▲ 340 points
back
126 comments
Growing up in the 80s, I've known (and sung) this song all my life. But I just saw this flowchart for the first time today:
https://jeannr.tumblr.com/post/165291081/i-made-a-flow-chart...
I believe that's the original source, but it looks cut off. Here's a full version:
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/b1/82/dc/b182dcc291495c013c98...
Did you know there's a long version? (Of the song, not the flowchart, though another reply has that too)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Svz-W5w2bPM
There's a 7-minute version, with two more verses that aren't in the version you always hear on the radio. The one starting at 3:45 in that video is particularly powerful and chilling.
That's actually a really interesting visualization of a professionally structured verse.
Steinman was a genius. One of the greatest rock composers of all time and he picked his performers brilliantly.
It doesn't look like the second has been cut off to get the first, because the font is different. It looks like the second was an attempt to extend the first (also, it kills the joke)
Table for what Meatloaf would and wouldn't do:
https://imgur.com/gallery/ZAQXJdY
Timetable of One Week:
Reminds me of when she was on Never Mind the Buzzcocks, and they played a "finish the lyrics" game: https://youtu.be/vl7UfjtLzcQ?t=260
Visual representation is your WORST friend: it will make things LOOK simple even if the real thing required the utter mastery to create.
Look at that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATbMw6X3T40
Literal music video of Total Eclipse, one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsgWUq0fdKk
RIP Ms Tyler, you will be missed
That is so great. My wife and i love to annoy our teenage kids by getting Alexa to play this song and then singing along very dramatically haha.
Back in 1999, the UK had its first total solar eclipse for several decades and VH1 played the music video (though, not this one ;-)) on loop for an hour while it was happening.
If you like meta-songs, you may be interested in "Title of this song" by Da Vinci's Notebook:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgmUgFEFzco&list=RDHgmUgFEFz...
There’s also one of A-Ha’s “Take on Me”.
“Haaaand comes out…”
The back story of the writing of Total Eclipse ain't bad either: https://youtu.be/LGqYnj_Y3CI?t=70
Sony tried so hard to kill this when it was new
I had never seen the music video until the news started playing it. Super funny
I'm glad this is still on the Internet. It's exactly the sort of thing that almost never is, when I try to find it again several years after seeing it the first time.
I like to pretend that was filmed in the Hogwarts sixth form commmon room in the eighties
I once worked with a guy mixing TV programmes and live DVDs; I knew he’d been a studio engineer at one point in his career. We were re-arranging our studios one day and as I picked up a pair of NS-10s he casually said “I mixed ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’ on those…”
I went to the Reading Rock Festival back in the 80s. she was viewed very much as middle of the road and when she came on, got roundly booed and many bottles of nefarious liquids were tossed at her and the band.
she and they were total pros, shrugged it off, she hurled some abuse back and within a couple of songs had the crowd eating out of the palm of her hand.
RIP Bonnie. A class act.
My mum had a cassette with some of her songs. We'd have it on for long trips. I loved the long version of Faster than the speed of night. it's basically just "carpe diem" in a different format, but i loved her voice and the slight melancholy and almost call to action that the song brought with it. Also, the video (of the shorter version) is peak 80's: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jm4CgwRxw3Y
Jim Steinman, Meat Loaf, and now Bonnie Tyler. It truly all has come to an end. I think Celine Dion is the last one still carrying on Steinman's legacy.
This broke my heart:
> Despite coming from a big, musical family, Tyler and Sullivan never had children.
> I absolutely adore children.
> I did have a miscarriage when I was 40, I left it too late, you know?
I feel like, if you get into that situation, try to adopt or become a foster parent.
And let us not forget "Holding Out For a Hero"
My two-year-old son had started saying "turn around" in a sing-song kind of way several months back, and thus my wife and I, both babies of the 80s, had to start singing the song whenever he would do it. It became a fun thing that my son enjoys more than we do. That turned into regularly playing this song (and its covers) in the living room. We just did this again a few nights ago because he loves the song so much and requests it now.
RIP Bonnie.
"Strong Songs" podcast breaking down Total Eclipse of The Heart: https://strongsongspodcast.com/blogs/episodes/s07e06-total-e...
It seems to be a little known fact that she was... The Best: https://youtube.com/watch?v=LKV5YAxwv3Q
While she didn't compose the song, she was the one to originally release it. Tina Turner's version came one year later with a sax and an iconic video, but otherwise Bonnie's version is pretty similar and not much worse imo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Best_(song)#Bonnie_Tyler_v...
Ugh, what a bummer. I'll be listening to Holding Out for a Hero on repeat today. Nothing gold can stay.
Too soon, she could have had a lot more life left to live these days, but a bad surgery ended it. Sucks. Try to avoid needing surgery as much as you can.
Little by little, memories of the 1980s fade.
For those into metal: I like this cover by Exit Eden: https://youtu.be/AD6VAZFHWLY
Also can highly recommend the Dan Band version of Total Eclipse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIRiZsDObrU
"It's a Heartache" is a very moving song. RIP.
Just as good a time as ever to post one of my favorite classic deep YouTube video's, Hurra Torpedo's cover of Total Eclipse of the Heart.
Slightly NSFW, some plumber's crack:
And this is another good time to remember Jim Steinman, the genius who brought us "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and many of Meatloaf's greatest hits.
The version from the wedding band in Old School will forever be in my mind.
I saw her around this time last year in munich... it was a great show and even tough i didn't grow up in the 80's im a fan!
Rest in Peace Bonnie!
That's sad. She had such a distinct, unique voice.
That sucks, man. I actually liked her music. Especially "holding out for a hero".
RIP legend.
I'm curious now when this was announced. Yesterday, out of nowhere, TikTok showed me a video about someone praising "Total Eclipse of the Heart", despite not having this bubble in my profile. Kinda spooky to see the news now.
her hit song, along with the nikki french dance remix have been on my coding playlist for 30yrs!
I discovered her wider music during the early days of COVID. I played her album Faster Than The Speed of Night on repeat. No world-class lyrics but she had such a beautiful unique voice, I got hooked.
I can't listen to her music now without being taken straight back to the hours and days lying alone on the sofa hoping for better days.
RIP you Welsh beaut
This isn't hacker news... but whatever i guess.