therefore, before we even get to the lyrics of the song, one can see that the film itself and the character of Jareth have an unprecedented level of adult thematic work and detail for a children's movie - more so than any Disney film (which usually doesn't deal with awakening sexuality in their coming-of-age films), and we have David Bowie to thank for that.

Executive Producer George Lucas, David Bowie, and Director Jim Henson shot during an interview for Labyrinth

Although not composed by Alan Menken or Elton John, the composition of the film's love song is in good hands.  Bowie usually doesn't (read: literally never does) write straightforward love songs but he is still, like many writers, the ultimate romantic.  By this term I am referring to romantic as both, "relating to love, especially in a sentimental or idealised way" and as "characterised by, or suggestive of an idealised view of reality".  This is evidenced by the fact that most of his songs hold a romantic (if not a bit of a melodramatic) quality to them through his use of symbolism, imagery, conceit, narrative, rhyme, and simile.  Whether he's singing about the last "Five Years" on earth or crooning a desperate plea to another to "Stay", it's clear that Bowie's a master wordsmith.

He's also no stranger to writing as characters, as evidenced by albums such as "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars" (where he played the character of Ziggy in a post-apocalyptic society) and "Diamond Dogs" (where he played the character of Halloween Jack in Hunger City).  Therefore, when tasked with the challenge of writing a love song as the character of Jareth, Bowie was clearly more than up to the task.  However, as O'Leary wrote of Bowie's musical stylings on an unrelated song entitled "Atomica":

It’s one of the central ironies of Bowie’s work. Even when he tried to create mediocre, keep-your-head-down music, he kept making stuff that couldn’t quite pass.  On a bonus track released in 2013, Bowie seemed to pull off the trick at last. “Atomica” begins as simulacrum, drawing from the past three decades of music without grounding itself in any.  Its opening 30 seconds could play anywhere—an Urban Outfitters, a Cheesecake Factory, or in the background of a home improvement show or a Korean cartoon—and wouldn’t draw attention [....] All safely anonymous, as is the refrain, whose lyric seems to have been generated by bots.  But by the refrain, things have started going awry [....]“Atomica” marches out in its crooked way, stamped as yet another Bowie song.

And "As the World Falls Down" seems to fall victim to this irony as well.  Bowie was tasked with writing a simple love song, but all too quickly it becomes a signature Bowie piece, with more complexity and layers than the simplistic romantic vehicles Disney incorporates into their movies.

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Bowie's mastery of romantic imagery is on par with any Disney alternative.  This is evidenced by such lines as "I'll place the sky within your eyes" and "I'll place the moon within your heart".  From the first two stanzas, Bowie already plays with two classic romantic images.  To a lover, the eyes are the windows to the soul (ie heart), and Bowie pairs this cliche with imagery of a romantic moonlit sky.  Therefore, his lover's eyes hold the moon and sky within their depths, revealing not only the tender soul within, but also that she contains the majesty of the cosmos. She is his entire universe.

This rich imagery starkly contrasts to top-rated Disney love songs, which don't embellish previously established cliches.  For instance in Aladdin, Aladdin takes Jasmine, who has stayed in the palace her entire life, on a tour around the world.  Like Sarah, Jasmine starts with a sheltered worldview that is challenged by her romantic-interest-a-la-guide.  She is also discovering new love with a "stranger" for the first time, (although she does so while flying on a magic carpet in the sky).

And they too sing about the stars in a "Whole New World", but in more obvious fashion (partly because their metaphors are literally shown on screen).  For instance, Jasmine's lines in the duet contain lines like, "Unbelievable sights/Indescribable feelings/Soaring, tumbling, freewheeling/Through an endless diamond sky....I'm like a shooting star I've come so far I can't go back To where I used to be."  In Jasmine's world, starlit skies merely that - a sky lit by the stars.  In fact, the only simile offered here is that Jasmine compares herself to a "shooting star".  It's romantic, but there's no symbolism or dynamic imagery.

Additionally, all of Disney's leading men sing (or are involved in) songs that offer a two-dimensional picture of romance to their respective love interests.  As previously stated, this is because their version of introducing a sheltered, young female protagonist to the world does not involve her awakening sexuality.

Aladdin's lines in "A Whole New World" are positively tame in comparison to Jareth's.  Aladdin may sing, "I can show you the world/Shining, shimmering, splendid/Tell me, princess, now when did/You last let your heart decide/I can open your eyes/Take you wonder by wonder/Over, sideways and under/On a magic carpet ride", but these lyrics are innocent in comparison to the oozing sensuality with which Bowie croons:

I'll paint you mornings of gold
I'll spin you Valentine evenings
Though we're strangers 'til now
We're choosing the path between the stars
I'll leave my love between the stars

Again, here Bowie works to combine romantic imagery with cliche romance tropes, but with an added level of seduction.  The first two lines feel extremely sensual - an assumption that the speaker's lady love will have golden mornings and passionate evenings entwined with him, cast in the role of her gentle lover.  While the last two lines take the idea of embarking on new love ("though we're strangers 'til now") and wrap it up in appropriately cosmic imagery - "we're choosing [to follow/embark upon] the path [of Jareth's love which he places] between the stars".  Therefore the "choice" to follow Jareth's love feels more like destiny.  Or perhaps like two star-crossed lovers attempting to valiantly cling to their love despite the fates against them.

