Magic Dance

{{short description|Song by David Bowie}}

{{Use British English|date=January 2014}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2014}}

{{Infobox song

| name = Magic Dance

| cover = Bowie MagicDance.jpg

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = David Bowie

| album = Labyrinth

| B-side = Within You

| released = January 1987{{harvp|Pegg|2016|loc="Magic Dance" in chap. The Songs from A to Z.}}

| recorded = 1985

| studio =

| venue =

| genre = * Synth-pop

  • pop rock[http://www.discogs.com/David-Bowie-Magic-Dance/release/2691617 Magic Dance] Discogs

| length = 5:13 {{small|(Album Version)}}
4:00 {{small|(Single Version)}}

| label = EMI America
{{small|V-19217}}

| writer = David Bowie

| producer = * David Bowie

| prev_title = When the Wind Blows

| prev_year = 1986

| next_title = Day-In Day-Out

| next_year = 1987

}}

"Magic Dance" (also known as "Dance Magic") is a song written and recorded by the English singer David Bowie for the Jim Henson musical fantasy film Labyrinth (1986). It was released as a single in limited markets worldwide in January 1987. Upon Bowie's death in 2016, the single version of "Magic Dance" reached #63 on the iTunes chart in the UK.{{cite web | url=http://www.itunescharts.net/uk/artists/music/david-bowie/songs/magic-dance-single-version/ | title=David Bowie – 'Magic Dance (Single Version)' British iTunes Chart Performance | access-date=20 July 2017}}

Details and background

Bowie wrote and recorded five songs for Labyrinth, in which he also starred as Jareth, the king of the goblins.{{harvp|Pegg|2016|loc="Labyrinth" in chapt. Stage and Screen}} "Magic Dance" was written for a scene in which Jareth and his goblins entertain a crying baby that has been wished away to them by the film's heroine, Sarah Williams. In the film, Bowie performs the number with Toby Froud as the baby, and 50 puppets and 12 costumed extras as the goblins.{{cite video |people=Des Saunders (director), Jim Henson (writer) |year=1986 |title=Inside the Labyrinth |medium=Televised Documentary |location=Los Angeles |publisher=Jim Henson Television}}

Described as a "simple dance number that's driven by electric bass and emphatic drums",{{harvp|Block|Erdmann|2016||pages=166-167}} "Magic Dance" includes song lyrics that refer to the film The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947) starring Cary Grant and Shirley Temple, in which the two have a call and reply verse: "You remind me of a man." "What man?" "The man with the power." "What power?" "The power of hoodoo." "Who do?" "You do!". In "Magic Dance," "man" is replaced with "babe" and "hoodoo" with "voodoo". According to Nicholas Pegg, the verse is an "old playground nonsense-chant" that was originally popularized by The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer.

Bowie performed the baby's gurgles in the song recording of "Magic Dance", as backing vocalist Diva Gray's baby, the intended vocalist, wouldn't gurgle on the microphone. In the actual scene of the film, baby vocals were dubbed in by a more cooperative infant.{{cite web |first=Ryan |last=Sargent |date= |title=30 Years in the Labyrinth |website=Nerdist |url=https://nerdist.com/article/30-years-in-the-labyrinth/ |access-date=6 November 2022 }} During the movie's production, and in the end credits, the song was referred to as "Dance Magic."

Release

"Magic Dance" is the third track on the Labyrinth soundtrack, released in July 1986 to coincide with the film's US premiere.{{harvp|Pegg|2016|loc="Labyrinth" in chapt. The Albums}} In 1987 the song was released on 12" in limited markets, including the US. A single version was mixed but never released, and an edit of the "Dance Mix" (incorrectly labeled as the 'single mix') was released on the New Zealand edition of Best of Bowie (2002). The single was not released commercially in the UK until the digital download version was made available in early 2007.

Critical reception

In 1986, "Magic Dance" peaked at #40 in New Zealand.{{cite web |title=David Bowie – Magic Dance (Song) |url=https://charts.nz/showitem.asp?interpret=David+Bowie&titel=Magic+Dance&cat=s |website=charts.org.nz |access-date=28 September 2020}}

At the time of Bowie's death in 2016, "Magic Dance" was the 19th highest selling Bowie song digitally downloaded in the United Kingdom.{{cite web |first=Justin |last=Myers |date=11 January 2016 |title=David Bowie's Official Top 40 Biggest Selling Downloads revealed! |website=Official Charts Company |url=https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/david-bowie-s-official-top-40-biggest-selling-downloads-revealed-__2854/ |access-date=26 August 2020}}

