written and produced by by Jim Steinman

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And here we go, epic power ballad time...

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June 8th, 2021—the day I originally constructed this page—was

Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler’s 70th birthday. A nice milestone, and a

nice homage here to help ring it in. (Happy Big 7-0, Bon-Bon!!)

Bonnie was born in Neath, Wales, indeed on the 8th of June, 1951, under the name Gaynor Hopkins. Around the turn of the ’70s, she made a first name change, to Sherene Davis. She signed first with RCA Records, who urged another name change to start releasing under. So around 1975, she settled on Bonnie Tyler.

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Bonnie made a giant splash with her ’70s/RCA hit “It’s A Heartache,” leading track and second single from her mid-’78 Natural Force record. Three additional RCA years followed, in which she failed to come anywhere near “Heartache”’s success, prompting critics to start deeming her a one-hit wonder. Around 1981, her contract with RCA was up, following which she switched labels and corporations, leaping to BMG to CBS, signing with Columbia Records and taking on writer/producer Jim Steinman to lend his touch to her albums. He wrote two songs for her next album, Faster Than The Speed Of Night: the title track, and, of course, “Eclipse.”

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What I always remember reading about Bonnie early on was that sometime in the ’70s—I can’t pinpoint precisely when—she had lymph node surgery on her vocal chords, resulting in a rather rough and gravelly, though compelling and charismatic growl in her voice, which really actually complements this song beautifully. Her male vocalist on “Eclipse” is Rory Dodd, singing the unforgettable “turn around, bright eyes” hook. “Heartache” hit #1 in five countries’ charts in late ’77 and ’78, surpassed by ’83’s “Eclipse” with no less than seven. It wasn’t her last hit, and the love of her fans has been around to keep her recording into the ’20s, spanning a career of 50 years. But “Eclipse” remains and always will be the number one song that comes to mind when you hear and think of Bonnie’s name.

 

Master ballad writer Jim Steinman’s made this magic happen for a few additional acts, including Marvin Lee Aday (a.k.a. Meat Loaf), Air Supply and Céline Dion. Consider “Eclipse”’s majestic solo break alone, carried by... sleigh bells? Hey, whatever works! The downside to such epic/power ballads is that the radio stations and music video channels are partial to playing their content in shorter snippets, hence the radio edits of these songs—a disconcertment to those like myself who enjoy and prefer the full versions. The album version of “Eclipse” on Faster Than The Speed Of Night is of course the entirety of the song intact at 7 minutes, whereas its radio edit and video version are closer to 5½. The edited version omits the third verse, which... sucks (what sucks is the deletion of verse 3, I mean, not that verse itself). But, not my decision. Naturally, I’ve printed the full (7-minute version’s) lyrics below.

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Have notes to add? Let me know!

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YT:

full version #1

full version #2

music video

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Bonnie’s official website

Lyrics

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Turn around / Every now and then I get a little bit lonely and you’re never coming round / Turn around / Every now and then I get a little bit tired of listening to the sound of my tears / Turn around / Every now and then I get a little bit nervous that the best of all the years have gone by / Turn around / Every now and then I get a little bit terrified and then I see the look in your eyes / Turn around, bright eyes / Every now and then I fall apart / Turn around, bright eyes / Every now and then I fall apart / Turn around / Every now and then I get a little bit restless and I dream of something wild / Turn around / Every now and then I get a little bit helpless and I’m lying like a child in your arms / Turn around / Every now and then I get a little bit angry and I know I’ve got to get out and cry / Turn around / Every now and then I get a little bit terrified but then I see the look in your eyes / x1 / And I need you now tonight /  And I need you more than ever  / And if you only hold me tight / We’ll be holding on forever / And we’ll only be making it right / ’Cause we’ll never be wrong, together / We can take it to the end of the line /  Your love is like a shadow on me all of the time (all of the time)  / I don’t know what to do and I’m always in the dark /  We’re living in a powder keg and giving off sparks  / I really need you tonight / Forever’s gonna start tonight / Forever’s gonna start tonight / Once upon a time I was falling in love / But now I’m only falling apart / There’s nothing I can do / A total eclipse of the heart / Once upon a time there was light in my life / But now there’s only love in the dark / Nothing I can say / A total eclipse of the heart / Turn around, bright eyes / Turn around, bright eyes / Turn around / Every now and then I know you’ll never be the boy you always wanted to be / Turn around / But every now and then I know you’ll always be the only boy that wanted me the way that I am / Turn around / Every now and then I know there’s no one in the universe as magical and wondrous as you / Turn around / Every now and then I know there’s nothing any better, there’s nothing that I just wouldn’t do / x1 / And I need you now tonight (and I need you) /  And I need you more than ever  / And if you only hold me tight (if you only) / We’ll be holding on forever / And we’ll only be making it right (and we’ll never) / ’Cause we’ll never be wrong, together / We can take it to the end of the line /  Your love is like a shadow on me all of the time (all of the time)  / I don’t know what to do, I’m always in the dark / We’re living in a powder keg and giving off sparks  / I really need you tonight / Forever’s gonna start tonight / Forever’s gonna start tonight / Once upon a time I was falling in love / But now I’m only falling apart / Nothing I can do / A total eclipse of the heart / x1 / A total eclipse of the heart / A total eclipse of the heart / Turn around, bright eyes / Turn around, bright eyes, turn around... oooooh / Ah ha, ah-ha... ah-ha, ah-ha...oooooh