Total Eclipse of the Heart
| "Total Eclipse of the Heart" | ||||||||||||
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| Single by
Bonnie Tyler from the album Faster Than the Speed of Night |
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| Released | 1983 | |||||||||||
| Format | 7" | |||||||||||
| Genre | Power ballad, Wagnerian Rock | |||||||||||
| Writer | Jim Steinman | |||||||||||
| Producer | Jim Steinman | |||||||||||
| Bonnie Tyler singles chronology | ||||||||||||
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"Total Eclipse of the Heart" is a power ballad written, edited, composed, and produced by Jim Steinman. It was originally performed by Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler in 1983. It has been covered several times, and rewritten (with Michael Kunze) for the musical Tanz der Vampire as "Totale Finsternis".
Charts
It is probably Steinman's most successful commercial composition to date and Bonnie Tyler's most successful song, going to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States and number one in Canada, Australia and the UK singles chart. At its peak, it sold 60,000 copies per day, and approximately 5-6 million copies in total, and was number one throughout (almost) the entire world charts according to Bonnie Tyler's greatest hits manual.
Tyler's career reached new heights with this release and put her in the history books as the only Welsh artist to hit the number-one slot in the U.S Billboard magazine charts.
Steinman had given the song, along with "Making Love (Out of Nothing At All)", to Meat Loaf for his Midnight at the Lost and Found album. However, Meat's record company refused to pay for Steinman and he wrote the songs himself. Steinman's songs were then given to Bonnie Tyler and Air Supply.[1]
Chart positions of cover versions
See infobox (right) for the positions of the original)
UK #54.
- 1995, Nicki French
Australia #2,[1] Spain #1, Brazil #1, Hong Kong #1, Canada #1, Israel #1, Japan #1[citation needed], United States #2, United Kingdom #5, The Netherlands #10, Ireland #15, Germany #65.
Germany #13, Austria #6.
- 2003, Jan Wayne.
UK #28.
- 2003, Bonnie Tyler/Kareen Antonn (French/English version).
France #25
- 2004, Bonnie Tyler/Kareen Antonn (French/English version).
France #1, Belgium #1, Poland #1, Swiss #7, Russia #155, Eurocharts #3, World Singles Charts #9.
- 2006, Nikki French/Diva DJs
UK #168
Length
The song appears on Tyler's 1983
Music video
The video was directed by Russell Mulcahy. The video opens in a room decorated to resemble the set of a stereotypical 1980s soap opera, with rows of burning candles and dramatic white lighting. Bonnie Tyler herself is dressed like a stereotypical Soap Opera actress. For the first several moments of the video Tyler stares out a window into the night; the image of a teenage boy with glowing white orbs in place of his eyes entering her bedroom prompts her to run into the hall. As Tyler progresses through the building, her surroundings become increasingly surreal:
- A group of teenage school boys in prep school uniforms, seated at their desks with their ties slightly loosened, as a breeze causes their white dress shirts to billow open and reveal their bare chests.
