On July 8, 2026, Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler died at the age of 75. She was best known for her 1980s hits “Total Eclipse Of The Heart” and “Holding Out For A Hero”. Her 1983 hit “Total Eclipse Of The Heart” peaked at No. 1 in multiple countries, including the US. The song was written by Jim Steinman, also known for his work on Meat Loaf’s Bat Out Of Hell. It was his production work with Meat Loaf that caught Tyler’s attention. She approached Steinman shortly after seeing Meat Loaf on the Old Grey Whistle Test. Steinman began presenting songs to Tyler for an upcoming album, one of them being “Total Eclipse Of The Heart.”
“Total Eclipse Of The Heart” was the first single released from Bonnie Tyler’s Faster Than The Speed Of Night album, produced by Steinman. The album peaked at No. 4 on the US Billboard 200 and No. 1 in the UK.
The song makes a lot more sense when you find out it was written from a vampire’s perspective. Originally, Steinman wrote the song for a vampire musical. He detailed the origin of the song in an interview with Playbill in 1999.
“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.”
Vampires in Love
The song opens with “turn around” and a series of “every now and then” scenarios. After Steinman’s revealing of the original lyrical meaning, it’s evident that many of the lines refer to vampires. The narrator is tired of loneliness and sadness, fearing that their best days are beyond them.
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).
The mention of the shadow draws the focus back to the vampire origins of the song. Once you hear of the original meaning, it’s hard not to see the song as a vampire’s love letter. Regardless, the song was easily accessible to a mass audience with its lyrics detailing a longing for someone. This was what made it a smash hit for Bonnie Tyler and Jim Steinman in 1983. Their partnership on this record was a massive success, and “Total Eclipse Of The Heart” became one of the best-selling singles of all time.
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