Limahl – The NeverEnding Story
#quotefromthe80s
Rhymes that keep their secrets
Will unfold behind the clouds
There upon the rainbow
Is the answer to a never ending story
#Limahl #TheNeverEndingStory
The day of July 25, 1984 marked the release of a song that was destined to remain forever in the history and memories of the 80s.
To introduce this song, we could start with a riddle. A kid enters a book and sees himself driving a flying dog, and it’s Christmas time in 1984. What’s the name of the guy singing nearby with a weird shocking hairstyle?
Obviously his name is Limahl, an anagram of his surname, who one day had replied to an advertisement from a group called Art Nouveau. They finally onboarded him and told him: “ok you are in, but please find a stage name!” And he replied … “I will, but you also need a new stage name!” and Art Nouveau became Kajagoogoo, and then there was the huge success of Too Shy … But that’s another story!
The NeverEnding Story is song from a film that has remained in the hearts of the boys of the 80s: we all remember the fantastic journey of the young Atreyu on the back of the lucky dragon Falkor (or Fuchur depending on the language). This song was written for the soundtrack of the film by the great Giorgio Moroder.
The great composer at that time was a master in composing electronic pop music for the soundtracks of films, and worked with great artists for the lyrics. In this case the text was composed by Keith Forsey, who had also composed Flashdance (What a Feeling) for the Flashdance soundtrack, and had worked with Simple Minds to compose a song for the soundtrack of The Breakfast Club movie. The song was titled Don’t you (Forget About Me).
In parallel with The NeverEnding Story, the good Giorgio was composing another soundtrack that would be released a few weeks later. In particular he was composing the song Together in Electric Dreams for the film Electric Dreams. In that case, his collaborator will be the great Phil Oakey.
The NeverEnding Story (written just like that, without the space between the words, and with a capital E on ending) has a peculiarity. The song ends with a fade, because the volume gradually decreases to zero, and this happens in many songs; the point is that this song doesn’t even have a definite beginning, because it also starts with an entry fade: the volume starts from zero and starts gradually. So if you listen to the song continuously, it becomes in fact a never ending song, like the story !
This song has two videos: one shows Limahl side by side with the fantastic scenes from the movie, and there is another version, with a sort of underground style, where Limahl and some musicians perform the song in a sort of backyard, with the lady who apparently sings the song with Limahl.
In the song, Limahl duets with a beautiful female voice: the American singer Beth Anderson. Beth recorded her part in America and never met Limahl during the recording stages. The two performed the song together only on very few special events. The girl we see in the video, however, is not Beth, but Mandy Newton, one of the backing singers Limahl collaborated with most often. In the video, however, Mandy does not sing, and the voice we hear is the original voice of Beth Anderson (who is not even mentioned on the album cover).
The song was a notable success, as well as the film, and reached the top of the hit parades in many European countries. And in fact it remained one of the most original memories of the 80s until a few years ago, when it was fished out as part of the Stranger Things series. Basically, the two long-distance boyfriends, after having been without seeing each other for a long time, renew their promise of love by singing this song together. After this episode, downloads of the song from major online streaming and music platforms increased about tenfold! And there are still some who argue that the new generations do not appreciate the music of the 80s. But we know that the 80s never end, and the story of 80s music is really a never-ending story!
Limahl on Wikipedia
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