Total Eclipse Of The Heart

Album

Manna

Label

Columbia Records

Genre

Power Pop

Composer(s)

Jim Steinman

Entered Chart

Jul 16, 1983

Peak Date

Oct 1, 1983

Released

11 February 1983 (UK) 12 June 1983 (US)

Recorded

1982[3] Studio Power Station, New York City[3]

Catalog #

Columbia 38-03906

B-Side

Straight from the Heart"

"Total Eclipse Of The Heart" was written and produced by Jim Steinman, whose songs were always passionate, often opulent, and sometimes perplexing. This one is all three. Steinman rarely divulged the meaning behind his lyrics, but he did say this one was a tribute to the 1922 vampire film Nosferatu, an adaptation of the Dracula story. This helps explain the "love in the dark" that permeates the song. The singer is on edge, at times lonely, nervous, and terrified. She calls out for her lover, ready to join him in a forever that may be more than metaphorical (vampires are immortal). When he comes for her, it's a total eclipse of the heart. Forever starts tonight. Jim Steinman wrote all of Meat Loaf's hits, including "Paradise By The Dashboard Light," "Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad." According to an October 26, 2006 article in the Australian newspaper The Herald Sun, he first offered this song, along with "Making Love Out Of Nothing At All," to Meat Loaf for his 1983 album Midnight At The Lost And Found. For financial reasons, Meat's record company wanted him to write his own songs for the album, so "Total Eclipse" went to Tyler and "Making Love Out Of Nothing At All" went to Air Supply. Bonnie Tyler, from Swansea, Wales, was best known at the time for her 1977 hit "It's A Heartache." Jim Steinman thought her distinctive raspy voice was the perfect vessel for "Total Eclipse Of The Heart." "It sounded so sensual but so ravaged," he said on the ITV program Smash. "It sounded heroic that she could sing at all." The song was a huge worldwide hit, topping the charts in America, the UK, South Africa, and several other territories. This was thoroughly unexpected, for two reasons: 1) Bonnie Tyler hadn't had a significant hit since "It's A Heartache." 2) It's very long, with the album version running 6:51 and the radio edit going 5:31. These handicaps became assets. Tyler was a fresh voice, and the song has lots of dynamics, making it very memorable. Remarkably, a decade later, Steinman landed another global smash with a similarly long and unusual song: Meat Loaf's "I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)." The distinctive "Turn around, bright eyes" backup vocals were sung by the male vocalist Rory Dodd, who has appeared on many of Jim Steinman's productions and sang backup on albums by Carly Simon, Barry Manilow, Barbra Streisand, Lou Reed and many others. The gothic video, with Bonnie Tyler clad all in white, was story-boarded by Jim Steinman and was inspired by the film Future World, the follow-up to the Yul Brunner futuristic thriller Westworld. It was filmed at Holloway Asylum, which was built by a doctor out of the proceeds of a drug he'd invented to help his patients. The video was directed by Russell Mulcahy, who worked on many of the early videos for Elton John, Billy Joel and Fleetwood Mac. He says that the scene where a shirtless young boy throws a dove into the camera - which was Steinman's idea - earned him the wrath of Tyler. Mulcahy said in the book I Want My MTV: "Bonnie came around the corner and screamed, in her Welch accent, 'You're nothing but a f--king pre-vert!' And she stormed off. There was nothing perverse intended." The full-length album version includes this verse: Every now and then I know you'll never be the boy you always wanted to be But every now and then I know you'll always be the only boy who wanted me the way that I am Every now and then I know there's no one in the universe as magical and wondrous as you Every now and then I know there's nothing any better, there's nothing that I just wouldn't do When this hit #1 in America, Bonnie Tyler became the first Welsh artist to top the chart there, something her countryman Tom Jones never did. Drummer Max Weinberg and keyboardist Roy Bittan, who are both members of Bruce Springsteen's E Street band, played on the track. So did Rick Derringer, a guitarist who was a member of The McCoys ("Hang On Sloopy") and had a hit on his own with "Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo." It was recorded at the Power Station in New York City. Tyler was gobsmacked when she saw Meat Loaf perform "Bat Out Of Hell" on the BBC music series The Old Grey Whistle Test. When she signed with Sony, the label asked her who she'd like to work with. She replied: "Whoever writes for Meat Loaf." According to Tyler, Meat was miffed when she took the tune to #1, claiming the song should have been his. But, she added, Steinman had only started writing the song for Meat but finished it for her. "Total Eclipse" hit #1 in the US on October 1, 1983. The for the next three weeks, it retained the top spot while another Jim Steinman composition - "Making Love Out Of Nothing At All" by Air Supply - stayed at #2, never reaching the summit. At least one writer came up with the headline "Total Eclipse Of The Charts." Many movies and TV shows have used this song over the years. A memorable use is in the 1998 movie Urban Legends, which opens with a decapitation as the song plays. Other movies to use it include: Party Monster (2003) Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004) Lost Islands (2008) Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel (2009) Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2010) Austenland (2013) Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip (2015) Trolls (2016) Stage Mother (2020) TV shows to use it include: Fame ("Fame Looks at Music '83" - 1984) Futurama ("Amazon Women in the Mood" - 2001) Cold Case ("Gleen" - 2003) Nip/Tuck ("Dr. Joshua Lee" - 2007) Criminal Minds ("Unknown Subject" - 2012) Grey's Anatomy ("Take It Back" - 2014, "Get Up, Stand Up" - 2013) One Day at a Time ("Hurricane Victor" - 2017) Modern Family ("Lake Life" - 2017) Better Call Saul ("Winner" - 2018) Stranger Things ("Chapter Seven: The Bite" - 2019) In 1995, a dance version by the British singer Nicki French reached #2 in the US and #5 in the UK. In 2003, a version by Jan Wayne reached #28 in the UK. Ever wonder how Bonnie Tyler got that raspy voice? After years of singing in nightclubs in Wales, she developed throat nodules and required surgery in 1976. After the operation, her voice developed the distinctive rasp you hear on this song. Tyler earned a Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for this song, and performed it at the ceremony in 1984. She lost to Irena Cara's "Flashdance... What a Feeling." A wedding band sings a surprisingly vulgar version of this song in the 2003 movie Old School. It was performed by The Dan Band, which is a real group specializing in obscene versions of songs made popular by female singers. >> Jim Steinman's love of vampires came full circle when he reworked the 1967 musical Dance Of The Vampires in 1997. His production included a German-language version of "Total Eclipse Of The Heart" called "Totale Finsternis." "Total Eclipse Of The Heart" plays a major role in the 2001 movie Bandits. Cate Blanchett's character loves the song, describing it as "The ultimate haiku to the complexity of love." She soon finds out that Bruce Willis' character also loves the song, and their relationship develops. The song was performed in the Glee episode "Bad Reputation" on May 8, 2010. The subsequent single release debuted at #16 on the Hot 100 with 134,000 digital sales. Out of all the Glee singles, only the cast's debut effort, "Don't Stop Believin'," has registered a bigger sales week-177,000 in its first seven days. This featured in a much talked about 2012 ad-campaign for the Australian bank Westpac in which Tyler walks across water as she sings the song at a wedding. "Total Eclipse Of The Heart" gets a bump in streaming every time there is an actual eclipse. On August 21, 2017, Tyler performed the song (backed by DNCE) onboard Royal Caribbean's Total Eclipse Cruise, which was positioned at an optimal point for viewing. This song was used in a Kia commercial that aired during the Super Bowl in 2022. In the spot, a robot dog is taken in by the owner of a Kia electric vehicle.

