Editing Total Eclipse of the Heart (section)

==Background and composition==
After her contract with [[RCA Records]] ended in 1981, Tyler found a new manager in David Aspden. After seeing [[Meat Loaf]] perform "[[Bat Out of Hell (song)|Bat Out of Hell]]" live on ''[[The Old Grey Whistle Test]]'', she approached Meat Loaf's writer, [[Jim Steinman]], and asked him to be her producer.<ref name="RW">{{cite magazine|first= Roger |last= Wolmuth |title= 'One-Hit Wonder' Bonnie Tyler Resumes Her Singing Career with a 'Total Eclipse' of the Chart |magazine= [[People (magazine)|People]] |volume= 20 |issue= 21 |date= 21 November 1983 |access-date= 14 June 2013 |url= http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20198439,00.html |archive-date= 8 June 2009 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090608120512/http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20198439,00.html}}</ref> Tyler aimed to create an album utilizing the [[Wall of Sound]] production techniques of [[Phil Spector]], and she believed that Steinman was the only person who could still create the same sound as Spector had mostly retired from the music business.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Clark |first1=Dick |title=Bonnie Tyler aims for 'total eclipse' of charts |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1665&dat=19830920&id=CWZPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=VCQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6160,2695215 |access-date=9 February 2022 |work=The Times-News |date=20 September 1983}}</ref> Tyler visited Steinman in his apartment in New York in April 1982 with her manager, where she was presented with two tracks: "[[Have You Ever Seen the Rain?]]" and "Goin' Through the Motions". She stated that had she not liked the songs Steinman played for her, he would have rejected Tyler's invitation to collaborate.<ref name="RW"/> She returned to his studio apartment weeks later, where Steinman and [[Rory Dodd]] performed "Total Eclipse of the Heart" for her. Steinman also hand-picked the recording band for the song, which included Dodd as a featured vocalist (the "Turn around..." refrain).<ref>{{cite AV media notes|first= Patrick |last= Humphries |title= Ravishing - The Best Of |year= 2009 |type= CD booklet |page= 1 |publisher= [[Sony Music Entertainment]] |location= London |id= In "Ravishing - The Best Of"}}</ref>

The lyric "Turn around, bright eyes" had originally appeared in Steinman's 1969 college musical ''The Dream Engine''.<ref>{{cite web|first= Bill |last= Sweet |title= "Turn Around, Bright Eyes," as You've Never Heard It Before |publisher= [[Amherst College]] |date= 10 June 2019 |access-date= 18 October 2020 |url= https://www.amherst.edu/news/news_releases/2019/6-2019/-turn-around-bright-eyes-as-you-ve-never-heard-it-before}}</ref> Steinman had originally written the song's verse melody for his score to the 1980 film ''[[A Small Circle of Friends]]''.<ref>{{cite web|first= Tom |last= Breihan |title= The Number Ones: Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart" |website= [[Stereogum]] |date= 27 July 2020 |access-date= 18 October 2020 |url= https://www.stereogum.com/2092526/the-number-ones-bonnie-tylers-total-eclipse-of-the-heart/franchises/columns/the-number-ones/}}</ref>

"Total Eclipse of the Heart" had to be shortened for radio play. Tyler did not believe that the song was radio-friendly at its full length; the song was reduced from seven minutes and two seconds to four minutes and thirty seconds.<ref>{{cite AV media notes|first= Michael |last= Heatley |title= The Collection |year= 2013 |type= CD booklet |page= 3 |publisher= [[Demon Music Group]] |location= London |id= In "The Collection"}}</ref>

The [[power ballad]]<ref>{{cite news|first= Alice |last= Vincent |title= The 21 best power ballads |newspaper= [[The Daily Telegraph]] |date= 7 May 2017 |access-date= 26 July 2017 |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/what-to-listen-to/21-best-power-ballads/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/what-to-listen-to/21-best-power-ballads/ |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live}}{{cbignore}}</ref> became Tyler's highest-charting song in several countries, peaking at No. 1 in the United States, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United Kingdom. At its peak, it sold 60,000 copies per day and approximately 6 million copies in total.<ref name="BBC"/> It won the [[Variety, the Children's Charity|Variety Club]] award in the UK for best recording artist of 1983.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DcFAAAAAIBAJ&dq=awards+bonnie+tyler&pg=PA10&article_id=5631,1467693|title=Wayne Sleep dances off with a top award|publisher=The Glasgow Herald|date=8 February 1984|access-date= 14 June 2023}}</ref> The song also made number 82 of VH1's top 100 love songs.
{{Listen
|pos         = right
|filename    = Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler.ogg
|title       = "Total Eclipse of the Heart"
|description = A sample of "Total Eclipse of the Heart", performed by Bonnie Tyler.
}}
Tyler told ''[[Record Mirror]]'' that she thought the song was about "someone who wants to love so badly she's lying there in complete darkness."<ref>{{cite magazine|first= John |last= Shearlaw |title= Bonnie voyage |magazine= [[Record Mirror]] |date= 12 March 1983 |page= 8}}</ref>

