Did You Know? Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse of the Heart (1983)

You’ll probably never listen to this song the same way ever again.

Did you know that “Total Eclipse of the Heart”, the massive 1983 radio hit by Bonnie Tyler may actually have pedophilia elements?

True, the song sounds harmless enough- heck, the listening public loved it, and continues to play on hundreds of radio stations and mp3 players all over the world.

The song is completely overplayed in the Philippines, though, but the fact that Max Weinberg (music director on Late Night with Conan o’Brien, band leader for the Max Weinberg 7 and resident drummer for Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band) played the drum tracks on “Total Eclipse of the Heart” just made it awesome for me once again.

But check this out: watch the video closely, and look at the various elements in it. It would seem that Bonnie Tyler (the singer) is floating around in a dream, going through a hallway with rooms- lots of rooms, with lots of boys- in a classroom, some with bright orbs for eyes (”bright eyes”, indeed), others dancing around, etc.

As the song goes on, everybody is worked up to a dancing frenzy (at least some form of intetpretative dance, anyway), and then a teenage boy in underpants with giant wings growing out of his back (an angel, apparently), wraps his arms around a crying Bonnie Tyler.

Video concludes with a scene on the steps of a private school, and we see Bonnie Tyler’s character is, apparently, a school teacher. She gets introduced to the boys in her class- seemingly harmless enough- until one of them grabs hold of her hand and looks at her with…bright orbs for eyes- “Bright Eyes” Boy from the dream!

So the dream was probably all about the schoolteacher’s fantasies about her students- and that the events that transpired the night before probably wasn’t even a dream after all!

Read more about “Total Eclipse of the Heart” on Wikipedia, here. In the meantime, check out the video provided below, and watch for yourself. Lyrics provided if you want to sing along- just in case. Of course, you’ll probably want to read them all over again and you might actually find some hidden meaning behind the lyrics, now that you know what the video was all about. Again, that’s Max Weinberg on drums.

Cheers everyone!

Bonnie Tyler
“Total Eclipse of the Heart” (1983)

(Turn around) Every now and then
I get a little bit lonely
and you’re never coming around
(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

(Turn around bright eyes)
Every now and then I fall apart
(Turn around bright eyes)
Every now and then I fall apart

And I need you now tonight
And I need you more than ever
And if you’ll 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)
Every now and then I fall apart
(Turn around bright eyes)
Every now and then I fall apart

And I need you now tonight
And I need you more than ever
And if you’ll 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
A total eclipse of the heart
(Turn around bright eyes)
(Turn around bright eyes, turn around)

Other “Total Eclipse of the Heart” trivia you might want to know:

1. This song was written by Jim Steinman- same dude behind a lot of Meatloaf’s songs, including the power ballad “I’ll Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That).” Notice the tendency for surreal imagery, elaborate production, and a comparatively long running time- the song clocks in at 6:51.

2. The radio edit of the song takes away the third verse and fades the ending out earlier, chopping the song to a more radio-friendly 4:28.

3. The song was featured prominently in the 2001 movie Bandits. Cate Blanchett’s character loves the song, describing it as “The ultimate haiku to the complexity of love.” She soon finds out that Bruce Willis’ character also loves the song, and so now they have a relationship of sorts going on, much to the dismay of Billy Bob Thornton’s character.

4. In addition to Max Weinberg, another E Street Band member- Roy Bittan- also played on the song. Roy played the keyboards.

5. From Songfacts: A wedding band sings a surprisingly vulgar version of this in the movie Old School. It was performed by The Dan Band, which is a real group specializing in obscene versions of songs made popular by female singers. Here’s a video of The Dan Band in action- their version of “Total Eclipse of the Heart”.

Did You Know? is a continuing project of “My Thoughts In Stereo” to educate the music-listening radio audience. There’s a lot more to your songs than you might actually know. And with more stories about your favorite songs, you might actually appreciate them more.

Cheers once again!

Last Song Syndrome: Technotronic - Move This (1989)

OK, so I saw the Bob Odenkirk-directed “Let’s Go To Prison” last night on HBO. Yeah it was a little half-baked, but still, I’m a huge fan of Will Arnett- the dude who played Gob (pronounced Jobe) on the brilliant comedy series, “Arrested Development”.

The end credits showed the three lead actors- Will Arnett, Dax Shepard (from “Without A Paddle”) and Chi McBride (the principal from “Boston Public”)- all crammed into a car singing to this trippy Technotronic song.

