As the World Falls Down

The whole movie seems like a sexual allusion. Here's this girl on the brink of adulthood who resents her little brother (childhood) and is tempted by a man to enter his world of the dark and unknown. He woos her by granting her every wish and dream as long as it serves within his purpose. In order to reach the man she has to endure a treacherous maze (puberty?) and can only do so with the aid of her friends. But yet when she finally does reach it, she chooses to hold onto childhood a little bit longer and turn away from the man although the invitation back is always open to her. When Jareth sings in Underground "It's only forever" he might mean that once you become an adult you are an adult for the rest of your life. Sarah chooses that instead of quickly going to adulthood that she will take small steps to get there and passes her childhood onto Toby while still retaining her part of it too (Hoggle et al).

It's temptation. Bowie as Jareth throughout the Movie simply offers to Sarah what he thinks she wants, the frills and baubles. What's a more pretty bauble than the sky or moon itself? The simple fact she was tempted by a piece of fruit (cue Garden of Eden) should have been a dead give away that it was more about Jareth trying to bring her to his side, to willingly let the child go.

what does this song mean to me? everything, haha. seriously, one of my fave songs ever, belonging to one of my favourite movies ever.

the interpretations of this song and the movie on here are excellent. i'm just gonna throw in my own two cents. anyway, i feel that the labyrinth is an allegory (a metaphor? allegory? don't know the word) for fantasy and the imagination. and jareth is the ultimate representation of that. sarah is so consumed in her fantasy life that she's beginning to miss out on her real life and that she's placing fantasy over real life (as represented when the baby gets taken away). thankfully, she realises that this is not okay, so she goes to confront her fantasy and to put it in its place, so to speak. the existence of imagination and fantasy tries to tempt her with this song. jareth sings that the real world has disillusioned her ("sad love," "fooled heart") but he can literally give her the moon and sky and paint her mornings of gold and so forth, because he is her imagination and her fantasy so he can make anything happen. even when the real world "falls down" around her, her fantasy world will always "be there" for her.

but finally, sarah realises she can't be ruled by her fantasy life, so she goes to confront it. jareth (fantasy) tells her that she can have anything she wants... as long as she neglects her real world and gets consumed into her imagination so fully that she can imagine anything, and it will be hers (in her mind, of course). and jareth will be the slave to her desires. but then sarah realises that fantasies will not actually make anything real happen, and cannot dictate her life, so she says that he has no power over her. then the fantasy bubble bursts. but at the end she says she needs some aspect of her fantasy and imagination now and again to pull her through... but just the happy helpful aspects like hoggle. so they partay.

if i were her, i'd still have chosen jareth, haha.

This song was the main reason I detected Bowie in the first place. I first watched the movie as 6yearold, and it's been my favorite ever since. The song is so damned beautyful, that it doesn't matter how non-Bowieish it is, his voice with that lyric and melodi just makes life worth living. Imani, you just crushed my childhood. No, I'm joking, it's an interresting view.

Other than "Aladdin Sane" as a stand-alone masterpiece (due to the remarkable piano solo) I would say that the soundtrack to The Labyrinth is David Bowie's greatest work. "Underground" never gets old, and the saxophone in it so amazing, and of course this song is extremely beautiful. For some reason it makes me think of the Damien Rice song "Cold Water" even though musically they are very different. If you like this though, you should check out "Cold Water".

"As the pain sweeps through Makes no sense for you Every thrill has gone Wasn't too much fun at all But I'll be there for you As the world falls down" I think this song is about a girl who is naive and wants the world to be perfect and sweet. I think she is growing up and getting hurt by things and learning that there is no such thing as perfect. I think the person singing the song is in love with the girl and knows he can't prevent her from getting hurt or protect her from the darkness that is in the world but he wants to comfort her and be what does make her happy and doesn't hurt her.

this is a beautiful love song but it's got a v sad undercurrent to it.

Sarah is being temted to become a woman- but not one in the sense of adult independance. Jahred seeks to "keep her" like a doll and assures her that he can provide her fairytale life where she will have every desire met (but it will entail her to make sacrifices- her freedom and her brother.)....

the fact that the girl in the story is quite young adds to this feeling but bowie's tone as he sings this is so soft and reassuring u wud totally succumb to it... (he is a god and totally the right person to play jahred)

the goblin king becomes prince charming.. (i was actually upset that she didn get with him but i can see y it failed now, being older and wiser! I do love the end part where he offers her his love for the last time before she breaks the spell sob and he vanishes....)

if ur wiv ur partner an this song comes on get close and melt into each other as the words wrap around you... ....falling in love... xxx

Of course, the is from the greatest of all movies, "Labyrinth." David Bowie is so fricken amazing, I can see how much he is in love in this song. If you don't know, Jareth is much much older than Sarah. Is the song "As the World Falls Down" Jareth is singing to her about how she is younger and she is searching for things that girls do her age. He has a more mature sense of love, and he has it for HER. It's soo beautiful. --Alyssa

let me first start with how amazing i think this movie is...ive been in love with it since i was little when my uncle made me watch it...i love a lot of the interpretations although unfortunately im not sure if i can agree that Jareth was actually in love with Sarah..im gunna have to go with the view of him representing her imagination and fantasy life...hes trying to woo her with this song saying he can give her everything her life cant in order to keep her entranced in fantasy instead of returning to reality (represented by toby)...therefore i guess the opening scene is her letting her imagination take her over...and when that actually happens, and she faced with the loss of reality, she realizes that she needs to stay focused on that and get her brother back...and in the end with the song "within you" (which im about to go comment on next), thats bowies one last shot at keeping her there...but she says that "he has no power over her" meaning her imagination isnt the boss of her so to speak..and sooooooo she returns to reality...BUT the "should you need us" scene with her and all the characters partying shows that sometimes, as hallospacegirl said above, you do need imagination and fantasy to pull you through..

i basically kinda just said what everyone else said OH and even though id go more with the imagination theme, i think puberty and literally growing up rather then maturing mentally is also an interesting way to look at it

either way, definite rite of passage film

and i was thinking of this song to be played at my wedding in the future when i came here and saw that someone had it at their wedding...very sweet

As far as what this song (and movie) means I would say that everyone nailed it on the head. From my experience I've found that while writer's/directors have their own ideas about what the story means, the best part of creating a story is that it can mean something different to every person that experiences it. It can even mean something different to one person at different times in their life. From my point of view I would have to say I agree with the idea that Jareth was tempting her with her desire to live in fantasy. I also think that "fantasy worlds" are a product of childhood and that the idea of letting go of these worlds is part of growing up has a lot of truth. Of course fiction writers can't completely let go of these worlds or we wouldn't all be on here discussing the meaning of this song and movie.

By the way...I'm getting married next March and listened to this song while I was writing my vows. It is also on a short list of wedding music we are trying to work into the wedding/reception. And David Bowie was perfectly cast in this movie.