Chords for Jim Steinman & Bonnie Tyler - Interview and Rehearsal

_ [A] Love of my men's hair
Go on, Barry.
Right.
Jim Steinman [E] produced my latest album,
and it was really exciting working with [Gb] him.
[Am] He'd worked as a songwriter and producer with Meatloaf,
and he's sold over 10 million albums around the world.
So I felt really thrilled when he said he wanted to work with me. _ _ _ _
Really, there's been nothing else in my life for me but singing.
I once took a shorthand and typing [Em] course,
but I was always [A] being told off for looking at the keys.
And I took a [E] course in German.
Well, that came [Am] in useful when I was working in Germany,
but by then I was [G] singing anyway.
_ _ I was lucky because I got a recording contract very early on.
Mind you, my first record did nothing,
but then I did Lost in France and It's a Heartache,
and that was a start for me.
They took off in America as well as Europe and the Far East,
and then there was no stopping me.
It was smashing.
[A] But then I made myself stop and think.
Where was I going?
I wasn't progressing.
I felt I ought to be getting more out of myself.
Then Jim came along [Am] and said he'd produce my album. _
_ _ _ _ Every now and then I [G] get a little bit lonely
And you're never coming round
[Am] _
That's it.
Every now and then I get a little bit tired
Of listening to the [C] sound of my tears
The situation that this came about from was a total [Bb] surprise in that
out of nowhere I get a call [Eb] from Muff Wynwood,
who's the head of A&R at CBS here, Artists and Relations,
asking if I'd like to produce an album by Bonnie Tyler.
Now, I know Bonnie as most Americans do,
primarily from this amazing single It's a Heartache,
which was number one in America, a gold single, a gold album.
I hadn't really heard anything about her since.
I just know that it's pretty much what you could easily call
the classic song of all time.
And also amazing that what would be called a crossover hit
in that it was a huge hit in country, pop, rhythm & blues,
black stations, as well as rock & roll, which is really unusual
and pretty much to be treasured when that happens.
But I didn't know what had happened to her.
And then this call comes.
And my first thought was this is a pretty strange thing
to ask me to produce because I was primarily known
for doing records with Meatloaf and my own records,
which were these thunderous, very Wagnerian,
almost heavy metal-ish, sort of epic, stormy records.
And I never thought of Bonnie in those terms.
And I was a little bit surprised that they would ask me.
But my second thought was, for one thing,
it was a real challenge because of that,
because it wasn't just, I'd been asked to do a lot of
heavy metal groups and stuff like that, and this was different.
Also, I did think she had one of the greatest voices
I had ever heard.
And also, it had been not really used well.
When I heard the album from It's a Heartache,
though that was a great song, I just felt that
they weren't really getting out what she was capable of.
The fact is that the voice itself is probably
one of the most passionate voices I've ever heard in rock & roll.
You'd have to say, since Janis Joplin,
I don't think there's been a voice in this style
that any female singers had.
There's been a lot of pretty good rock & roll singers,
but no one who's had this kind of raw nerve sound.
When It's a Heartache was out, the general consensus
was to compare it a little bit to Rod Stewart
because it has some of the sort of horse quality.
But I think that's pretty deceptive in that
[Ab] Rod Stewart's voice [E] to me has always had a sort of silky, smooth,
very kind of slick quality.
Great voice, [G] but very different.
Bonnie seems to be much more of a passionate,
sort of exposed nerve, and much more raw.
_ _ [A] _ [D] Then I did, [E] I guess what you could call a ballad,
though it seems unfair because ballads
are just something kind of passive,
and this thing is, I thought of it more as a fever song,
as a mad scene.
It's sort of the other side of love.
Most pop songs are about the lyrical side of love,
the pleasant side, and I always like kind of writing
about the darker side, obsession.
The song's called Total Eclipse of the Heart.
In fact, I wrote it during the last lunar eclipse
and it just seemed like a perfect image to describe
when someone's totally overwhelmed by love.
It's like an eclipse.
There's no more light at all.
In fact, the key lines of the song are
Once upon a time there [Eb] was light in my life
and now there's only love in the dark
Nothing I can do, a total eclipse of the heart.
And the song pretty much builds like a fever would build.
In a sense, the whole album, I think, if I had to describe it,
it's kind of an exorcism you can dance to.
It's a danceable exorcism.
That sounds terrible, but I think that's appropriate.
In two ways, really.
It's an exorcism partly of Bonnie's old image, I think,
which was an unfair image, but did present her more
as a middle-of-the-road type artist, which she [E] never was.
I think she was always a sensational rock & roll singer
and wasn't given the chance to do what she was capable of.
It's an attempt to exercise those labels
and allow her to be seen as a really passionate,
demonic, almost powerful rock & roller.
[Fm] And it's also, in terms of, to me, the best rock & roll records
are sort of exorcisms anyway, in that you feel that the singers
and the musicians are actually exercising demons during the songs.
It's the ultimate party.
It's like a pagan ritual.
_ Everyone's invited to an exorcism tonight, and [C] we'll play the music.
Every now and then [Bb] I get a little, _ I got to get [C] out and cry _
Can you do that line really angry?
Right, try it.
Really, like, spitting it out?
Right.
Except spit that directly.
That's a good jacket.
_ _ _ _ _ _ A little angry.
_ _ _ Turn around
Every now and then I get [Bb] a little bit angry
And I know I've got to [C] get out and cry
_ Every now and then [Bb] I get a little bit terrified
[Ab] And every now and then I fall [G] apart
[Eb] That's a straight note.
_ Real big.
I get it right this time.
Yeah, it's good, because I have a dentist appointment. _ _
_ [Ab] _ _ And [B] if you only hold me [C] tight
No, that's the second time.
This time it's
And if you'll only hold me tight
Same melody, you [N] know what I mean?
Sounds a bit more enthusiastic to me.
Well, yeah, but if [A] you wait till the second time, that way it'll be different.
Can you do that?
Right.
Okay.
_ I really need [G] it tonight
_ [Bm] Forever's gonna start [C] tonight
[D] Forever
_ That'll be [Em] background voices, but that's
Can you do it for now?
[D] What?
That line that you were just doing before you started Oh, right.
Is it okay?
Right, yeah.
I know it's hard, but
I sing that as well, as the background vocals.
Yeah, I just meant if it was hard now to do it.
Well, it is a bit after singing so much.
Okay.
From, that was good, though.
From where? _
Oh, Forever's Gonna [N] Start Tonight?
Forever's gonna start tonight
[C] _ _ _
[D] Forever's gonna [C] [G] start
Once upon a time I [Em] was falling in love
[B] And now I'm only falling [C] apart _
_ _ _ [Am] Nothing I can do
[Gb] Total eclipse of the [G] heart
_ [Em] _ None of us