“Move This” came out on the same Technotronic album that spawned the massive hit “Pump Up The Jam”. Later on, it was featured on one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies (no big loss, if you didn’t watch it).

Technotronic almost pulled off a Milli Vanilli: Belgian producer Jo Bogaert and Manuela Kamosi came up with the album, but needed an “image model” to push them commercially- so they got Zairian-born fashion model Felly to serve the purpose (that’s her on the album cover).

You actually get to see Felly singing on the video of “Pump Up The Jam”, but when the album became an unexpected hit, Technotronic suddenly found themselves booked for live performances and guest TV appearances. It was a smart move on the group’s part to reveal Ya Kid K as the real singer of Technotronic- and it’s Ya Kid K you now see on the video of “Move This”

So here we have it- Ya Kid K and Technotronic with “Move This”. Enjoy!

Technotronic
“Move This” (1989)

Yo, come on move this

Shake that body
Shake that body

People don’t you know, don’t you know
It’s about time?
Can’t you hear the jam is pumpin’
While you taste a piece of mine
Many different flavors
And the spice is strong
Get into the hot stuff
Let me pour a little song

Baby lemme show you how to do this
You gotta move this
You’re doin’ fine
There’s nothin’ to it
You gotta groove it
Come on and move this
Shake that body for me…

People don’t you know, don’t you know
It’s about time?
Can’t you hear the jam is pumpin’
While you taste a piece of mine
Many different flavors
And the spice is strong
Get into the hot stuff
Let me pour a little song

Baby lemme show you how to do this
You gotta move this
You’re doin’ fine
There’s nothin’ to it
You gotta groove it
Come on and move this
Shake that body for me…

Shake that body for me
Shake that body

People don’t you know, don’t you know
It’s about time?
Can’t you hear the jam is pumpin’
While you taste a piece of mine
Can you feel the mellow crawlin’ fast
Drum on baby, rhythm blast
Pump it, pump it, pump, pump it up
Nothin’ can make this one stop

Oh yeah
You gotta move this, groove this, move this on
Shake your body for me

Shake that body
Shake that body for hmm
Shake that body for me
Shake that body

People don’t you know, don’t you know
It’s about time?
Can’t you hear the jam is pumpin’
While you taste a piece of mine
Can you feel the mellow crawlin’ fast
Drum on baby, rhythm blast
Pump it, pump it, pump, pump it up
Nothin’ can make this one stop

Toes be tappin’
Fingers snappin’
Hands clappin’ and my mouth rappin’
Talkin’ ’bout how cold lappin’
Shut up and do the walk
Use what you got show me
You’re on the floor so let me see
Don’t say nothin’ ‘less i saw
And remember I like it raw

You gotta move this
You gotta move this
Oh yeah, you gotta move this
Aw, aw shake that body for me

Baby lemme show you how to do this
You gotta move this
You’re doin’ fine
There’s nothin’ to it
You gotta groove it
Come on and move this
Shake that body for me…

My Favorite Songs of 2007.

Another year, another bunch of songs.  Probably because of my FM radio background, I have this compulsion to categorize songs by genre and/or by year.

So I was cleaning out my Creative Vision M just a while back.  I was pretty much making room for a new bunch of songs as I clean out the songs I don’t really listen to as much, particularly these past few weeks.

For the year 2007, different lists of top songs have already come out.  For me, however, these are my favorite songs of the year:

• Avril Lavigne - “Girlfriend”
• Beyonce - “Irreplaceable”
• Colbie Caillat - “Bubbly”
• Dashboard Confessional - “Stolen”
• Elliott Yamin - “Wait For You”
• Enrique Iglesias - “Do You Know? (The Ping Pong Song)”
• Fergie f Ludacris - “Glamorous”
• Hellogoodbye - “Here (In Your Arms)”
• Justin Timberlake - “LoveStoned”
• Maroon 5 - “Makes Me Wonder”
• Marques Houston - “Circle”
• Ne-Yo - “Because of You”
• Omarion - “Ice Box”
• P.Diddy f Keyshia Cole - “Last Night”
• R.Kelly f T-Pain & T.I. - “I’m A Flirt”
• Reverend & Makers - “Heavyweight Champion of the World”
• Rihanna - “Don’t Stop The Music”
• The Fray - “Look After You”
• Timbaland f OneRepublic - “Apologize”
• Vanessa Hudgens - “Say OK”

A Special Mention goes to “Pop Goes My Heart” by the fictitious 80’s pop group “Pop!” only because it didn’t really see much in the way of chart action or radio airplay, but has managed to appeal to me just right, nevertheless.