(Turn around) Every now and then I get a little bit lonely
And you're never coming 'round
(Turn around) Every now and then I get a little bit tired
Of listening to the sound of my tears
(Turn around) Every now and then I get a little bit nervous
That the best of all the years have gone by
(Turn around) Every now and then I get a little bit terrified
And then I see the look in your eyes
(Turn around, bright eyes) Every now and then I fall apart
(Turn around, bright eyes) Every now and then I fall apart

And I need you now tonight
And I need you more than ever
And if you only hold me tight
We'll be holding on forever
And we'll only be making it right
'Cause we'll never be wrong
Together we can take it to the end of the line
Your love is like a shadow on me all of the time (all of the time)
I don't know what to do and I'm always in the dark
We're living in a powder keg and giving off sparks
I really need you tonight
Forever's gonna start tonight
Forever's gonna start tonight

Once upon a time I was falling in love
But now I'm only falling apart
There's nothing I can do
A total eclipse of the heart
Once upon a time there was light in my life
But now there's only love in the dark
Nothing I can say
A total eclipse of the heart

(Turn around, bright eyes) Every now and then I fall apart
(Turn around, bright eyes) Every now and then I fall apart

And I need you now tonight (and I need you now)
And I need you more than ever
And if you only hold me tight (if you only)
We'll be holding on forever
And we'll only be making it right (and we'll never)
'Cause we'll never be wrong
Together we can take it to the end of the line
Your love is like a shadow on me all of the time (all of the time)
I don't know what to do, I'm always in the dark
We're living in a powder keg and giving off sparks
I really need you tonight
Forever's gonna start tonight
Forever's gonna start tonight

Once upon a time I was falling in love
But now I'm only falling apart
Nothing I can say
A total eclipse of the heart
A total eclipse of the heart
A total eclipse of the heart
Turn around, bright eyes