"As the World Falls Down" is a song written by David Bowie for the soundtrack of the 1986 fantasy film Labyrinth. Background and composition "As the World Falls Down" is one of five songs Bowie wrote and recorded for the film, in which he also starred as Jareth, the king of the goblins. A love ballad, "As the World Falls Down" was written for a dream sequence in which Jareth and the film's heroine, Sarah, dance at a fantastic masquerade ball. Bowie said of the song, "[Director] Jim Henson wanted something which was fairly old-fashioned in its sentiments and it is, for me, the prettiest tune in the movie, and the most relaxed." The song's melody is heard at the start of the film as the tune played by Sarah's music box. "As the World Falls Down" is structured in the traditional 1-6-4-5 form popular in 1950s ballads. The song's intro is in a moderately fast 3/4 time, before an electric bass modifies the rhythm to a slower 4/4 time. The bass line consists of a constant rising musical motif that acts as a hook throughout the song. There is a minor fourth, and later a minor second in the chorus. Release and promotion "As the World Falls Down" is the seventh track on the Labyrinth soundtrack, which was released in July 1986 to coincide with the film's U.S. premiere. EMI planned to also release the song as a single in late 1986, and as a result, a 3:40 edit was produced along with a promotional music video, directed by Steve Barron. The video splices clips from Labyrinth with monochrome footage of Bowie performing the song in an elegant room accompanied by the character Hoggle from the film. The storyline follows photocopies of Bowie enchanting a woman in an office building, portrayed by French actress Charlotte Valandrey. Barron's videos for "As the World Falls Down" and the Labyrinth theme song "Underground" so impressed Jim Henson that he recruited Barron to direct his television series The Storyteller. However, the single's release and video were cancelled — perhaps because Bowie did not want the love ballad to lessen the impact of his upcoming harder-sounding release Never Let Me Down, biographer Nicholas Pegg suggested. The edit was eventually released as a bonus track on the Virgin Records re-release of Tonight in 1995, and the video was included on Bowie – The Video Collection