Total Eclipse of the Heart

Name	Total Eclipse of the Heart
Cover	Total Eclipse of the Heart - single cover.jpg
Artist	Bonnie Tyler
From album	Faster Than the Speed of Night
Released	1982
Format	7", 12"
Recorded	1982
Genre	Rock
Length	7:02 (Album version)4:30 (Single version)5:32 (Music video version)3:49 (2005 re-recording for the album Wings)
Label	Columbia
Writer	Jim Steinman
Producer	Jim Steinman
Certification	Platinum (RIAA)Gold (SNEP, BPI)
Last single	"Goodbye to the Islands"(1981)
This single	"Total Eclipse of the Heart"(1983)
Next single	"Faster Than the Speed of Night"(1983)
Upper caption	Audio sample
Audio file	Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler.ogg

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"Total Eclipse of the Heart" is a song written and produced by Jim Steinman and recorded by Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler for her fifth studio album Faster Than the Speed of Night. Released as a single in 1983, it was the first release from the album and became Tyler's biggest hit.

Background

The power ballad remains Tyler's most successful song, peaking at No. 1 in the United States, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. At its peak, it sold 60,000 copies per day, and approximately 6 million copies in total. It won the Variety Club award in the UK for best single of 1983.

According to Meat Loaf, 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 Loaf's record company refused to pay for Steinman and he wrote separate songs himself. "Total Eclipse of the Heart" was then given to Bonnie Tyler and "Making Love (Out of Nothing At All)" to Air Supply.

The song's melody originally appeared as part of the soundtrack for the 1980 film A Small Circle of Friends.

Music video

The music video for "Total Eclipse of the Heart" was directed by Russell Mulcahy. It was story-boarded by Jim Steinman and drew inspiration from the 1976 film Futureworld. The Gothic-themed video features Bonnie Tyler clad in white, apparently having a dream or fantasy about her students in a boys' boarding school. Young men are seen dancing and participating in various school activities such as swim team, karate, gymnastics, football, fencing, soccer, and singing in a choir. Among these was future Chelsea soccer player Gianfranco Zola, who featured prominently in the closing scenes. The video was shot at Holloway Sanatorium, notable for its Gothic architecture and distinguished for the multi-arched grand entrance as seen at the end of the video.

Length

The original version of the song, on Faster Than the Speed of Night, was just over seven minutes in length. Thus, an edited version was and still is most commonly played on radio. The radio version is four and a half minutes long, and removes the entire second and third verses and trims the extended fade-out ending. The music video version is roughly one minute longer than the radio version.

Personnel

Bonnie Tyler - lead vocals

Rick Derringer - guitar

Steve Buslowe - bass guitar

Roy Bittan - piano

Larry Fast - synthesizers

Steve Margoshes - additional synths

Max Weinberg - drums

Jimmy Maelen - percussion

Rory Dodd - 'Turn around' and backing vocals

Eric Troyer - backing vocals

Versions with Bonnie Tyler or Jim Steinman involvement

In December 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 peaked at #1 in France, Belgium and Poland.

Westlife recorded a cover of the song on their 2006 album The Love Album. The song would have been released as the album's second single but was cancelled due to their Love Tour conflicts, though a promo release still reached #5 on the radio charts in the Philippines. Three official remixes have been made for their version as well as a remix done by Jim Steinman, which was ultimately rejected by the record label but has surfaced on the Internet.

The song was rewritten in 1997 with lyrics by Michael Kunze as "Totale Finsternis" for the musical Tanz der Vampire.

BabyPinkStar recorded the song with Bonnie Tyler in a punk/electronic remix version that was released in the UK in January 2007.

In preparation for the 2002 Broadway, New York show Dance of the Vampires, a demo of the song, with some modifications in the music and lyric, sung as a duet by Steve Barton and Elaine Caswell became available on the internet. Barton and Cornelia Zenz had sung the German-language song "Totale Finsternis" on the original cast album for Tanz der Vampire. For each cast that performed Tanz der Vampire and each cast recording, in any language, the actors cast as Krolock and Sarah sang "Totale Finsternis." A bootleg recording with Michael Crawford and Mandy Gonzalez from the original Broadway cast is also available.

Bonnie Tyler released a new version of the song with Welsh choral group Only Men Aloud! backing her.

Charts

{| class="wikitable sortable" !Chart (1981 ) !Peakposition |- |Australian Kent Music Report |align="center"|1 |- |France Pré-Chart Era |align="center"|1 |- |Norway Charts |align="center"|1 |- |South Africa Charts |align="center"|1 |- |Irish Charts |align="center"|1 |- |Canadian RPM 100 |align="center"|1 |- |Canada Adult Contemporary |align="center"|9 |- |New Zealand Charts |align="center"|1 |- |France Infodisc (Sales + Airplay) |align="center"|3 |- |Sweden Charts |align="center"|3 |- |Swiss Charts |align="center"|3 |- |Germany Charts |align="center"|16 |- |Dutch Chart |align="center"|18 |- |UK Charts |align="center"|1 |- |US Billboard Adult Contemporary |align="center"|7 |- |US Billboard Mainstream Rock |align="center"|23 |- |US Billboard Hot 100 |align="center"|1 |- |US Cash Box Top 100 |align="center"|1 |- !Chart (2008) !Peakposition |- |Irish Charts |align="center"|32 |- |UK Charts |align="center"|57 |- !Chart (2010) !Peakposition |- |UK Charts |align="center"|94 |- !Chart (2011) !Peakposition |- |Danish Charts |align="center"|35 |}

References

Dutch Charts

Australia

Sweden

Norway

France / /

Canada

USA/

New Zealand

South Africa

Irish

UK / /

Formats and track listings

;UK 7" single # "Total Eclipse of the Heart" 4:29 # "Take Me Back" 5:05

;US 7" single # "Total Eclipse of the Heart" 4:29 # "Straight from the Heart" 3:38

;UK 12" single # "Total Eclipse of the Heart" 6:59 # "Take Me Back" 5:22

Cover versions

It has been covered several times, and rewritten with Michael Kunze for the musical Tanz der Vampire as "Totale Finsternis". The Fox TV show Glee recorded it for episode 17 of season 1, "Bad Reputation", and featured vocals from Lea Michele & Jonathan Groff.

Nicki French version

Name	Total Eclipse of the Heart
Cover	Total Eclipse of the Heart Nicki French.jpg
Artist	Nicki French
Album	Secrets
Released	February 27, 1995
Format	CD single, cassette single, 7", 12"
Recorded	1994
Genre	Dance
Label	Bags of Fun, Love This, Mega
Producer	Nicki French
Certification	Gold (RIAA) and garnered frequent airplay on CHR and AC radio. It also reached No. 5 in the UK Singles Chart after being re-issued in 1995. In June 2006, French released a refreshed version of the track in collaboration with the Diva DJs.
Years	1 July 1983 – 22 July 1983}}

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Category:1980s ballads Category:1982 singles Category:1995 singles Category:Bonnie Tyler songs Category:Rock ballads Category:Westlife songs Category:Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Category:Billboard Pop Songs number-one singles Category:Irish Singles Chart number-one singles Category:Number-one singles in Australia Category:Number-one singles in New Zealand Category:Number-one singles in Norway Category:RPM Top Singles number-one singles Category:UK Singles Chart number-one singles Category:Songs produced by Jim Steinman Category:Songs written by Jim Steinman Category:Music videos directed by Russell Mulcahy Category:Dance-pop songs Category:Pop ballads