Magic Dance

"Magic Dance" is a song written and recorded by David Bowie for the 1986 Jim Henson film Labyrinth. 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.[3]

"Magic Dance"
Single by David Bowie
from the album Labyrinth
B-side"Within You"
ReleasedJanuary 1987[1]
Recorded1985
Genre
Length5:13 (Album Version)
4:00 (Single Version)
LabelEMI America
V-19217
Songwriter(s)David Bowie
Producer(s)
David Bowie singles chronology
"Underground"
(1986)		 "Magic Dance"
(1987)		 "When the Wind Blows"
(1986)

Details

"Magic Dance," described as a "simple dance number that's driven by electric bass and emphatic drums,",[4] includes song lyrics that refer to the 1947 movie The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer 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".[4] Bowie performed the baby's gurgles in the song, as the real baby who would have provided the sounds wouldn't gurgle on the microphone.[4]

During the movie's production, and in the end credits, the song was referred to as "Dance Magic."[1]

Release

"Magic Dance" was originally released in 1986 as the third track on the Labyrinth soundtrack album. 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).[1] The single was not released commercially in the UK until the digital download version was made available in early 2007.

Reception

Some critics have observed similarities between "Magic Dance" and Bowie's previous song "The Laughing Gnome", as both are constructed around traditional nursery rhymes and feature comic goblin/gnome voices.[1][5] Vice's Kamila Rymajdo considered "Magic Dance" to be "perhaps the most joyous song about magic, ever".[6]

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
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References
  1. Pegg, Nicholas (October 2016). "The Complete David Bowie New Edition: Expanded and Updated". Titan Books. ISBN 978-1-78565-365-0.
  2. Magic Dance Discogs
  3. "David Bowie - 'Magic Dance (Single Version)' British iTunes Chart Performance". Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  4. Block, Paula; Erdmann, Terry (2016). Labyrinth: The Ultimate Visual History. Insight Editions. p. 166 & 167. ISBN 978-1-60887-810-9.
  5. O'Leary, Chris (12 February 2019). Ashes to Ashes: The Songs of David Bowie, 1976-2016. Watkins Media. ISBN 978-1-912248-30-8.
  6. Rymajdo, Kamila (1 November 2017). "A Brief Timeline of Magic in Music". Vice.
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