Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse (dj edit #2)

According to the database, there are two different DJ edits for Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart." One runs (4:43), which has appeared on a handful of CDs; the other runs (4:36).

Does anyone know if the (4:36) DJ version is an early fade of the (4:43) version, or if it is a completely different edit?

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks jimct. This is one of my favorite songs and I've always wondered why the timings were so mixed up on the 45s. It is a fairly long song, so I wonder if they put the 4:29 timing on there on purpose in an effort to get more stations to program the song(?) Even in 1983, a 5 1/2 minute song was kind of long to hear on the average station.

Oddly enough, the Canadian 45 has no timing listed, but on the Canadian oldie-series single, it was listed as 5:30.

To add to this discussion:

I'm pretty sure the "4:29" on the label was done to foster airplay, like the "3:05" on the stock copies of "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" by the Righteous Brothers. Sure, once it was screened by a PD, he'd have realized he'd been taken, but he would not have rejected the record on length alone. It wouldn't surprise me at all that, unless a record was by one of the hottest acts in America at the time (e.g. The Beatles in the 60s, Elton John in the mid-70s), many long records were thrown on the discard pile without even a listen.

The 4:43 version, by the way, matches the British single version; that edit appears on the earliest U.K. Now That's What I Call Music! LP, released in 1983.

my commercial 45 issued as columbia 03906 states a run time on the label as 4:29 but actually runs 5:31......in addition, the versions in the db that run 5:33 run 0:02 longer than the 45......if you fade out the last 0:03 from 5:28 to 5:31 you'll be able to replicate the proper 45 version.......my guess is that the 5:25/5:26 running time cd versions fade out prematurely.....can anyone confirm this.....

It's been a while since I did my comparisons for this song, so I don't have editing instructions handy.

The versions around 6:58 are the LP version from Faster Than The Speed Of Night. I have this on PolyTel Canada's Rock With The '80s (1990), Sony's 2-CD Read The Hits (1994), and Realm's 3-CD Greatest Hits Of '80s Vol. 1 (1995).

The 4:43 promo 45 edit turns up on Time-Life's 2-CD Heart Rock (1988; faded a little early), Columbia's Rock Of The 80's (1988), Columbia's Seems Like Yesterday Vol. 4 (1990), Time-Life's Sounds Of The Eighties Vol. 16 The Early '80s (1996; different-EQ'd digital clone of Heart Rock, so fades a little early), and Warner Special Products' 2-CD Touched By Love (1997; same analog transfer as Heart Rock, so fades a little early).

The 5:31 version from the promo and commercial 45s turns up on Sony's 3-CD After The Love (1991; faded a little early), Razor & Tie's 2-CD Forever '80s (1994; sounds very close to After The Love and fades slightly early), Rhino's Billboard Top Hits 1983 (1992), Time-Life's 2-CD Body Talk Vol. 1 Forever Yours (1996; differently EQ'd digital clone of Billboard disc), and Rhino's 7-CD Like Omigod box (2002).

There's one more edit that's out there on CD. A version running 4:27 (including outro silence so it's a second or two shorter than 4:27) turns up on EMI UK's 2-CD Now 1983 (1993) and on Madacy's Rock On 1983 Vol. 2 (2005). I don't have specific edit points handy, but I noted to myself that there's an additional edit at the end of the song, compared with the 4:43 version. I suspect that this may be the UK single version, but can't confirm.

Edited by crapfromthepast