Total Eclipse of the Heart

"Total Eclipse of the Heart"
Single by Bonnie Tyler
from the album Faster Than the Speed of Night
Released	11 February 1983
Format	7", 12"
Recorded	1982
Genre	Soft rock, pop, adult contemporary
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(s)	Jim Steinman
Producer	Jim Steinman
Certification	Platinum (RIAA) Gold (SNEP, BPI)
Bonnie Tyler singles chronology
"Goodbye to the Islands" (1981) "Total Eclipse of the Heart" (1983) "Faster Than the Speed of Night" (1983) Audio sample file info · help

"Total Eclipse of the Heart" is the title of 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 reaching number one in several countries including the United States, making her the first and, to date, only Welsh singer to reach the top of the Billboard Charts.

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. The song also made number 82 of VH1's top 100 love songs.

According to Meat Loaf, Steinman had given the song, along with "Making Love (Out of Nothing At All)", to Meat Loaf for his album Midnight at the Lost and Found; 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. 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, and contains the second verse.

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
• Bryan Adams - 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.
• In 2010, Tyler appeared in a television advertisement for MasterCard called "Neville" singing a parody of "Total Eclipse of the Heart".

Charts

Chart (1983)	Peak position
Australian Kent Music Report	1
France Pré-Chart Era	1
Norway Charts	1
South Africa Charts	1
Irish Charts	1
Canadian RPM 100	1
Canada Adult Contemporary	9
New Zealand Charts	1
France Infodisc (Sales + Airplay)	3
Sweden Charts	3
Swiss Charts	3
Germany Charts	16
Dutch Chart	18
UK Charts	1
U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary	7
U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock	23
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	1
Chart (2008)	Peak position
Irish Charts	32
UK Charts	57
Chart (2010)	Peak position
UK Charts	94
Chart (2011)	Peak position
Danish Charts[1]	35
Billboard Digital Tracks[2]	157

Chart successions

Preceded by "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson	UK Singles Chart number-one single 12 March 1983 – 19 March 1983	Succeeded by "Is There Something I Should Know?" by Duran Duran
	Irish Singles Chart number-one single 13 March 1983 – 27 March 1983	Succeeded by "Let's Dance" by David Bowie
Preceded by "I Was Only Nineteen" by Redgum	Australian Kent Music Report number-one single 30 May 1983 – 4 July 1983	Succeeded by "Flashdance... What a Feeling" by Irene Cara
Preceded by "Beat It" by Michael Jackson	New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart number-one single 1 July 1983 – 22 July 1983
Preceded by "White Wedding" by Billy Idol	Canadian RPM number-one single 13 August 1983 – 20 August 1983	Succeeded by "Our House" by Madness
Preceded by "Tell Her About It" by Billy Joel	Billboard Hot 100 number-one single 1 October 1983 – 22 October 1983	Succeeded by "Islands in the Stream" by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton

Formats and track listings

UK 7" single

1. "Total Eclipse of the Heart" 4:29
2. "Take Me Back" 5:05

US 7" single

1. "Total Eclipse of the Heart" 4:29
2. "Straight from the Heart" 3:38

UK 12" single

1. "Total Eclipse of the Heart" 6:59
2. "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

"Total Eclipse of the Heart"
Single by Nicki French
from the 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	Mike Stock Matt Aitken
Certification	Gold (RIAA) Silver (BPI)
Nicki French singles chronology
- "Total Eclipse of the Heart" (1995) "For All We Know" (1995)

Nicki French released a dance cover of the song in early 1995, which was also a worldwide hit. In the United States, French's version peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 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.

Charts

Peak positions

Chart (1995)	Peak position
Australian Singles Chart	2
Belgian (Flanders) Singles Chart	14
Canadian RPM Top Singles	16
Canadian RPM Dance	1
Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary	17
Dutch Singles Chart	10
New Zealand Singles Chart	13
UK Singles Chart	5
U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary	20
U.S. Billboard Top 40 Mainstream	1
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	2
U.S. Billboard Rhythmic 40	12
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play	37

End of year charts

End of year chart (1995)	Position
Canada Dance (RPM)	7
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	19

Chart successions

Preceded by "Boom Boom Boom" by The Outhere Brothers

Canadian RPM Dance chart number-one single August 7, 1995 - August 14, 1995 (2 weeks)

Succeeded by "Be My Lover" by La Bouche

Other versions

• Covered by The Dan Band in the film Old School.
• The song and its video were parodied in 2009, in what the fans and makers call a "literal video version", which replaces the original song lyrics with humorous lyrics describing the images in the video. Time magazine listed it as the 6th best viral video of 2009.
• Pop-punk band Straight Outta Junior High covered the song on their 2004 album Kiss of Deaf.
• Lin Yu Chun performed it with William Shatner on an episode of Lopez Tonight.
• The American rock band The Protomen have performed the song at various live shows.
• The Italian version "Eclissi del cuore" was re-recorded by L'Aura with Nek and was released as a single in October 2011, reaching #5 on the Italian Singles Chart.