What does Total Eclipse of the Heart mean?

Bonnie Tyler: Total Eclipse of the Heart Meaning

Album cover for Total Eclipse of the Heart album cover

Covered By: Glee Cast, Chloe Kohanski (2017)


Total Eclipse of the Heart Lyrics

Turnaround, every now and then I get a
little bit lonely and you're never coming around
Turnaround, Every now and then I get a
little bit tired of listening to the sound of my tears
Turnaround, Every now and then I get a
little bit nervous...

  1. anonymous
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    Sep 27th 2011 !⃝

    I hope this helps to show a different side to what the lyrics could mean. I once watched a silent play to this song. It was about a girl falling for a guy that turned her to drinking and drugs. Her parents and friends try to help her, but she runs away because nobody supports her love for him. She becomes addicted. She'd worn out her excuses, resulting in everyone keeping a distance from her. Eventually the boyfriend too. This caused her to overdose and die. I think this song is about a toxic and addictive type of love that someone feels they need and can't live without.

  2. anonymous
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    Aug 1st 2011 !⃝

    I think most of you have it right, although my thoughts on the songs meaning might have a darker taboo.

    She is a teacher that falls in love with a student and has an affair .. i think somewhere along the lines something happens to that student and he dies (suicide or accidental) .. you see the church choir and the boy fly up to her towards the ending. Then at the very end, the boy is there running up, then the boy as a man with his eyes glowing (angel). He wants her to move past it and go on with her life. Total eclipse of the heart. Sometimes is hard to love again after a great loss. ... Perhaps I even have it wrong as a teacher/student relationship .. perhaps it was a relationship that started when they were young and in school ?? just my thoughts.

  3. anonymous
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    Jul 30th 2011 !⃝

    a lot of people on this forum are trying to match the video with the lyrics, but honestly, i reckon the two have absolutely NOTHING to do with eachother

  4. anonymous
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    Jul 11th 2011 !⃝

    She loves him, and she needs the love and support from him, but for either of them to truly get what they want out of life they can't be together.

    They stay together out of fear, and because they're comfortable together, rather than undying love. They both want to take the chance, but neither can bring themselves to hurt the other or to take the chance on their own.

  5. anonymous
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    May 16th 2011 !⃝

    I agree and when he says to her turn around bright eyes he's saying he still loves her and it's gonna be okay.

  6. anonymous
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    Apr 9th 2011 !⃝

    Here is what it means to me.

    I fell in love with the love of my life at a young age. We were wild and crazy about each other. Wild love. Wild life.

    then we were married. Had kids.
    Turnaround, every now and then I get a
    little bit lonely and you're never coming around.

    Turnaround, every now and then I get a
    little bit tired of listening to the sound of my tears. (boredom in marriage)

    turnaround, every now and then I get a
    little bit nervous that the best of all the years have gone by. (boredom, marriage/kids)

    turnaround, every now and then I get a
    little bit terrified and then I see the look in your eyes.
    (he is the love of my life with his love, and his bright eyes)

    turnaround bright eyes, every now and
    then I fall apart
    (fall apart with all the stress.. Fall apart with one look in his eyes/love)

    turnaround, every now and then I know
    you'll never be the boy you always you wanted to be
    (he's never going to be the pro baseball player he wanted to be when we were kids)

    turnaround, every now and then I know
    you'll always be the only boy who wanted me the way that I am
    (it was love at first sight; he loved me as the crazy girl I am)

    turnaround, every now and then I know
    there's no one in the universe as magical and wonderous as you
    (he is the love of my life)

    turnaround, every now and then I know
    there's nothing any better and there's nothing I just wouldn't do
    (i'd never marry anyone but him!!)

    and I need you now tonight
    and I need you more than ever
    and if you'll only hold me tight
    we'll be holding on forever
    (because, at night, when i'm scared, or lonely because maybe something went wrong during the day or i'm stressed with bills or with life, I know I need him ore than ever; and when he is holding me tight, all our problems magically go away!)

    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 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
    (so no matter what happens, your love is like a shadow on me; and I need you, tonight and always)

    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
    (the total eclipse is: once I was young and naive and there was only light and happiness; now there is like a magical eclipse; love in the dark; needed love; always love; it is a total eclipse of my heart; not a bad thing, just a realization of the need fulfilled!)

  7. anonymous
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    May 13th 2010 !⃝

    I believe it is about a woman who is amrried, and seperated. She calls out to her husband to do good on his vows "forever starts now."

  8. anonymous
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    Apr 27th 2010 !⃝

    It could be about her needing to turn her life around see from another angle

  9. anonymous
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    Nov 10th 2009 !⃝

    I think it's all of the above as well as: She is at a cross roads in her life. On one hand she is feeling suffocated by their life and relationship and she has theses dreams of things she wants from life. Then she turns around and needs her lover to hold her tight to let her know everything is all right somthing like that but it's mostly a love song I think the eclipse is she's torn between what she wants and what she has and what she desires, all rolled into one.

  10. anonymous
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    Jun 14th 2009 !⃝

    Here me out on this. If you watch the video she's surrounded by a bunch of school boys who are being very cool, sexy and successful. I think it's about falling in love and having an affair with someone who is either a student or too young to be messed with. The first stanza sounds like a mid-life crisis or depression with that person calling out to her. She doesn't want them but they want her.

    "Turnaround, Every now and then I get a
    little bit restless and I dream of something wild"

    So she acts on her urges and has the affair and because they're in love, "They'll only be making it right."

    But she starts to regret it, hence the powder keg line and the fact that his love is like a shadow. The thing eclipsing her heart is her regret of letting this go as far as it did.

  11. rayray22
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    Mar 18th 2009 !⃝

    No, I've always thought it was about unrequited love too. I think we've got it right.

  12. Purplehaze69
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    Jan 24th 2008 !⃝

    This song is self explanatory. It's about unrequited love. Her heart has been 'totally eclipsed' by thinking about her love all the time.This is what I take it to mean but it might be about something completely different and I'm too dense to get it!

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