9/3/20

"The NeverEnding Story" by Limahl

   “Rhymes that keep their secrets will unfold behind the clouds… and there upon a rainbow is the answer to a never ending story.

   Saturday Night Fever. Urban Cowboy. The Breakfast Club. Back to the Future. Top Gun. Pretty Woman. The Bodyguard. Singles. Titanic. All of these iconic films produced equally iconic songs and top selling soundtracks. The music associated with these movies was all over the radio and MTV, and served as exceptional marketing tools for the motion pictures themselves.

   Today, the Dial turns it’s receivers to movie theaters of the past to spotlight a motion picture theme that has slipped into relative obscurity, even though it’s associated with a well loved fantasy film. Ladies and gentlemen, Rock biters and Night hobs, let me present “The NeverEnding Story” by Limahl.


   Coining his stage name from an anagram of his last name, Limahl, (born Christopher Hamill of Lancashire, England), has the unique claim of being a one hit wonder twice... well, at least in the U.S. he’s a two time one hit wonder... he’s had other hits overseas. Wait, how is it possible to be a one hit wonder TWICE??? Well, you may recall a popular ditty called “Too Shy” (#5/‘83) recorded by new wave group Kajagoogoo. Limahl was the lead singer of that band. Shortly after that hit, he embarked on a solo career, which led to his one hit as a solo act… the theme to the 1984 film “The NeverEnding Story”. So, he’s been a one hit wonder as the frontman of a group, and also as a soloist. Cool, huh?

   Peaking at #17 on the U.S. Hot 100, and #6 on the U.S. adult contemporary charts, “The NeverEnding Story” charted much higher in the UK at #4, and topped the respective singles charts of Norway and Sweden.

   The lyrics broadly reference the events of the film, in particular, the character of the Childlike Empress, and the final grain of sand from Fantasia… “In her face, the mirror of your dreams”, and “in your hand the birth of a new day”. It also incorporates general fantasy story tropes, by mentioning stars, clouds, and rainbows, and featuring the sound effects of wind layered into the music.

   However, when I separate the song from the film, I see “The NeverEnding Story” theme as a parallel to falling in love. The aforementioned line about seeing your dreams mirrored in her face… perhaps that means love at first sight. Isn’t it true that upon falling in love, a person becomes filled with a euphoria and a great feeling of well being that could indeed be symbolized with rainbows, stars, clouds, unicorns, dolphins, and anything else associated with Lisa Frank notebooks? The best, all encompassing love, can make a person feel like they are floating above the world.

   So maybe this seemingly simple movie theme actually exists on two levels… that to link to the narrative of the film, and that to describe a burgeoning romance. And because of that, the two interpretations of the song are intertwined, much like the two snakes featured on the film’s Auryn amulet worn by the warrior Atreyu? (Yeah, I love this movie – just let me geek out here…)

   A clever feature of the song is that it fades in from silence at the beginning (as opposed to just beginning with the opening notes), and fades out at the end, giving the listener the idea that the song is truly never ending. The effect is that it’s always playing somewhere in the breeze at some time, and we just happen to catch a few moments of it each time before it fades off to places unknown once more. I think this tune is much more of a masterpiece than I originally gave it credit for!

   And, why wouldn’t it be a masterpiece, when Georgio Moroder and Keith Forsey put their production abilities behind it? Between the two of them, they’ve significantly contributed to works by Donna Summer, Billy Idol, Irene Cara, Berlin, Blondie and many others.

   The music video is quite simple, with just two people on a very basic set, and feels much like Broadway performance. Interestingly, there are no movie clips featured here, and I’m not sure why. I can’t imagine it was due to licensing issues. Perhaps the record label (EMI) tried to keep the cost of the video down by only featuring Limahl and his duet partner (more on her in a moment), to avoid paying any actors that would appear via movie clips they may have used. Actually, I respect that there are no film clips here because many movie theme music videos feature awkwardly shoehorned movie clips that break up the flow of the visuals of the video. I like that they kept it uncluttered for this one.

   The female vocalist that Limahl duets with here (even though she is uncredited on the label), is Beth Anderson, but in the video Limahl’s backing singer Mandy Newton convincingly lip syncs to Anderson’s vocals. This is because Beth was not available to film any scenes for the video, (given that she is based in Kentucky, and the video was filmed in the UK), though Limahl and Anderson did perform the song together on American Bandstand and Solid Gold.

   As recently as 2019, the memory of this soundtrack cut crossed my mind, but I immediately dismissed it as not worthy of being revisited without even listening to it. Seriously… shame on me. But the unbelievable events of this year which have drastically changed our lives and our world have had me looking for any positivity wherever I could find it.

   So, last month I watched the title film for first time in at least 30 years, and found myself still enthralled by it’s themes of childlike wonder, innocence, and overall message of hope for the future, even when things seem their most bleak, and man, can we identify with THAT nowadays! Afterwards, the theme song stayed firmly lodged in my mind… much like it was… well… “never ending”. I knew then I was wrong to have dismissed it.

   Okay, perhaps the theme hasn’t aged well, it’s very tied to it’s time with it’s synth-heavy orchestration, and I know it could easily be derided as “cheesy”. But the soaring melody and lyrics of fantasy and magic return me to childhood innocence and hit me in the feels.

   I’m also aware that the tune recently enjoyed a huge popularity boost because it was featured in the Netflix series Stranger Things. I haven’t watched ST yet, even though tons of folks have suggested it to me and it certainly sounds like a show that would be right up my alley. One of these days I’ll get to it.

   So take a flight of fantasy with Limahl, and allow the music to sweep you away to places unknown. Do you have any favorite movie music that you think should have been a big hit? Drop me a comment below! And be sure to stay tuned to Kyle’s Radio Dial, where the more you listen, the more you remember!


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