How to put a span over an image

Change the position on the menu_label to absolute and add position:relative to menu

http://jsfiddle.net/uc8jc/2/

Use position: absolute; for the span rather than relative

It seems like you’re confused about how position: relative works.

You’ve got:

position:relative; top:50px; left:5px;

That positions the top of the span 50 pixels below where it would have been if positioned statically, and its left edge 5 pixels to the right of where it would have been.