BBC America called "Magic Dance" "one of Bowie's most playful and underrated songs",{{cite web |date=24 July 2020 |title=10 Of Our Favorite Movie Performances By Musicians-Turned-Actors: From David Bowie To Harry Styles And Mariah Carey |website=BBC America |url=https://www.bbcamerica.com/blogs/10-of-our-favorite-movie-performances-by-musicians-turned-actors-from-david-bowie-to-harry-styles-and-mariah-carey--45544 |access-date=15 December 2020 }} while Vice's Kamila Rymajdo considered it to be "perhaps the most joyous song about magic, ever".{{cite web |title=A Brief Timeline of Magic in Music |date=1 November 2017 |last=Rymajdo |first=Kamila |url=https://www.vice.com/en_au/article/xwawvj/timeline-magic-music-bowie-hole-princess-nokia-iamddb |website=Vice |access-date=3 December 2019}}

David Brusie of The A.V. Club called the song "infectiously silly", and wrote that it has a "manic energy".{{cite web |first=David |last=Brusie |date=12 June 2017 |title=Labyrinth's soundtrack is an essential part of David Bowie's legacy |website=The A.V. Club |url=https://www.avclub.com/labyrinth-s-soundtrack-is-an-essential-part-of-david-bo-1798262990 |access-date=15 December 2020 }} Writing for Gizmodo, Cheryl Eddy referred to the song as an "eternal tear-the-club-up fantasy jam".{{cite web |first=Cheryl |last=Eddy |date=29 August 2019 |title=8 Fantasy Films From The 1980s To Fuel Your Dark Crystal: Age Of Resistance Obsession |website=Gizmodo |url=https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2019/08/8-fantasy-films-from-the-1980s-to-fuel-your-dark-crystal-age-of-resistance-obsession/ |access-date=6 May 2021}} Ranking "Magic Dance" at number 3 on the list "The 10 Best Uses of David Bowie Songs in Movies", Screen Rant's Ben Sherlock considered it the best song from Labyrinth and wrote that it "still has the ability to reinvigorate a dying party more than 30 years later."{{cite web |first=Ben |last=Sherlock |date=14 February 2021 |title=The 10 Best Uses Of David Bowie Songs In Movies |website=Screen Rant |url=https://screenrant.com/best-movie-scenes-featuring-david-bowie-music/ |access-date=6 May 2021}} Empire listed the song among the "catchiest earworms" from cinema.{{cite web |first=Alastair |last=Plumb |date=14 February 2014 |title=25 Of Cinema's Catchiest Earworms |website=Empire |url=https://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/catchiest-movie-earworms/ |access-date=28 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160627110623/https://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/catchiest-movie-earworms/ |archive-date=27 June 2016 |url-status=live}}

Some critics have observed similarities between "Magic Dance" and Bowie's earlier song "The Laughing Gnome", as both are constructed around traditional nursery rhymes and feature comic goblin/gnome voices.{{cite book | title=Ashes to Ashes: The Songs of David Bowie, 1976–2016 | last=O'Leary | first=Chris | date=12 February 2019 | publisher=Watkins Media |isbn=978-1-912248-30-8}} Sasha Frere-Jones of the Los Angeles Times described the song as Bowie "essentially performing “The Laughing Gnome” again, except this time he and his gnomes come perilously close to rapping."{{cite web |first=Sasha |last=Frere-Jones |date=12 January 2016 |title=Appreciation: David Bowie was a vivid and gentle presence who never stopped exploring |website=Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-ms-david-bowie-appreciation-frere-jones-20160112-story.html |access-date=24 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160112164832/https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-ms-david-bowie-appreciation-frere-jones-20160112-story.html |archive-date=12 January 2016 |url-status=live}}

Track listing

= 12": EMI America / V-19217 (US) =

  1. "Magic Dance" (A Dance Mix) – 7:06
  2. "Magic Dance" (Dub) – 5:22
  3. "Within You" – 3:28

= Download: EMI / i19217 (US) =

  1. "Magic Dance" (Single Version/Edit of 7" Remix) – 4:00
  2. "Magic Dance" (12" Remix/Dance Mix) – 7:16
  3. "Magic Dance" (Dub) – 5:31
  4. "Magic Dance" (7" Remix) – 4:39

Personnel

References

{{Reflist}}

Bibliography

{{Refbegin}}

  • {{cite book |last1=Block | first1=Paula |first2=Terry | last2=Erdmann |date=2016 |title=Labyrinth: The Ultimate Visual History | publisher=Insight Editions | url=http://insighteditions.com |isbn=978-1-60887-810-9 }}
  • {{cite book |last1=Pegg |first1=Nicholas |author-link1=Nicholas Pegg |title=The Complete David Bowie |date=2016 |publisher=Titan Books Ltd |location=London, United Kingdom |isbn=978-1-78565-365-0 |edition=7th }}

{{Refend}}