Well here I am, again.  I guess it comes down to luck, the grace of good fortune.  Some would say “dumb luck,” a crude way of putting it.  How much credit do I deserve?  Little if any.

Our anniversary was yesterday.  How many years?  52  That is a long time by the standard of the arc of a typical life time.

I offer this anthem as a tribute to Laura.  Bonnie Tyler’s great song, Total Eclipse of the Heart composed by Jim Steinman. 

I have known Laura for nearly all of my adult life.  We met when we were both 18 and were married several years later.  It seems as if we “found” each other.  It is no expression of the imagination to write “we grew up together.”  Reaching adulthood is an arduous task, and one has great need of help, of a friend and companion.  How often must one bend without breaking?  Life: tears, terror, dreaming of something wild, a powder keg giving off sparks,…

So to one of the finest individuals that I’ve the good fortune to have met, and to know, –this tune is for you.

The song was the fifth best-selling single in 1983.  Jim Steinman, in an interview with Playbill, “…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.

Tyler met Steinman in 1982 after she signed with CBS Records. He was initially reulctant to work with Tyler, but found they had a similar taste in music and a shared interest in Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound technique. After their initial meeting, Tyler returned to Steinman’s New York apartment a few weeks later where he performed the song with Rory Dodd.

Steinman did not provide Tyler with a demo tape; she learned the song beside him at the piano.

“Total Eclipse of the Heart” features on Tyler’s studio album ‘Faster Than the Speed of Night’, which Steinman produced. He picked the backing band, which included members of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band.

In 2003, Tyler recorded a bilingual version of the song with French singer Kareen Antonn. Their version spent ten weeks at number 1 in France.

---

Total Eclipse Of The Heart

By Bonnie Tyler

(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

(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 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

[Instrumental interlude]

(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
Who 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

(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 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
I’m always in the dark
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
A total eclipse of the heart

(Turn around, bright eyes)
(Turn around, bright eyes)
(Turn around)

Composed by Jim Steinman