- A little boy on a throne with bird's wings opens his hands to release a dove, which flies towards Tyler
- Tyler passes by a room filled with nude teenage boys, who are then replaced by members of a high school swim team, who are themselves then splashed with water from offscreen
- A trio of Ninjas dance onscreen, wielding samurai swords, and mock-battle one another
- Tyler finds five teenage boys in tuxedos sitting at a banquet table in the middle of a ballroom; they all raise their glasses in toast
- The camera abruptly cuts to a shot of two men fencing
- A pair of men dressed like male Russian ballerinas do backflips across the screen
- Football players allign on opposite sides of a line of scrimmage while a man in leotards bounces up and down in the background
- Numerous teenage boys wearing Ray-Ban wayfarers, dressed
like
greasers , dance up a flight of glowing stairs in imitation of West Side Story, all of them reaching towards Tyler, who is standing above them on a balcony
- A quartet of football players dive onscreen, dance, and then abruptly dive back offscreen
When the instrumental portion begins halfway through the song, the focus of the video switches from Tyler to a series of shots of the building's hallways, as doors burst open to reveal white light flooding out and red, filmy curtains blowing in the wind. These shots are intercut with a variety of other images including:
- A shirtless, muscular boy does a cartwheel across the screen in slow-motion
- A different muscular boy, dripping wet, drags his hair back while staring at the camera
- The boys in tuxedos begin throwing food at one another and otherwise trashing their table and one another
- A fencer, played by Andrew Clay, slowly pulls off his mask, stopping when it reaches his nose
- The boys in tuxedos continue trashing their table
- A fencer slowly pulls off his mask to allow a rush of water to cascade down his face
When the instrumental segment ends, Bonnie Tyler is shown entering a fog-filled room; dozens of Choir boys with glowing white eyes rise up from the floor like zombies and begin singing in unison while beckoning to Tyler. After a few lines, one of them levitates and flies towards Tyler. When he lands in front of her, the image abruptly cuts to a child in a business suit staring at the camera, followed by a shot of numerous boys dressed as Tarzan running up a flight of stairs to meet and dance around Bonnie Tyler. The remainder of the video comprises montages of the boys dressed like Tarzan (who are later joined by a few teenage boys in S&M gear) gyrating around Tyler, intercut with shots of the glowing-eyed choir boys levitating and spinning around Tyler, and close-up shots of boys in neckties and dress shirts singing. At the conclusion of the song, an angel—a teenage boy in briefs with giant wings growing out of his back—wraps his arms around a crying Tyler.
The video ultimately concludes in a largely non-surrealist scene on the steps of a private school, in a denouement indicating that Tyler's character is one of the teachers. As Tyler and her husband inspect the graduating class, Tyler and several boys exchange glances; the last boy she approaches takes her hand and refuses to let go, and sings the song's final line ("Turn around, bright eyes"), revealing that his eyes have been replaced with glowing white orbs. Tyler remains in place while the boys make their way past her into the school. She eventually follows them into the school
The meaning behind the video is that Tyler's character is fantasizing about her students, which is the reason for the numerous beefcake images. It so happens that last night's fantasies were, in fact real.[2]
Musicians
- Bonnie Tyler - lead vocals
- Rick Derringer - guitar
- Steve Buslowe - bass guitar
- Roy Bittan - piano
- Larry Fast - synthesizers
- Steve Margoshes - additional keyboards
- Max Weinberg - drums
- Jimmy Mealen - percussion
- Rory Dodd - 'Turn around' and backing vocals
- Eric Troyer - backing vocals
Reception
In November 2002, it was voted the #72 in "The Greatest Number Ones Of All Time" in UK. Also in the UK, the video was voted #94 in "Greatest Music Video Of All Time" poll held by Channel 4.[citation needed] In October, 2006, VH1: 100 Greatest Songs of the 80s included "Total Eclipse of the Heart' at #56.[citation needed] Much More Music aired a 4 episode series in 2006 titled Top 50 Guilty Pleasures and listed it at #9.[citation needed]
Cover versions
Versions with Bonnie Tyler or Jim Steinman involvement
- In December of 2003, a re-recorded (French/English) duet version called "Si Demain (Turn Around)" was released. It was sung by Bonnie Tyler and Kareen Antonn, and went to number one in France, Belgium and Poland, selling two millions copies all over world.[2]
- In October 2004, Australian tenor Peter Brocklehurst recorded this as a duet with Bonnie Tyler on his album For You. [3]
- In 2005, Bonnie Tyler recorded an edited version for the album Wings, the album charted at No. 133 in French top 200 album charts.
- September 2006,
Lucy Lawless duet with Bonnie Tyler TEOTH in Celebrity Duets. - Westlife has recorded the song for their new album, The Love Album. (A version remixed by Jim Steinman, but ultimately rejected by the record label, has surfaced on the Internet.)
- The song has also been rewritten for the musical Tanz der Vampire.
- BabyPinkStar has together with Bonnie Tyler recorded the song in a new punk/electronic-remixversion that was released in the UK in January 2007.
- March, 2007, Bonnie Tyler From The Heart greatest hits, incl. "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and "Si Demain (Turn Around)", charted at #2 in Ireland, #31 in UK and #74 European top 100 album charts.
Versions by Nicki French
Nicki French released a dance remake of the song in 1994, which was also a worldwide hit. In the U.S., French's version was a number two Hot 100 hit and garnered frequent airplay on CHR and AC radio.