Steinman said in an interview with ''[[Playbill]]'' about the inclusion of the song in his 1997 musical ''[[Dance of the Vampires (musical)|Dance of the Vampires]]'':<blockquote>with 'Total Eclipse of the Heart', I was trying to come up with a love song and I remembered I actually wrote that to be a vampire love song. Its original title was 'Vampires in Love' because I was working on a musical of ''[[Nosferatu]]'', the other great vampire story. If anyone listens to the lyrics, they're really like vampire lines. It's all about the darkness, the power of darkness and love's place in the dark...<ref>{{cite magazine|first= Ernio |last= Hernandez |title= Rando, Steinman Talk About Dance of the Vampires at Press Preview, Sept. 18 |magazine= [[Playbill]] |date= 18 September 2002 |access-date= 19 August 2014 |url= http://www.playbill.com/news/article/72168-Rando-Steinman-Talk-About-Dance-of-the-Vampires-at-Press-Preview-Sept-18 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140313031549/http://www.playbill.com/news/article/72168-Rando-Steinman-Talk-About-Dance-of-the-Vampires-at-Press-Preview-Sept-18 |archive-date= 13 March 2014}}</ref></blockquote>He also told ''[[People (magazine)|People]]'' that he thought Tyler sounded like [[John Fogerty]] and wrote the song "to be a showpiece for her voice."<ref name="AmericanSongwriterReview">{{cite magazine|first= Jim |last= Beviglia |title= Bonnie Tyler, "Total Eclipse of the Heart" |magazine= [[American Songwriter]] |date= 24 February 2014 |access-date= 25 February 2014 |url= http://www.americansongwriter.com/2014/02/bonnie-tyler-total-eclipse-heart/}}</ref> Tyler described the song as "a challenge [to sing]," stating that she "[doesn't] like songs that anybody can sing. I like songs that need a lot of energy." After Steinman presented her with the song, she told ''[[The Times]]'', "I just had shivers right up my spine...I couldn't wait to actually get in and record it."<ref>{{cite news|first= Dick |last= Clark |title= Bonnie Tyler aims for 'total eclipse' of charts |newspaper= [[Times-News (Burlington, North Carolina)|Times-News]] |date= 20 September 1983 |access-date= 25 August 2014 |url= https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1665&dat=19830920&id=CWZPAAAAIBAJ&pg=6160,2695215}}</ref>

According to [[Meat Loaf]], Steinman had written the song, along with "[[Making Love Out of Nothing at All]]", for Meat Loaf's album ''[[Midnight at the Lost and Found]]''; however, Meat Loaf's record company refused to pay Steinman, and he wrote separate songs himself. "Total Eclipse of the Heart" was given to Bonnie Tyler and "Making Love Out of Nothing at All" to [[Air Supply]].<ref>{{cite news |first= Cameron |last= Adams |title= Meat Loaf's a Hell raiser |newspaper= [[Herald Sun]] |date= 26 October 2006 |url= http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,20642893-5006024,00.html |access-date= 26 October 2006 |archive-date= 30 June 2012 |archive-url= https://archive.today/20120630064206/http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/music/meat-loafs-a-hell-raiser/story-e6frf9hf-1111112415532 |url-status= dead }}</ref> Tyler has denied this claim.<ref>{{cite web|first= Edward |last= Champion |title= The Bat Segundo Show: Bonnie Tyler |date= 12 September 2008 |access-date= 8 May 2013 |publisher= The Bat Segundo Show |url= http://www.edrants.com/the-bat-segundo-show-bonnie-tyler/}}</ref> "Meat Loaf was apparently very annoyed that Jim gave that to me," Tyler stated. "But Jim said he didn't write it for Meat Loaf, that he only finished it after meeting me."<ref>{{cite news|first= Patrick |last= Freyne |title= Bonnie Tyler: 'There's nothing I won't talk about' |newspaper= [[The Irish Times]] |date= 20 August 2014 |access-date= 20 August 2014 |url= http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/bonnie-tyler-there-s-nothing-i-won-t-talk-about-1.1901587?}}</ref> Steinman said to ''People'' that he considered it "an aria to me, a [[wagnerian]]-like onslaught of sound and emotion. I wrote it to be a showpiece for her voice."<ref name="RW" />

In an interview with journalist [[Mick Wall]] shortly after the release of Meat Loaf's 2006 album ''[[Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose]]'', Steinman stated: "I didn't write [Total Eclipse of the Heart] for anyone but Bonnie." Steinman believed that CBS were expecting him to write something similar to "[[It's a Heartache]]", but he had different ideas.<ref>{{cite book|first= Mick |last= Wall |year= 2017 |title= Like a Bat Out of Hell: The Larger than Life Story of Meat Loaf |publisher= Hachette UK |page= 270 |isbn= 9781409173526 |access-date= 29 May 2018 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=2h8UDgAAQBAJ&pg=PT205}}</ref>