Moreover, there is an underlying maturity and darkness to the Goblin King's ballad (here, the signature Bowie irony really shines through).  This is later brought to fruition in the film during the angsty piece "Within You" which portrays Jareth as a mournful, scorned lover while he and Sarah prepare for their final confrontation.

However, before the climax of the film hints of this maturity are evidenced in such lines as, "There's such a fooled heart/Beating so fast/In search of new dreams/A love that will last".  Bowie recognises that new love is not the same thing as "true" love, especially in a teenager like Sarah.  To her, the introduction to the feeling of love is exciting (her heart is beating fast).  Love also becomes a "new dream" for her in the transition from girl to woman, although an overly romantic one (she's searching for "a love that will last").  Therefore, the line "fooled heart" works perfectly here.

This is in comparison to lyrics like in "Someday My Prince Will Come".  Snow White feels a similar longing to find love, but her understanding of what that love will look like is more simplistic.  She sings, "Some day my prince will come/Some day we'll meet again/ And away to his castle we'll go/To be happy forever I know/Some day when spring is here/ We'll find our love anew/And the birds will sing/And wedding bells will ring/Some day when my dreams come true".  There is no "sad love" or "fooled heart" here, as her dreams of a handsome prince sweeping her off her feet include an assured devotion.

While hints of darkness are evidenced in lines like "There's such a sad love/Deep in your eyes/A kind of pale jewel/Open and closed".  Why is the love characterised as being "sad"? Shouldn't "new love" be exciting? The clue is given in the title of the song itself.  "New", or a first love is not a simple "fuzzy, feel-good" emotion, and Bowie's romantic hero anticipates as much.  Jareth sings that the "world will fall down" around Sarah, and by doing so Bowie cleverly plays on the simple trope of falling in love as something that "turns your world upside down".

This is in comparison to Tangled, in which "bad boy" Flynn Rider helps Rapunzel escape from a tower.  Throughout the film, he acts as her mentor in introducing her to the outside world.  During a romantic boat ride, after he finally helps Rapunzel accomplish her dream of seeing the floating lanterns, they sing the romantic duet "I See the Light".  In the song, Rapunzel offers the lines, "Now I'm here blinking in the starlight...And it's like the sky is new/ And it's warm and real and bright/ And the world has somehow shifted/ All at once everything looks different/ Now that I see you."

Here, the stars and sky are appropriately mentioned (like in any good love song), but the imagery is not used to convey anything deeper than to say their perspective on everything (like the sky) has changed.  And this newfound outlook is "warm and real and bright".  It's a simplistic love song that works, but it doesn't offer any more substance like "As the World Falls Down".  To Rapunzel, new love may shift the world, but it doesn't turn upside down with pain and confusion.

This is juxtaposed to how Bowie pairs the image of the "world falling down" with the concept of "falling in love" to make the latter sound uncomfortable and disconcerting.  This is evidenced by the stanza:

As the pain sweeps through
Makes no sense for you
Every thrill is gone
Wasn't too much fun at all
But I'll be there for you-ou-ou
As the world falls down
Falling
Falling down
Falling in love

Here, the lyrics indicate that falling in love means letting go of everything else around you (family, friends, preconceived notions, etc.) because it's like the world falling apart around oneself.  This is further underscored by the fact that Jareth promises that he'll "be there for [Sarah]" when these things happen.  She will need someone to help cushion the fall, and it makes sense that the person she's "falling in love" with should be the one to catch her, although this devotion seems to come with the darker, implicit understanding that in order to obtain it, everything else must "fall" (here I think of John Donne's poem "The Canonization").

Moreover, this darker (as in, it's not all "warm and real and bright") portrayal of falling in love is also more mature.  Falling in love includes sadness, pain, and the fact that falling in love isn't "too much fun at all".  Jareth mentions pain sweeping through Sarah that she can't make sense of, and the thrill of a crush wearing off.  However, heartbreak, confusion, and the wearing-off of adrenaline/infatuation are all a part of a more mature perspective of falling in love - just as much as beautiful words, physical intimacy, excitement, and promises of undying devotion.

Thus, as evidenced by the context of the film, the portrayal of the character, and the genius of the writer, Bowie's song offers a more nuanced, dynamic, mature view of falling in love than any Disney film.  Therefore, it should be considered on par if not superior to any Disney love song.  Or, at the very least, it too should make the list for "Songs You Want Played At Your Wedding" (I mean, have you heard the Vitamin String Quartet's version of it for the finale on their album Geek Wedding The Sequel?)

And on a final note, outside of the film, "As the World Falls Down" was originally slated for a Christmas 1986 single release.  Steve Barron even directed a music video for it which featured Bowie, presumably as Jareth, singing to a girl, presumably Sarah, working in an office.  However, the release was abandoned at the last minute.  Although the video was later included on "The Video Collection" and the DVD edition of "Best of Bowie". (Pegg, 2016)

Additionally, although this song was written during what many consider as Bowie's creative slump, he clearly held a fondness for it, as Pegg writes, "That David continued to regard the song with affection is indicated by the fact that he included it on the five-track CD of romantic numbers packaged with the initial release of his wife's 2001 autobiography I Am Iman."  And that affection has clearly resonated through the decades.  Eat your heart out, Disney.