RIP Bonnie Tyler
RIP Bonnie Tyler (June 8, 1951 - July 8, 2026)
Bonnie Tyler is a singer I’ve known almost all of my life. I first watched her sing Lost in France (1976) on a variety show on Channel 33 (English language channel on Dubai TV) in the mid 1970s. When I was looking up the song for this post, I found this music video which I had never seen before. A song about travelling and feeling lovelorn.
It starts with:
I was lost in France
In the fields the birds were singing
I was lost in France
And the day was just beginning
As I stood there in the morning rain
I had a feeling I can't explain
I was lost in France in love
And ends with:
Ooh la la la ooh la la la dance
Ooh la la la dancing
So I hope the young girl manages to enjoy her time in France despite lost love.
It’s a Heartache (1977) is a song about unrequited love.
It's a heartache
Nothing but a heartache
Hits you when it's too late
Hits you when you're down
It's a fool's game
Nothing but a fool's game
Standing in the cold rain
Feeling like a clown
It's a heartache
Nothing but a heartache
Love him 'til your arms break
Then he let's you down
It ain't right with love to share
When you find he doesn't care for you
Crushing.
Total Eclipse of the Heart (1983) is her timeless classic, “a melodrama” as described by Tom Breihan in an essay published in July 2020, part of his The Number Ones series for Stereogum which I strongly recommend you read. It includes the history of the writing of the song, and its influence in pop culture.
Halfway through, "Total Eclipse" sounds like it's winding down, and then it suddenly surges upward again -- a beautiful no, motherfucker, we're not done yet move. There are shorter edits of the song, but who needs those? You need to behold this thing in its full majesty.
A huge part of that majesty, of course, is Bonnie Tyler herself. Tyler perfectly matches the tone of this thing, pleading and wailing and howling and screaming like she's standing on a mountaintop and demanding answers from God. Tyler's voice is perfect for this thing. She sounds wrecked and destroyed from the jump, but she still summons the strength to leap from one huge note to the next. There are goosebump moments all over "Total Eclipse," but my favorite is the "living in a powderkeg and giving off sparks" bit. She doesn't just sing those words. She exorcises them from her body and casts them out into the world.
These lyrics, extra crushing:
Once upon a time, I was falling in love
Now I'm only falling apart
And because this song is ‘melodrama’, I’ve included the music video and a live performance from Top of the Pops.
But Holding Out For a Hero (1984) is the song I’m attached to the most, and I think is double the melodrama. The electro drums, the dramatic opening chorus:
Du-du-du-du
Du-du-du-du
Du-du-du-du
Ohhh, Ohhhhhh
And the opening lyrics, “Where have all the good men gone, and where are all the gods?”. There’s no heartache here. She’s demanding she deserves a man worthy of her love.
I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the morning light
He's gotta be sure, and it's gotta be soon
And he's gotta be larger than life, larger than life
For her obituary, Tom Breihan wrote this about the song:
Tyler recorded her Steinman-produced 1984 single "Holding Out For A Hero" for the Footloose soundtrack. At the time, it wasn't a huge American hit, but it's since become nearly as omnipresent as "Total Eclipse," appearing in tons and tons of movies. Just last night, I went to see the new Jackass movie, which does beautiful things with "Holding Out For A Hero." That's another forever song.
Another double video bill:
There’s another reason I love this song. It was used as the opening for Cover Up, a TV show that ran between 1984-1985, sung by E.G. Daily. It starred Jon-Erik Hexum. I had the biggest crush on him after first seeing him in a TV series called Voyagers (1982-83).
Cover Up was about a fashion photographer (Jennifer O'Neill) and a veteran special forces soldier (Jon-Erik Hexum) posing as her model go on intelligence missions around the world. He was so damn handsome in that show, but sadly he died on set because of an accident. Playing around on set, he held a prop handgun against his head and pulled the trigger which had one blank cartridge that fractured his skull that led to a brain hemorrhage. Everytime I hear this song, I remember Jon-Erik Hexum.
But back to Bonnie Tyler.
“When you enjoy something you may as well do it. What am I going to do, stop and die?”
“I'm very enthusiastic about performing…the pain in the neck is the traveling and the packing because I haven't got a crew, I mean I got a road crew but I haven't got hairdressers, makeup. I always do that myself and it's the pack and unpacking…that's the worst part…but when you actually get on that stage…it’s absolutely fantastic.”
Farewell Bonnie Tyler.