I have more to say about Bonnie Tyler’s great hit tune, Total Eclipse Of The Heart composed by Jim Steinman (November 1, 1947 – April 19, 2021) .  Even if one could interview Steinman, to ask explicitly what he meant by his lyric lines — I am satisfied that would not help.  Steinman passed in April of this year.  A writer always knows more than he/she is able to say.  The offered words serve as a pointer to further discovery.  The open invitation to us is for the prospect of discovery, the potency of action and the consequences of action, yes, to you and I the recipient…  We are given an invitation to add our own impetus of discovery to those words, and to that tune — to know for ourselves more than the surface of the words conceived by the author/composer. 

I have heard artists interviewed, asked to make more explicit that they have offered in a great song.  On these occasions the interviewee often has little more to say.  What they have to say, they’ve already said in their work, the essay, or the painting, etc..  That is the best they are prepared to do. 

The rest is up to you.

Here is what Steinman had to say in an interview by Rolling Stone.

“My songs are anthems,” Steinman told Rolling Stone in 1978, “to those moments when you feel like you’re on the head of a match that’s burning. They’re anthems to the essence of rock & roll, to a world that despises inaction and loves passion and rebellion. They’re anthems to the kind of feeling you get listening to ‘Be My Baby’ by the Ronettes. That’s what I love about anthems — the fury, the melody and the passion.”

There is another Youtube rendition of this song performed by Bonnie Tyler, Christmas of 2019.  Tyler was 68 at the time of this performance.  Years have passed since 1983 when Bonnie Tyler introduced her hit song.  The passage of time having proven the truth, demonstrated the layers of authenticity of this song — she performs with conviction and persuasion this great tune by Jim Steinman.

Sometimes lonely, tired, nervous and terrified…  We know what it is like to live in a powder keg, giving off sparks, living in the dark.  What is to be done?  Turn around, turn around! 

We simply must hold on to one another.