Most Annoying song for me this year is Sean Kingston’s “Beautiful Girls”.  No offense to Sean- he’s a real talented artist, but this is one annoyingly overplayed song.  Blame it on mass-oriented radio and noontime TV shows.

Raised on Radio!

I was an avid radio listener when I was a kid- as early as 8 or 9 years old, if I could remember it right.

For me, it was a great way to connect with the chicks! Of course we all had childhood crushes back then (man, I couldn’t even remember their names…), and well, if you wanted to have some common ground for interaction, there was always music on the radio.

High school was no different. The ladies also loved getting their tunes on the radio. And dudes get points if they can play guitar to whatever song was hot back then. Yeah, so I also got into playing guitar for the chicks, big deal :).

By mid-high school, I remember having the radio on while I studied in the early hours of the morning (yes, I actually studied when I felt like it). 24-hour radio stations were new back then- which was how I discovered 99.5RT- and it was the coolest thing for me since sliced bread.

For the most part, I was a Top40 dude. I think it started earlier on back when it was on 93.9 WKC. After casey Kasem left and Shadoe Stevens took over, it was still alright, but WKC was already starting to play less of the pop that I wanted, and more of the designer music that wasn’t at all cool.

Hahaha- Viktor Laszlo? Silver Pozzoli? Modern Talking? Yikes.

Soirees and dance parties were the hugest thing then. So if you wanted the cool chicks, you have to be into New Order, or The Cure, or even Depeche Mode. For the more pop-oriented? There was Rick Astley, Expose and Paula Abdul.

Heck, I even tried to join a radio station back in my third year of high school- coz I thought it was probably the coolest thing to do so. Haha it didn’t work out then. (Sidenote: It did work out many years later, when I finally got in 99.5RT in 1994.)

I had the radio tuned in day in, day out back then. RT was my station at night, and the radio was on even while I was sleeping, so you get the morning show on while you were getting ready for school. Not knowing what 24K was back then (RT’s trademark oldies show on Fridays, playing nothing but RT classics)- I tuned out, and switched to another station. Usually it would be Magic 89.9, NU107, or WLS-FM.

LS was the coolest on weekends with its Great Music Jam- that was 1988 til 1990 I think- and they were playing songs from the early part of the decade. Lots of Duran Duran, Tears for Fears, Wham!, Madonna and Spandau Ballet back there.

My appreciation for new wave, punk and rock in general, I got from NU107 (aw man, remember Ethnic Faces’ Golden Boy? Man, I gotta find that song) and Power 105 (the frequency is owned by 105.1 Crossover now). The Smiths? Flesh for Lulu? The Clash? R.E.M.? Man, those were the days.

College was a little different. You meet all kinds of people- and I remembered this one dude who had this massive collection of casettes and CDs of (what I could remember) Crossover music- he had Spyro Gyra, Kalapana, Stephen Bishop, Mike Francis, Yutaka, Angela Bofill- looking back, it was one of the coolest collections I have ever seen.

No, I didn’t quite appreciate it for what it was back then. I was still a pop-boy parading as a new-wave chong. Easy listening and smooth jazz wouldn’t be my thing until much much later.

Monster Radio was the new Magic 89.9. Grunge was the new new wave & punk. Everyone had a Mellow Touch 94.7 or a 96.3 WRock love song collection on mixed tapes, and the hopeless romantics tuned in to Lovenotes (sappy sometimes, but it made for great listening!).

I remembered discovering 105.1 Crossover in ‘93 or ‘94. If everyone was into love songs, the cooler kids were into a more sophisticated kind of love songs. The ladies then were a little classier, a little more emotional, and sometimes, a little angstier (high school was rough, I imagine…). There were those who were into Julia Fordham, Swing Out Sister, or Lisa Stansfield, or Everything But The Girl.

I joined 99.5 RT as a DJ in 1994, and I distinctly remember my roommate was very much into Crossover. He’d have it on while he was studying. I forgot his name though, but I’m sure he’s a doctor by now.

Thirteen years later, I’m still in the radio industry. I’ve gone from DJ, to dude in charge of audio production, to events guy, to dude in charge of sales and marketing, and finally Program Director.

So