"Never Ending Story" is the title song from the English version of the 1984 film ''

The NeverEnding Story ''The Neverending Story'' (german: Die unendliche Geschichte) is a fantasy novel by German writer Michael Ende, published in 1979. The first English translation, by Ralph Manheim, was published in 1983. The novel was later adapted into several ...

''. It was produced and composed by Italian musician

Giorgio Moroder Giovanni Giorgio Moroder (, ; born 26 April 1940) is an Italian composer, songwriter, and record producer. Dubbed the " Father of Disco", Moroder is credited with pioneering euro disco and electronic dance music. His work with synthesizers had ...

and performed by English pop singer

Limahl Christopher Hamill (born 19 December 1958), known professionally as Limahl (an anagram of Hamill), is an English pop singer. He was the lead singer of the pop group Kajagoogoo beginning in 1981, before embarking on a brief solo career, garnering ...

. He released two versions of the song, one in English and one in French. The English version featured vocals by Beth Anderson, and the French version, title
''L'Histoire Sans Fin''
featured vocals by Ann Calvert. It was a success in many countries, reaching No. 1 in both Norway and Sweden, No. 2 in Austria, West Germany and Italy, No. 4 in the UK, No. 6 in Australia and No. 6 on the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

Adult Contemporary chart The Adult Contemporary chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary radio stations in the United States. The chart is compiled based on airplay data submitted to ''Billboard'' by stat ...

Background and writing

The song was composed by

with lyrics by

Keith Forsey Keith Forsey (born 2 January 1948) is an English pop musician and record producer. Early life Forsey began his career as a percussionist in the mid-late 1960s as the drummer for The SpectrumCaptain Scarlet and the Mysterons - The Vault - Chris ...

, though it (and other electronic pop elements of the soundtrack) is not present in the German version of the film, which features Klaus Doldinger's score exclusively. Beth Anderson recorded her words in America separately from Limahl's. (dead) Anderson does not appear in the music video; frequent Limahl back-up singer Mandy Newton lip-syncs Anderson's part.

Legacy

In the final episode of the third season of ''

Stranger Things ''Stranger Things'' is an American science fiction horror drama television series created by the Duffer Brothers, who also serve as showrunners and are executive producers along with Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen. Produced by Monkey Massacre Pr ...

'', set in 1985, "Never Ending Story" is sung by Dustin ( Gaten Matarazzo) and his long-distance girlfriend Suzie (

Gabriella Pizzolo Gabriella Grace Pizzolo (born March 10, 2003) is an American actress and singer. She first made her breakthrough on Broadway for her portrayal as Matilda in ''Matilda the Musical'' (2013) and ''Fun Home'' (2015). In 2019, she received widespread ...

) as a way to reconnect after not seeing each other for some time. Following the season's release on July 4, 2019, interest in "The NeverEnding Story" surged; viewership of the original music video had increased by 800% within a few days according to YouTube, while

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active use ...

reported an 825% increase in stream requests for the song. Limahl expressed gratitude towards Netflix for this; while he had not watched the series, he was told of the song's inclusion by his nephews and watched clips of the duet. Limahl had previously found a similar increase in his past work when the network used his band Kajagoogoo's song " Too Shy" in '' Black Mirror: Bandersnatch''.

Track listings

* 7" single # "Never Ending Story" # "Ivory Tower" by Giorgio Moroder * 12" single # "Never Ending Story" (club mix) – 6:09 # "Never Ending Story" (instrumental version) – 5:28 * 12" maxi # "Never Ending Story" (12" mix) – 5:17 # "Never Ending Story" (7" mix) – 3:30 # "Ivory Tower" (12" mix) (instrumental) by Giorgio Moroder – 5:54 * iTunes single # "Never Ending Story" (12" mix) – 5:20 # "Never Ending Story" (Giorgio 7" mix) – 3:31 # "Never Ending Story" (Rusty 7" mix) – 3:54 # "Never Ending Story" (12" dance mix) – 6:08 # "Never Ending Story" (12" dub mix) – 5:27 # "Ivory Tower" by Giorgio Moroder – 3:08 # "Ivory Tower" (12" mix) by Giorgio Moroder – 5:55

Official mixes

* "Never Ending Story" (7" mix) – 3:28 * "Never Ending Story" (12" mix) – 5:17 * "Never Ending Story" (club mix) – 6:09 * "Never Ending Story" (instrumental version) – 5:28

Personnel

– lead vocals and backing vocals * Beth Anderson – lead vocals and backing vocals * Dee Harris – electric guitar *

– synthesizers, sequencer and sampler *

– drum machine

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

¹ "The NeverEnding Story"/"L'Histoire Sans Fin"

Certifications

Cover versions

* For '' The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter'', the song was performed by Joe Milner, heard during the closing credits. *

J-pop J-pop ( ja, ジェイポップ, ''jeipoppu''; often stylized as J-POP; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively also known simply as , is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the ...

group E-Girls covered a Japanese version of the song in 2013. It debuted in the second place of the

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike i ...

weekly singles chart. * American

pop punk Pop punk (or punk pop) is a rock music genre that combines elements of punk rock with power pop or pop. It is defined for its emphasis on classic pop songcraft, as well as adolescent and anti-suburbia themes, and is distinguished from other pu ...

group

New Found Glory New Found Glory (formerly A New Found Glory) is an American rock band from Coral Springs, Florida, formed in 1997. The band currently consists of Jordan Pundik (lead vocals), Ian Grushka (bass guitar), Chad Gilbert (lead guitar, backing vocals ...

covered the song on their 2000 EP ''

From the Screen to Your Stereo ''From the Screen to Your Stereo'' is an EP by New Found Glory (formerly A New Found Glory) released on 28 March 2000 by Drive-Thru Records. All the tracks are covers of songs from motion picture soundtracks. The album was pressed on 10" vinyl a ...

''. * Shooter Jennings and

Brandi Carlile Brandi Marie Carlile ( ; born June 1, 1981) is an American singer-songwriter and producer whose music spans many genres, including folk rock, alternative country, Americana, and classic rock. , Carlile has released seven studio albums. She has ...

covered the song on Jennings' 2016

tribute album ''

Countach (For Giorgio) ''Countach (For Giorgio)'' is the seventh studio album by Shooter Jennings, released on February 26, 2016 on vinyl through Jennings' own Black Country Rock label. A 16-bit music video for the song "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)" featuring Mari ...

''.

References

External links

''The NeverEnding Story'' single

Limahl Official British Website

KajaFax - The Officially Approved Limahl & Kajagoogoo Community & Fan Club

Unofficial Limahl & Kajagoogoo YouTube video archives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Neverending Story, The 1984 songs 1984 singles Limahl songs Number-one singles in Norway Number-one singles in Spain Number-one singles in Sweden Oricon International Singles Chart number-one singles Songs written by Giorgio Moroder Songs written by Keith Forsey Song recordings produced by Giorgio Moroder Works based on The Neverending Story E-girls songs EMI Records singles