Heart Songs Top Ten: Total Eclipse of the Heart (#9)

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With all the songs that have already appeared in this month-long look at songs with “heart” in the title I’m sure you noticed a few missing. Hopefully this is one of them. Fear not: no way would I leave this one off!! #9: Total Eclipse of the Heart - Bonnie Tyler Bonnie Tyler’s first US hit was “It’s a Heartache.” This was a chart break! It turned out to be the sixth biggest song of the year on the Billboard charts....in the era of Michael Jackson! Can’t pity Jim Steinman, either. The man best known as the writer of Meat Loaf’s songs, when Meat Loaf’s star fell as quickly as it rose had others lining up to record his songs. His success continued, despite the unsavory characters who were recording his material (like Barry Manilow doing “Read ‘Em and Weep” and Air Supply’s rendition of “Making Love Out of Nothing At All”). I’m sure he cried all the way to the bank during the “down time” for Meat Loaf. (BTW, Meat Loaf recorded “Read ‘Em and Weep” before Manilow,) This is pretty much typical Jim Steinman material (a friend of mine once lamented that most of his songs sounded “like a bunch of song bridges jammed together” ). And, let’s face it, Steinman has written some good stuff in his time. Total Eclipse of the Heart Written by Jim Steinman Recorded by Bonnie Tyler From Faster Than the Speed of Night, 1983 Once upon a time I was falling in love: