Total Eclipse Of The Heart detailed song analysis

[@aaronwildeofficial]

Hi everyone! I've had a catastrophe with some important equipment. If you can help me out I'll be forever grateful! gofund.me/6ea13f44

[@baronvg]

Thank you for demonstrating the complexity of this song and showing the genius of Jim Steinman.

[@omartechnologies]

Man Aron.. Thanks so much. Sometimes it's the middle of the night you and just wanna be able to find someone who shares the same awe of a subject as you. And here we are. Your love for the perfection of the song and then to be able to explain it and have a fun conversation whilst doing it.. Is just so good. Thanks a lot dude.

[@AldoNFrida]

Aaron, you bring the light where, in times like these, there is a nearly total eclipse of Music out here. Great video, gigantic analysis. Thank you from the heart.

[@JonaMars96]

12:41 same thing kinda happens in Toto‘s Africa, giving the listener a familiar progression after building it up through a beautiful accumulation of musical complexity :) loved the video mate!

[@benancona3242]

This should have 10 million views

[@greywolf271]

You're the british version of Rick Beato. I had you tagged for another music piece and today I came back from a night shift and started browsing and could absolutely not stop listening to this. Thank you..

[@iammoog]

What a splendid breakdown. As a rock guitarist (the early comment amused me greatly) and Steinman worshipper, the structure of this song has always blown me away. And as a rock guitarist, I never really had a bloody clue what was happening in the mad flurry of chords. Thanks :)

[@wainwright3]

I have just watched your whole video from start to finish and was enthralled. Wonderful analysis of an amazing song. You are very talented.

[@ctuckwell6562]

"Someone must have blessed us when he gave us those songs." Yes, and his name is Jim Steinman. I'm not musically minded, and a lot of the chord progressions went over my head, but I just know a cracking good song when I hear one, and love Steinman's work. Thank you so much for even *attempting* to get inside his head and explaining this beautiful and complex song!

[@kankova2005]

Even though I like very much Meat Loaf, I am very happy that Bonnie Tyler did this song. It's the wedding of a unique voice with a unique song. P.S.I like your piano version also very much

[@bluebellhill]

thanks

[@fhainalex282]

i just found a bit in an interview with jim where he talks about this - awesome -

[@guillermoborda3436]

That was a fantastic work man, thanks a lot for this

[@umidontthink]

Looks like Jim may well have seen this video as he mentions such a clip in the speech he gave over the weekend when he went back to his old college of Amhurst. Check the college website for the hour long audio and you might be surprised by what he has to say.Its funny Really enjoy this song analysis my self

[@ctuckwell6562]

Just listened to that speech, that's why I'm here now!

[@owenoj]

The chorus is absolutely beautiful in this song

[@LaurenBradleyGivingOffSparks]

Thank you for sharing this!! Absolutely loved watching it!

[@aaronwildeofficial]

I believe you are right. What kind words and what an entertaining talk. Thank you.

[@syncloveka]

"once upon a time I was falling in love" .. the C major chord is there both times (not Eb and then C) .. listen to the isolated piano track, it's obvious :) By the way, the piano in this song is just stunning, the guy never plays anything the same way twice. Sadly, it gets lost in the full arrangement of the song.

[@ThePsho]

This is correct. There maaaaay possibly be a Bb in there somewhere (C7) that could be misleading, but ultimately you're right, it's rooted in C.

[@nicolasfox]

It's 10 years later. Please do some more song analysis.

[@Pixietoria]

I've been begging him for all that time. :D :D :D He did do this one a year or so ago. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jYuZonihnc6Ga8k I won't stop begging...

[@Stonehawk]

this was just recently (on friday) mentioned on air by NPR O_O and it really blew me away. I love learning about the significance of these chord progressions.

[@JoeTheLion188]

According to Wikipedia Steinman said its original title was "Vampires in Love"written for a musical based on Nosferatu. He also denied it being written for Meatloaf, but come on! You can tell this (an Making Love Out of Nothing at All) is a Meatloaf song! Especially the album version where you can tell it was written for a second singer.

[@Doureo]

It is a vampire love song. Steinman said 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. 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 dark..

[@bricknut11]

So glad i found this fantastic video .. Great job

[@andybertaut]

@27:27 actually dude, I don't know if you know the long version (from the album), but there actually is a second version after the instrumental section. It was removed from the single because of time constraints, but if you haven't yet, you should check it out. Great video.

[@Pixietoria]

In a perfect world I would like to see each and every person who critiques a song or performance justify their opinion thus.

[@troyb4842]

Thank you, Love Steinman, Loved the way you explained this, if you're ever in Perth (West Australia) pop around for a beer anytime mate ;) Ta for this.

[@DeniseDimin]

Okay, I've not read any of the comments below but watching this video is a half hour freaking master class! I am a songwriter with very limited (almost none) formal training but now I don't feel as crazy and worried about some of the stuff I do! I am in the process of working though a new song and was questioning how many sections I seemed to have and some of the chord changes I'm using and now, even if I can't remember all of the explanations, feel more comfortable with what I'm doing. What a great half hour. Saving and sharing!

[@gbtalking]

A wonderful appreciation. I didnt think i could love this song anymore.

[@jackwilkinson2254]

If you listen to the song the bit where it goes ‘now there’s only love in the dark’. The C chord is used both times not just the second.

[@SeroTonyMedia]

Awesome video! I really enjoyed! I was watching a video by Signals Music Studio about key changes and he mentioned this song but didn't explain it. So glad I found your video!

[@roger1296]

Wrong...Jim Steinman has said on many occasions that the song was not meant for Meatloaf, and he wrote it for Bonnie. I can find many quotes online to back that up.

[@mikechaffin8100]

People tend to forget that Steinman never lied and Meat never told the truth.

[@aaronwildeofficial]

@dsmith7000 by golly you're right! And the Eb on a G I think the second time. That bass guitar gunning out those third notes (and refusing to give us solid roots) gives that breathless feeling I mentioned, and does it even better than I realised!

[@magsteel9891]

This was great. Thanks Aaron

[@Chishannicon]

I was just listening to this song and thinking to myself "what is it that makes this song so good? It's something to do with the chord progressions, but I can't explain it. Maybe there is someone on the internet who can." And lo, I found your video. Thanks for analyzing!

[@buckneva]

Thank you for sharing... you shaved a lot of work off my learning this.

[@georgeegerog4175]

RIP Jim Steinman,

[@robertberman6692]

Aaron does a good job explaining the overall structure of the song, but the explanation of the E chord at the start of the "And I need you now, tonight" line could be made clearer; it's not as surprising as he makes it sound. Interested parties, bear with me for a moment. If this is tl;dr, just skip my comment as a bunch of boring music theory gibberish. The song begins (arguably) with a B flat minor chord, but it's not in the key of B flat minor. It's in the key of C#. (It could be called D flat as well, but let's stick with C# since the "#" symbol is easier to access on a keyboard than the flat symbol is.) This is the key that uses all five "black keys" on the piano. In that key signature, B flat minor is thought of as A# minor. The song's opening chord progression is A#minor- G#major- A#minor- G#major- C#major, with the C#major coming at the beginning of the third "Turn around." This is a pretty standard pop music chord progression: vi-V-vi-V-I. Some of you might note that the keys of B flat minor and C# major have all the same notes, but just because the song starts on B flat minor (or, as we'll be calling it, A#minor), that doesn't meant the song is in that key. Looking at the first verse as a whole, by the time of the third "Turn around," the melody is clearly resolving to the tonic chord for a moment, with the notes for that third "Turn around" walking up the C# major scale: do-re-mi. So we're in the key of C#major, not B flat minor (or A#minor). The next chord (starting on the third appearance of the word "little") is a B chord, which is mildly surprising. The seventh note in a major scale is usually half a step down from the tonic, so in C# (which raises all pitches one semitone above the usual C scale) that note would be a B#, which is enharmonic with a C note since there's no "black note" between B and C. But in this case, rather than a B# (=C), we have a B natural (or, if you like, a C flat) chord. The major scale for C would end with B natural before returning to C: C-D-E-F-G-A-B. C# raises all of those values a semitone: C#-D#-E#-F#-G#-A#-B#. (Again, B# is played as C on the keyboard, but it's not serving as a C when you're in the key of C#.) But in this song, we don't have a B# during the third "Turn around" line; instead, we have a B natural. B natural is not the seventh degree of the major scale for C#. But it is the seventh degree of the myxolydian scale for C#. (The Myxolydian scale for C natural is C-D-E-F-G-A-B flat.) This appearance of the myxolydian scale in the song is a little surprising at this point, since we've already seen the notes A# and B# in the song (alternating on the line "never coming round" for instance). But it's not a huge shocker, as many rock songs use myxolydian mode completely or partially. So now we have a song that was using the notes A# and B# heavily, and now it's strongly featuring the semitone between them, B natural. This introduces lots of interesting possibilities for where the song could go. Most rock songs don't venture further afield; the myxolydian "flat seventh" note is just a bit of flavor in an otherwise predictable major scale. But Steinman uses it as a pivot point into a new, related, key signature. The third and fourth "Turn around" lines alternate between the tonic chord and the myxolydian seventh: C#major -Bmajor -C#major -Bmajor to establish a strong myxolydian feel. The melody goes there too; the line-ending words "and cry" are on the notes B-C#. The fourth "Turn around" is melodically and chordally almost identical to the third, which sets you up to expect that it, too (on the words "your eyes") will also end B-C#, resolving once again to the C#major tonic chord. So here's where the first real surprise of the song hits, which as Aaron correctly notes is that the chord under the word "eyes" (overlapping the fifth "Turn Around") doesn't go to C#; it goes to E natural (not only as a chord, but as the new tonic chord), which isn't even in the key of C#, which as I said goes C#-D#-E#... skipping E altogether. Now, Aaron notes that an E major chord would have been surprising in the context of a B flat minor (=A#minor) chord. But we haven't seen one of those chords since the second "Turn Around." Instead we've been seeing C# and B, both as notes and major chords. And both of those notes are strong components of the key of E major. In fact, in the key of E major, a B major chord is the "dominant" chord, the second strongest chord in the key. Our ears are very used to song phrases which end by going from the dominant chord to the tonic: V-I. In fact, this ending used to be pretty much required in European songs, for hundreds of years. So that B major chord is pivoting from being the flattened seventh of a myxolydian scale in C# major, to now being the dominant chord (V chord) in the key of E major, the song's new key. To sum up, the C# major and B major chords have made us completely forget about that A#minor chord at the beginning of the song, so that the switch to E major is now not far at all; our brains accept it as a pleasing event. Something similar happens next, on the fifth and sixth "Turn around," which have the same text: "Turn around, bright eyes." The fifth "Turn around" has chords E and A (=I and iv) with notes G#, F#, and E (mi, re, do) figuring heavily in the melody, ending on G# (mi). That ending G# note is the third degree of the E major scale and thus has a "sweet" sound to our ears. We like musical lines that end on the first, third, or fifth degree of the scale (do, mi, or sol). The sixth "Turn Around" is another fake-out, though. The melody starts out identically, setting us up to expect an identical resolution. But two things happen. First, where the word "apart" in the fifth "Turn around" went down to the tonic and then back up again to the third (F#-E-F#-G#), the "apart" in the sixth "Turn around" just goes up to the third and stays there (F#-G#). But more importantly, the underlying chords, which went A-E last time, go A major -G#major this time, and the melody proceeds on in the key of G# major. That key change from E major to G# major, and the accompanying chord change from A major down a semitone to G# major, would have been hard to swallow if the melody line were not sitting on a G# note, which has gone from being the third degree of the key of E major to being the first degree of the new key of G#. So the E chord may be a long way from where the song started, but it's not too far from where the song was the moment before it was played. I supposed that would have made the video even longer to explain all this, which does not detract from the good job Aaron did in explaining the song as a whole.

[@aaronwildeofficial]

Robert Berman I know what you're saying, and you're right it does not feel much of a leap (to E) taken in close isolation (from B), but I feel the memory extends a little beyond the immediate preceding chord. I think you sort of agree on this in your closing comment. B in this context is not E major's B, it's B flat minor's B, if that makes sense. It is the very fact that I replay that tiny section (B and E) over and over that gives the illusion that it sounds more expected than it actually should in the flow of the song, which even I am slightly taken aback by in the video. But that very fact simply strengthens the underlying point of the song's knife-edge ability to surprise us just enough. On the key... sory to disagree, but I am sure it was originally written in G and hiked up a note. As you rightly say, sections of the song can be heard to be in different keys, but taking the song as a whole, it would make sense to write the whole thing in A flat for me. You can of course write any song out in any key depending where you feel "home" is in the song, and C sharp is only one note out from A flat. But I feel very much that the end of the song tells us what key it is in, because music is for me all about suspension and resolution, and resolution comes at the end. ;)

[@robertberman6692]

Aaron Wilde We're generally on the same page. Jim Steinman has an interesting mix of classical and rock-n-roll compositional influences. Many classical music pieces cycle through different keys; in some sonata forms it's obligatory to modulate into the key of the dominant for the second section of the sonata, but still to think of it in your head in relation to the key where it started, so one can call a piece "Sonata in D major" even though it has a middle section in the key of A major, etc. Perhaps where we differ is that you (I think) see the song's verse as starting in the key of B flat minor with the root chord (B flat minor), whereas I see the verse as starting in the key of D flat major (which I refer to by the enharmonic name C# major in my previous post) on the vi chord, which is B flat (or A#) minor. Some songs are clearly in a major key or its relative minor key. "Total Eclipse" is more debatable and could be analyzed either way. Certainly the first two "Turn around" sections have a strong natural minor feel which might be interpreted as i-VII-i-VII, right up until "tears" at the end of the second line. But from there through the next two "Turn around" sections, it feels like a typical rock song myxolydian mode I-VIIb-I-VIIb, in which context the first two lines can be reassessed as vi-V-vi-V-I, in the key of D flat. (Madonna's "Like a Prayer" comes to mind as another song with a similarly ambiguous balance of major and relative minor feel, though it lacks the chordal intricacies seen in "Total Eclipse.") Either way, Steinman shows expertise at playing with our expectations, giving us enough of what we're used to, that what comes next manages to be simultaneously surprising and inevitable, which is no mean feat. I enjoy thinking about pop songs like this one, or Rush's "Force Ten," or Imogen Heap's "Little Bird," that go on a real chordal journey.

[@greywolf271]

Great stuff folks, thanks. I'm self taught and it took me years to understand that chord structure is easy once you know what to look for. I wish there was more discussions like this. Being able to study music full time would be the ultimate for me.

[@kcub2002]

I can you tell why Bonnie Tyler sang this song. According to a Jim Steinman interview, Meat Loaf had lost his voice after the Bat Out Of Hell album and the song went to Bonnie Tyler when he produced her album Faster Than The Speed Of Night.

[@christianmopas4052]

Rightfully so. I mean, I love meatloaf to death, but I think this song best suits a female voice.

[@sasquatch320]

Brilliant dissection - loved it!

[@andyguitarman]

Very interesting video, especially to me who never had a formal music education. Thank you. BTW, you should totally do a duet of this song with Pixietoria.

[@aaronwildeofficial]

You know she's my sister, right?

[@Pixietoria]

Aaron Wilde I've actually never tried to sing this but I'd be totally up for a rehearsal. It's maybe a little low for my range though...I'd love to try it.

[@dsmith7000]

Love Jim's music and love this analysis. Great job! I agree that the Ab release in section 3 is ingenious & perfect. Just to help in section 4, it's an F bass under the Db and G bass under the Eb.

[@warrenvazquez]

Love this. Thank you

[@davelightman]

Great job Aaron. The only thing I would, or could possibly, add to your analysis is to say that Jim Steinman has always been very clear about the facts that certain songs are written for certain genders... so he always viewed Total Eclipse as being for a female singer. Another example is "It's all coming back to me now"... if you want to check that out, take a look at Celine Dion's version. I'm not a Dion fan at all, but it's the best version of the song. Meatloaf did a cover of it, and (just my opinion) murdered it by turning it into a duet. Anyway, thanks for the interesting thirty minutes!

[@McFred1065]

Hey Mike, indeed MeatLoaf said that "Total Eclipse..." and "Making Love Out of Nothing at all" were handed to him by Steinman, but his record label didn't want to pay, and then the songs were given to Tyler and Air Supply respectively. Lucky for us, I think... maybe because I grew listening these songs sung by these artists and so I hold them dearly. I am a complete ignorant in terms of music, but when I was old enough to notice by the mid 90s, I did realise that "I'd do anything for love..." and "It's all coming back to me now" have a drama sound in common (they were written by Steinman) and that took me back to Total Eclipse of the Heart... so, bottomline, to me there's a signature on all Jim's songs.

[@davelightman]

Hi there fcm - I don't believe Meatloaf's claims about Total Eclipse - as I say, Steinman has always been very clear that TEOTH and 'It's all coming back to me now' (which by the way is about Wuthering Heights) were intended to be sung by women. I can believe 'Making Love Out Of Nothing At All' was offered to him though. Meat's problem is that whenever he's done a Steinman-written song that wasn't produced by Steinman / Rinkoff, it always sounds off. The only time, for me, he managed to do a decent version of any of them without Steinman producing was 'The Future Ain't What It Used To Be' from Bat III; 80% of Bat III was utter dross, but that was a good version of a good song. Every other time he's tried, he's fallen flat on his face. Another good example is 'Original Sin' - compare the Taylor Dayne version with Meat's own version, there's just no comparison, Meat's version sounds small, and under-produced.

[@McFred1065]

Yup, u were kinda right. But Steinman told about TEOTH that it was a song from the PoV of a vampire (no male or female specific) - the melody was first created for the 1980 movie "A small circle of friends" - I also read this: "According to Meat Loaf, Steinman had written the song (TEOTH), along with "Making Love Out of Nothing at All", for Meat Loaf's album Midnight at the Lost and Found; however, Meat Loaf's record company refused to pay Steinman and he wrote separate songs himself. "Total Eclipse of the Heart" was then given to Bonnie Tyler and "Making Love Out of Nothing at All" to Air Supply. Tyler has denied this claim. "Meat Loaf was apparently very annoyed that Jim gave that to me," Tyler stated. "But Jim said he didn't write it for Meat Loaf, that he only finished it after meeting me." - Edward Champion (12 September 2008). "The Bat Segundo Show: Bonnie Tyler". The Bat Segundo Show. Retrieved 8 May 2013. --- As of something really good (IMHO) that MeatLoaf did was Diane Warren's penned "I'd lie for you (and that's the truth)" - I've always wondered why that song wasn't more successful... producer was Rob Nevison. "Original Sin", I didn't even know MeatLoaf had tried that one, to me that's Taylor Dayne's no matter what --- However, for "It's all coming back...", I did wonder "what if... MeatLoaf would have sung it" - until I found that duet version... which I don't dislike, but Dion's really really owns the song.

[@davelightman]

I wasn't a fan of I'd Lie For You... - it sounded exactly like what it was, another songwriter (Diane Warren in this case) writing a Steinman pastiche. Sorry FCM :) I thought she did much better with 'Not A Dry Eye In The House', which was much less of an attempt to ape Steinman's style. On the same album Meat Loaf murdered 'Original Sin' and 'Left In The Dark', both coming out substantially worse and smaller than the originals, just like 'Surfs Up' before them. On the other hand, the non-Steinman song 'Where Angels Sing' is awesome, and benefits from much more care in the production. I always thought Meat should just leave Steinman's work alone, and just make an album in his own right. That's exactly what he did with Hang Cool Teddy Bear, and that was the best non-Steinman album of his career IMHO.

[@kbarbee3212]

Check out Steinman produced female super group Pandora’s Box version of “It’s all coming back to me” bizarre video but powerful vocals.

[@steenman69]

That was great work. Thanks. Even though I never appreciated the single version😉

[@DavidWilliamsthewagesroom]

Brilliant!

[@aaronwildeofficial]

I didn't know that, but it would explain a lot about the video for the song.

[@hjhjhjhlll]

"Every now and then I get a little bit -nervous- *lonely* and you're never comin' round"

[@ChurchoftheIgnorati]

So... How many keys does he use in the song? How man key changes? Think I counted 7??

[@Neeky78]

I am not musically trained, so could someone please explain in layman’s terms what is happening with the melody during the first “every now and then I fall apart” before it repeats the “turn around” first section. I used to sing this song (very mediocrely) and that always tripped me up vocally.

[@captainwilde]

You're singing the major seventh, on the word "bright" which in layman's terms is one half note below the key note of the chord. In other words it's one half note short of the top note of the scale. It's nearly the "right note." Try going one half note higher on the word "bright" and you'll end up with an easier, but cheesier melody! If you want to hear lots of major sevenths to familiarise yourself with how they feel and sound, listen to the song "Downstream" by Supertramp. Though a major seventh is the wrong note in one way, it actually creates a more evenly spread pattern of notes, and thus feels full and fat, where a major chord feels like it has space or holes in it. This creates a feeling of evenness in the major seventh, and no particular note standing out. It comes a lot in French music, because they often use a very geometrically even chord progression called the French sequence. The closeness (and number - 4 rather than 3 notes are required) of all the notes in each chord, together with the geometrical progression, creates a warm, comforting feeling. Aaron Wilde

[@MohamedMagdi790]

Jim writes that incredible song and then 20 years later a creepy band called Westlife perform it and get credit !!

[@PuI2ePLaYaZ]

good god, that was great !

[@James-io8lj]

Good breakdown. Have a few disagreements here and there. I think I have an insightful theory as to why Meatloaf didnt sing it. A marketing measure - at the time Bat out of Hell had been high in the album charts for 5 years and still going strong. Could there have been a feeling that were there to be anything else really successful from Meatloaf at that time it would have detracted sales (it proved a big hit for Tyler or course). The beginning of the end of the chart Marathon of BOOH was soon after their moderately successful chart single in September and October

[@teothnf]

and Nicki French mad it a amazing hit ! show the song can test the years to come! if played and sang correctly

[@michaeljavert4635]

I sat here through 30 minutes of gibber jabber, hoping to hear you sing and play straight through, because what I did hear, sounded awesome, but then you started explaining... Verbosely explaining. Hope you made another video of you just singing and playing, straight through, though if so, I will likely NEVER find it.

[@loaf333]

Please can you do this to the Bat out of hell songs?

[@captainwilde]

MESSAGE FROM AARON WILDE please check out my own latest song here (click me to go to the Captain Wilde channel), taken from my 2017 Album "Astronaut", available from CD Baby and all other online music sites. Enjoy!

[@aaronwildeofficial]

I've not heard the Westlife version

[@HighStakesDanny]

17.:34. Wow. Cool.

[@hatstalker]

Wasn't it written for Tanz der vampire as opposed to for a single artist?

[@bertofski]

This is a great tutorial. Sorry to be that guy but... There is an incorrect chord. The chord on "total" in the "total eclipse of the heart" is not what you have played. It's suppose to be a strange augmented/or something else chord that is in All the recording but not in any piece of sheet music. Awesome work though!

[@aaronwalderslade]

bertofski I did the whole analysis from my head, so yes there are bits I didn't remember quite correctly. I think it's possibly a minor 6th or something like that, and I appreciate your feedback.

[@Zero-ok4xg]

YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, what the fuck this is so long its like a 4 minute song.

[@James_Smith489]

It's an 8 minute long song, actually.