In June 2006 Nicki French released an updated version of the track along with the Diva DJs, the track not charted in the UK top 75, but is due for release in USA, Germany and Austria.
Talent TV show versions
The song has been performed numerous times on television talent contest shows.
Nikki McKibbin performed a cover of this song during the semifinal round on the first season of American Idol. Jessica Sierra performed this song during season 4 and also released the song on the season's compilation CD titled The Showstoppers.
The Conway Sisters performed a rendition of this song on the UK show The X Factor. Nathalie Schmeikal performed the song in Idol 2004. She later recorded the song for the compilation CD Det Bästa Från Idol 2004.
Other versions
- The song is a longstanding staple for cult-favorite cabaret performers Kiki and Herb. Usually performed as a show-closer, their cover incorporates the opening verse of
Pat Benatar 's hit, "Love is a Battlefield". A recorded version of this cover can be found on Kiki and Herb Will Die for You: Live at Carnegie Hall. - Experimental Norwegian rockers Hurra Torpedo did a cover version of the song on the Norwegian television programme Lille lørdag ("Little Saturday") in 1995 . A video of this performance, featuring kitchen appliances as percussion, became an internet meme in 2005 . Since the video the band has found a strong following in the United States.
- At the end of 2001 it was a European dance hit by Jan Wayne.
- There is a popular anti-drug skit based on this song, called the "Turnaround Skit."[3]
- On 21 August 2005, Tori
Amos covered the song during a live performance in
Boston . It is featured on the album Official Bootlegs, Volume 6: B of A Pavilion, Boston, MA, CD 1, Track 8. - The song was released in Icelandic in 2005, entitled "Mundu mig" ("Remember Me") by Icelandic Idol star Heiða.
- On The Beta Band's self titled album in 1999, they offer a unique adaptation of the song during "The Hard One." The chorus is changed to "Once upon a time I was falling apart, now I'm always falling in love."
- An infamous profanity-laced version by The Dan Band. Two versions of this song are included on the album The Dan Band Live- a studio version and a live version. The Dan Band shot to fame by performing their version of this song in the film Old School.
- Jason Anderson covers this song as of 2006.
- Lissette performed a cover of this song in 1985 in Spanish called "Eclipse Total del Amor".
- In the "Tundra" episode in the first series of The Mighty Boosh Dixon Bainbridge (Matt Berry) and Bob Fossil (Rich Fulcher) perform an over the top, and (somewhat in keeping with the nature of the series) surreal version.
- In the episode "Amazon Women in the Mood" of the animated television show Futurama, the alien Kif Kroker performs a karaoke version of the song, singing it to Amy before Zapp takes over to sing "Lola" by The Kinks.
- Guster covered the song on their Satellite EP.
- In the film Thunderstruck the four protagonists have a tense moment, upon which one asks if anyone still want to turn around and another begins to sing quietly. The others join in and sing the song in alternating bass and falsetto voices.
- In 2005 this song was covered by the duet Zap Kan (Zapór & Kanti) from Poland.
- Amateur Transplants used the melody for their Anaesthetists Hymn
Awards
RIAA - USA.
- Gold 10/03/1983
- Platinum 09/18/2001
- Gold 06/14/1995
British Phonographic Industry BPI - UK.
Bonnie Tyler
- Silver 03/01/1983
- Gold 03/01/1983
Nicki French
- Silver 1995
SNEP[4] Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique - France.
Bonnie Tyler
- Silver 1983
- Gold 1983
Bonnie Tyler & Kareen Antonn (french version).
Si Demain (turn around)
- Silver 05/04/2004
- Gold 05/04/2004
- Platinum 05/04/2004
| Preceded by "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson |
UK number one
single March 8 1983 |
Succeeded by "Is There Something I Should Know" by Duran Duran |
| Preceded by "Tell Her About It" by Billy Joel |
Billboard Hot 100
number one single October 1 1983- October 22 1983 |
Succeeded by "Islands in the Stream" by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton |
References
- ^ Adams, Cameron. "Meat Loaf's a Hell raiser", Herald Sun. Retrieved on 2006-10-26.
- ^ Pop-Up Video
- ^ Description of the Turnaround Skit; Photos of the Turnaround Skit
External links
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