Alas, Bonnie Tyler passed away this week at the age of 75.
“Total Eclipse of the Heart” was one of my first favorite songs as an adolescent. It was so much.
This was back when I had to hope the radio would play the song you loved while I was listening, and before the days where maybe I could record it (badly) on a cassette.
Or you bought the whole album, but it was 1983. I was under 10 and didn’t have my own album-buying money.
But wow, this song was everywhere for a time, including in my brain. (I apologize in advance for the earworms).
This week: the Literal Video of “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” written by dascottjr, and sung by PersephoneMaewyn
Friday Videos hope your weekend brings you “a dim-lit shot of dangling balls!”
I remember the first time I heard Total Eclipse of the heart and thinking she wrote that song specifically for me. But I was also slightly dramatic at the time.
The literal version is funny, “and they shouldn’t fence at night”😂.
Loved Bonnie Tyler.
Of course I had to listen to the Choir! Choir! Choir! version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIsr1uu2wHk
But don’t sleep on ‘Holding Out for a Hero’! Although my favorite version has to be the Fairy Godmother in Shrek II . . .
And let’s not forget her other power ballad, “It’s A Heartache”. Bonnie knew how to bring the angst, and, as an angst queen myself, I fully approve.
“Mullet with headlights…over surprised guy…”
This would be my karaoke song, if I had the guts to do karaoke.
I read on Threads yesterday that this song is about vampires. I never picked up on that, but I love the glowing eyes and cheesy dance moves. It’s a classic that I will always turn up and sing along loudly with when I am in the car.
I knew it was in a vampire musical in the late 90s but not that that was the original intention. But according to this Wikipedia article, Jim Steinman wrote it while working on a Nosferatu show and reused it in Tanz der Vampire because he needed something about vampires and he needed it fast.
That was silly and fun and poignant. Thank you.
“Ringo Starr” made me giggle snort. Thank you for this. I loved Bonnie’s raspy voice.
I finally watched this today and a) remembered how amazingly funny it is, b) sent it to a bunch of people who also loved it, including my husband who went off in gales of laughter, and c) went down the rabbit hole of Jim Steinman, who wrote Total Eclipse, but also I Would Do Anything for Love by Meatloaf and It’s All Coming Back to Me Now by Celine Dion. Those music videos are all truly excellent camp.
My first Bonnie Tyler song was “It’s a Heartache.”
Bonnie was brilliant. That original video was so bizarre. I wouldn’t say the literal version is actually more *peculiar,* because that’s a very high bar to clear, but it is extremely funny. Thanks for the memories.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJOo67DtZAY&list=RDrJOo67DtZAY&start_radio=1
One of my fave Bonnie videos and obscure in her canon; pure 80’s cheese!
We desperately wanted a recording of Total Eclipse of the Heart, and were listening to a “best of” countdown one night, knowing it would be in there somewhere, and finally it came on and we started recording it. And then the guy my best friend had a crush on tripped over the cord and unplugged the boombox.
So then we sent a letter (!) to the radio station and asked them to play it on a night when we were having a party. And they didn’t, but they read our letter and played it the NEXT night, and thankfully we heard it and were able to record it (including half of our letter being read on air). I probably still have this cassette somewhere.