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The vampire story behind Bonnie Tyler’s hit, 'Total Eclipse of the Heart'

Full name
11 Jan 2022
5 min read
Question: the biggest hit of bonnie tyler's career was 1983's "total eclipse _________":

Originally written by longtime Meat Loaf collaborator Jim Steinman as vampire love song for a musical version of Nosferatu, the fangs of 1983’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” remain deeply entrenched in the ears of music fans as one of the decade’s most endearing, enduring and theatrical rock ballads; akin to Loaf’s success, the song feels as much about stage as it does sound.

Sung by Welsh-born Bonnie Tyler and highlighting her fifth studio album, Faster Than the Speed of Night, the tune topped the U.S. charts for four weeks in October of ’83, and has, in the decades’ since, sold better than six million albums worldwide.

With its slow, bubbling, dramatic crescendo complemented by Tyler’s brusque, raspy voice (a result of a throat operation she had seven years’ prior), the song’s full, original version – which appears on the album -- vamps on for over seven minutes, but was eventually shorted to around four-and-a-half minutes for radio play; the dramatic, shadowy video version (highlighted by the singer’s super ‘80’s full-on blonde coif), however, rolls on for nearly six minutes.  

Featuring a stellar supporting musical cast – including the likes of E Street Band’s Roy Bittan on piano – the tune steadily builds with its “Turn around . . .” fill-in background vocal accompaniment, before eventually finding full-on shower singing power with Tyler’s initial belt out of “And I need you now tonight,” before achieving full-on ballad steam with “We’re living in a powder keg and giving off sparks” in the song’s penultimate stanza.

As part of the tune’s cyclical and effective use of drama, Tyler’s mellowed, come-back-to-Earth final post-chorus verse, “Once upon a time I was falling in love, Now I’m only falling apart,” closes the ballad with a seemingly-needed post-power breath for both singer and listener alike.

For Tyler, the ‘80’s success found instant segue with her not dissimilar, momentum-building “Holding Out for a Hero,” which is counted among the most potent contributions to the celebrated Footloose soundtrack; for writer and composer Steinman, the vampire vision and version of “Total Eclipse” did see the stage for which it was originally intended, compliments of the musical, Dance of the Vampire.