Total Eclipse of the Heart with Vampires

[nineveh_uk]

Did you know that Total Eclipse of the Heart was originally written as a love-song for a never-happened musical version of Nosferatu? Me neither. Nor did I know that it had subsequently been used in a different musical, the Austrian Tanz der Vampire (link in English), a musical version of Polanski’s The Fearless Vampire Killers, of which I was a teenage fan* in my ‘read/watch everything about vampires’ stage.

I learned this fact at the end of last week, and inevitably therefore have been enlivening working through the massive ironing backlog** while watching said musical on YouTube. Fortunately I don’t know Meat Loaf’s oeuvre, so I haven’t spotted the songs recycled from that. It’s all magnificently bonkers and surprisingly entertaining, and I really want to see it live, except that would mean going to Germany because there was a disastrously re-written Broadway production in the early 2000s that has torpedoed any further English language attempts for the foreseeable future. Anyway, Total Eclipse of the Heart makes far more sense once it’s about vampires, the German version would be an amazing karaoke duet, here it is. This version doesn’t have subtitles, but you don’t really need them to get the sense of the massive OTT-ness, complete with swirly cape action.

"Tanz der Vampire (Hamburg) - Totale Finsternis" (Watch on YouTube)

Sadly I fear the literal video version of this song, fun as it is, would be less engaging:

(Long intro)
Sometimes in the night I wander round on the stage and there’s nothing much to do.
(Long intro)
Sometimes in the night the audience wishes that something else would happen on stage.
(Long intro)
Sometimes in the night I cling onto a pillar that looks randomly like a totem pole.

Etc.

*I have also just realised that the plot of TFVK is a sort of mirror version of Keats’ Eve of St Agnes.

**All summer clothes now washed, ironed, and put away, hurrah!

Comments

[caulkhead]

Tanz der Vampire was on in Stuttgart when I was living there, and I never got round to seeing it - wish I had now!

[nineveh_uk]

(I didn't know you'd lived in Stuttgart.)

Apparently there's going to be a production in Berlin in 2016 -I find myself suddenly contemplating a central European holiday for next summer.

[coughingbear]

I scrolled this up my screen too quickly and somehow parsed it as 'Total Eclipse of the Heart with Wombles'. Which is generating some even stranger images...

[nineveh_uk]

(Wimbledon)
Ev'ry now and then I see a furry brown creature with a long and pointy nose.
(Wimbledon) Etc.

Then there's that well-know Regency era crossover, Total Eclipse of the Heart with Wombatts.

[coughingbear]

Wombatts with Glowing Eyes.

[nineveh_uk]

Lady B-s next Gothic novel, a tale of possessed wombatts, vampires, and terrible goings on at a boys' school.

[azdak.livejournal.com]

I was very interested to hear about the Nosferatu connection - I knew the song featured in Tanz der Vampire because I translated some changes to the text last year and was very surprised to stumble across Total Eclipse of the Heart in the middle. If it was always a vampire song, that makes more sense (inasmuch as the song makes any sense at all, that is).

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

I bet it was extremely surprising to sit in the theatre when it first came out and suddenly find yourself listening to Total Eclipse of the Heart! I think it does work - the original English lyrics, while odd, are not particularly incongruous if they're still in your head (unlike "Arthur Fonzarelli's got an army of clones"), and the German ones (thank you Google translate) seem fairly reasonable for a vampire song. Or possibly the lyrics are a minor detail in the face of the overall concept.

I think you mentioned that you had done some translation for Tanz der Vampire at some point. It would be nice to think that meant it might get a UK production, but I suspect not.

[ankaret.livejournal.com]

I am familiar with Meat Loaf's oeuvre, which makes me look forward to this even more.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

I venture to suggest that you will not be disappointed. Though you may be confused.

[auntyros.livejournal.com]

That is GLORIOUS.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

It is! I have several times had to stop myself singing "Sei bereit, Sternkind!" in the office.

[ylla.livejournal.com]

Have you ever listened to the Hellbillies? (I know you like Norwegian things...)

I had known 'Sur som Rognebaer' for years without knowing it had any connection to the song called 'Fire on the Mountain' I had vaguely heard of, until the latter came on the radio one day. It was surprisingly mindboggling!

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

I have not (I am a bit rubbish at finding new music), but clearly I shall have to.

[bookwormsarah.livejournal.com]

No psychotic schoolboys. How disappointing.

Have you encountered Ankaret's https://archiveofourown.org/works/300733 (The Doves and the Ravens)?

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

The total lack of psychotic schoolboys is the one let-down of the entire musical. Surely they could have fitted them in somewhere? Perhaps as a dream flashback to Alfred's youth.

I had not seen that fic, thank you! How brilliantly weird.

[lareinenoire.livejournal.com]

I love all of this so much. That the song was originally about vampires explains so much about the lyrics and the weirdness (although I agree about the disappointing lack of glow-eyed schoolboys). Also it makes a hilarious amount of sense that it's a Jim Steinman song--his fingerprints are all over it but it hadn't even occurred to me (and now I'm attempting to imagine what it would sound like if Meat Loaf sang it and that is...special).

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

Total Eclipse of the Heart + Meat Loaf = Does Not Compute

Because I spent the 80s not being into pop music, I was mostly unfamiliar with Meat Loaf, so naturally I have been matching up the musical numbers with their originals courtesy of Wikipedia and YouTube. So...

Objects in the Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer than They Are - miles better as a vampire song.
Original Sin - becomes two vampire songs (as with the above, the odd line is retained but in new contexts. This actually works.)
Seize the Night - becomes the overture. Ed. No - it's the other way round! That one appeared in the musical first, and then went to Meat Loaf.

I am beginning to wonder if anyone has tried feeding Meat Loaf garlic. But really I have fallen in love with the whole ridiculous thing. It is mad, but it works. It is the ultimate answer of "Yes!" to the question as to whether pop songs can be repurposed for the stage. They can, triumphantly (or in the case of Broadway, disastrously, because they lost the whole concept). Oh dear. I find myself seriously considering a trip to Germany next summer. A I stop in Berlin for a weekend before heading off to the Alps for some hiking could work nicely...

Also, there needs to be a musical/TEotH Video crossover.

[lareinenoire.livejournal.com]

Oh, me too. I developed a secret (and rather shameful) weakness for certain terrible power ballads ("Total Eclipse" included) at some point in middle school but have come to terms with it. Meat Loaf is ridiculous, but there is something inexplicably compelling about just how out-there he is.

The video for "Total Eclipse" is so bizarre. I just sort of assumed that half of those schoolboys were in fact vampires--or possibly that Bonnie Tyler herself was a vampire. It's a relief to have at least part of those suspicions confirmed!

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

Am I already practicing "Let It Go" with YouTube karaoke in order to be ready to truly belt it when I do karaoke with my sisters at Christmas? Yes I am!

There is something reassuring about learning that yes, there was intention in the total weirdness. Although the schoolboys are not entirely explained...

[sonetka.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, it all makes so much more sense now. My knowledge of "Total Eclipse Of The Heart" previously consisted of "It's that song they played 14,000 times per night at college weekend parties, along with Cher's "Believe", so I wasn't exactly its biggest fan. Knowing the Nosferatu connection would have made the parties' subtext a lot more entertaining :).

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

It really does make so much more sense when it's about vampires with vampires in the video, than about goodness knows what with a video of freaky schoolboys!

My university parties seemed to involve vast quantities of Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights...