Eternal Flame (song)

"Eternal Flame" is a song by The Bangles from their 1988 album Everything. It became a hit single, when released in 1989, peaking at number one in the charts in nine countries, including Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It was written by popular songwriters Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly and The Bangles' own Susanna Hoffs. With this song and Walk Like An Egyptian (both reach to the Top), The Bangles becoming only the third "all-girls group" to have scored multiple No. 1s in the United States. (The others are The Supremes, who had 12, and The Shirelles, with 2.).

History

Unlike the rest of the garage-band pop songs on their album Everything, the song was a ballad. Co-writer Billy Steinberg describes it as "The Beatles meet The Byrds".

The song was inspired by two eternal flames: one at the gravesite of Elvis Presley that the Bangles saw when the band visited Graceland,^[1] and one at a local synagogue in Palm Springs which Steinberg attended as a child.^[2] Steinberg recalled to Songfacts: "Susanna was talking about The Bangles having visited Graceland, and she said there was some type of shrine to Elvis that included some kind of eternal flame. As soon as those words were mentioned, I immediately thought of the synagogue in the town of Palm Springs, California where I grew up. I remember during our Sunday school class they would walk us through the sanctuary. There was one little red light and they told us it was called the eternal flame."^[3]

It spent one week at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, blocking Milli Vanilli's "Girl You Know It's True" from reaching the summit position.^[4] It was preceded at #1 on the Hot 100 by Mike + The Mechanics' "The Living Years" and succeeded by Roxette's "The Look".

The song debuted on the UK Singles Chart in February 1989 at number 81 and peaked at number one in April spending four weeks there and went on to spend twenty weeks in the chart and was the UK's third best-selling song of 1989.

The song also spent seven weeks at the #1 position in the Dutch Top 40. It also topped the U.S. adult contemporary chart for two weeks.^[5]

The song was Australia's 4th biggest selling single of '89 and was sent up on the Australian TV show Fast Forward.

The song was featured in "Zach Galifianakis" "Comedy Central' Presents stand-up comedy routine where all of his ex-girlfriends form an a cappella group and sing this song about him. The song is performed by the Night Owls.

Track lists

"What I Meant To Say" is a non-album track, written by Debbi and Vicki Peterson and sung by Debbi.

Charts

Certifications

Personnel

• Writers: Susanna Hoffs, Billy Steinberg, Tom Kelly
• Producer: Davitt Sigerson (Bangles version)
• Recorded by: John Beverly Jones
• Mixed by: Frank Filipetti

Cover versions

Tomoya Nagase feat. 3T version

In 1997 has been covered in Japanese language the song by Tomoya Nagase, the vocalist of the Japanese idol rock group Tokio, featuring 3T. This song was used as the theme song of the Nippon TV drama "DXD", in which Nagase played the main role. He also wrote the Japanese version lyrics. This version was released as a single in Japan under the name of "Tomoya with 3T".

Charts

Atomic Kitten version

Atomic Kitten subsequently recorded the song in 2001 and released as the first single and sixth overall single from the reissue of the debut studio album, Right Now. It was the group's first single to feature new band member Jenny Frost. Their version was produced by Susanna Hoffs, who subsequently teamed up with Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly to write "Love Doesn't Have To Hurt", a single from the band's next album, Feels So Good. The single version of "Eternal Flame" is slightly different to the album version, featuring a new musical arrangement and new vocals.

Track listing

UK CD1

1. "Eternal Flame" - 3:15
2. "Right Now" (Jenny Frost Version) - 3:35
3. "Right Now" (K-Klass Phazerphunk Club Mix) - 7:22
4. "Eternal Flame" (Blacksmith RnB Club Dub) - 3:55
5. "Right Now" (Video)

UK CD2

1. "Eternal Flame" - 3:15
2. "Album Medley" - 5:30
3. "Eternal Flame" (Blacksmith RnB Club Rub) - 3:54
4. "Eternal Flame" (Video)

UK Cassette

1. "Eternal Flame" - 3:15
2. "Album Medley" - 5:30
3. "Dancing In The Street" - 3:39

Music video

The video begins with the band members walking up to the screen in a stylized pace, in plain white clothes and bare feet, with a dark background. This is shown often in the video, and is also how the video ends. Throughout the video, each of the band members do different poses and dance moves in time to the song, with the dark, cloudy background in place. Also in one of the scenes in the video, all three band members are seen in a line, with a glass floor and four metal posts with lights in the background that accompanies the perennial dark background. In this scene, the girls are seen doing a basic dance routine in time with the song. For Jenny's solo, she is seen lying down on the floor doing a sexy pose. However, Frost later claimed in the So Far So Good DVD, that she had tonsillitis for the video shoot, and was laying down due to being ill and couldn't stand up.^[21] There is also a version of the video that contains clips from the movie The Parole Officer.

Chart performance

Atomic Kitten made the song another massive success, entering at number one in the UK, staying at the top for two weeks. "Eternal Flame" sold over 140,000 copies in its first week and 70,000 copies in its second week. On its first day, Eternal Flame sold 35,358 copies, and their closest rival was Destiny's Child with Bootylicious which sold 13,182 copies in its opening day. The song has sold over 400,000 copies in the UK, and has been certified Gold. The single entered the top five in over ten countries. The single went to number two in the French singles chart, a huge success, and became one of the best selling singles by a girl group of all time in France. However, it was their only single to reach the top twenty, making them one-hit wonders there. It was certified gold for sales of over 250,000 copies. Atomic Kitten's cover of "Eternal Flame" charted higher than the original version by The Bangles. Over a year later, the single appeared in the Canadian singles chart. "Eternal Flame" was Atomic Kitten's only single to chart over there. It debuted at number twenty, and peaked at number fifteen. It spent twelve weeks in the top forty - five of which were in the top twenty, making the song a moderate success. The single was a worldwide success entering the top twenty in every country it was released, except for Australia, where it peaked at number forty-seven. The single was also a number one hit in Belgium (Flanders), and it became their best selling single there, subsequently lasting sixteen weeks on the chart; it became the 28th best selling single of 2001 in Belgium. It also spent one week at number one in New Zealand. Eternal Flame went on to sell over one million copies worldwide and was certified Gold in the United Kingdom, France, Sweden, and New Zealand.

Charts and certifications

Chart procession and succession

Other cover versions

• In 1991, jazz fusion/contemporary jazz guitarist Chuck Loeb offered Chuck's version from the album "Balance."^[51]
• A Japanese rendition of "Eternal Flame" was also performed by Seiko Matsuda
• The song has also been covered by Atomic Kitten (band) in 2001.
• The song has been covered in 1999 by the Australian group Human Nature on the Counting Down album.
• An uptempo eurodance remix was recorded by DJ Kaos for Dancemania SPEED 3 released in 1999.
• The song has been covered in 2000 by Rollergirl on the Now I'm Singin'... And The Party Keeps On Rollin' and released as a single which peaked at #87 in the Swiss Charts^[52]
• A eurodance cover by Rochelle was released in the 2000s by Almighty Records. An audio sample can be heard on the official Almighty Records website.^[53]
• A punk rock version by Tagtraum was included on the 2001 compilation Punk Chartbusters Vol. 4.
• The song was covered in 2001 by the Argentine band Smitten on them Let me be album.
• The song was covered in 2004 by Japanese pop singer Beni Arashiro on her Infinite... single.
• The song was covered in 2005 by Jeremy Udden on his Torchsongs album.
• The song was covered in 2005 by Japanese artist LISA on her Melody Circus album.
• A cover version has been made in 2005 by the Filipino acoustic duo M.Y.M.P. on the Versions album.
• Portuguese power metal band Oratory included a rendition of the song on their 2005 "Interludium" EP.
• In 2006, the song was covered by former Deutschland sucht den SuperStar contestant Lena Hanenberg on the Love Songs album.
• A hi-NRG cover by Lady Crew was released as a single in 2008.
• Indie artists Marx/Engels recorded a cover of the song which was available for download on the Internet.
• The song was covered in 2008 by Human Nature on their album A Symphony of Hits
• Bonnie Tyler and French singer Laura Zen recorded a version in 2011 which went to French radio stations on Monday August 29th. The song was named "Eternal Flame (Amour éternel)".^[54]

Solo and live performances

• An a cappella version of this song was performed by The Night Owls as a part of Comedy Central Presents: Zach Galifianakis, which was shown on September 17, 2001
• A reggae version of "Eternal Flame" was performed by Wayne Wonder
• A jazz version of this song was performed by Laura Fygi
• A Japanese rendition of "Eternal Flame" was performed by Seiko Matsuda
• The song was performed in 2006 by one of the Canadian Idol, Ashley Coulter
• It was performed in the Star Academy by Cynthia, Elfy, and Dominique
• Comedian Jeremy Hardy, famous for his atrocious singing, 'sang' the song at the end of an episode of the BBC Radio4 series You'll have had your Tea.
• Actress Maggie Gyllenhaal's character sang an abbreviated a cappella version in the independent film Sherrybaby
• Singer-actress Kristin Chenoweth sang a humorous version of the song for the staged reading of the musical version of the film Earth Girls Are Easy. She also covered it on Pushing Daisies in the show's second season, on the episode called Comfort Food.
• In a second season episode of the television series The Vampire Diaries, Candice Accola performs the song while in character as Caroline Forbes.

References

Additional sources used:

• The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (5th edition)

External links

• The Bangles official website