Eternal Flame (song)

"Eternal Flame"
Single by The Bangles from the album Everything
Released	February 11, 1989
Format	Vinyl record (7"), CD (3"), Cassingle
Recorded	Ocean Way, Studio 55
Genre	Pop
Length	3:56
Label	Columbia Records
Writer	Susanna Hoffs Tom Kelly Billy Steinberg
Producer	Simon Cowell
The Bangles singles chronology
"In Your Room" (1988) "Eternal Flame" (1989) "Be With You" (1989)

"Eternal Flame" was a hit single for The Bangles in 1989, peaking at #1 in six nations, including Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It is notable for having been produced by future Pop Idol, The X Factor, and American Idol judge, Simon Cowell

Contents 1 History 2 Track lists 3 Charts 4 Credits 5 Cover versions 5.1 Atomic Kitten 5.1.1 History 5.1.2 Track listing 5.1.3 Charts 5.2 Other covers 6 Solo and Live Performances 7 References 8 External links

History

It was a ballad, unlike the rest of the garage-band pop songs on their album Everything. Co-writer Billy Steinberg describes it as "The Beatles meet The Byrds". The song was inspired by two eternal flames: one for Elvis Presley who Michael Steele discovered when the band was at Graceland, and one at a local synagogue in Palm Springs which Steinberg attended as a child.^[1] It spent one week at number one (2nd for the band) on the Billboard Hot 100, preceded by "The Living Years" by Mike + The Mechanics and followed by "The Look" by Roxette, spent four weeks at number one on the UK singles chart, preceded by "Like a Prayer" by Madonna and followed by "Hand on Your Heart" by Kylie Minogue, and spent seven weeks at the #1 position in the Dutch Top 40. The song was Australia's biggest selling single of '89 and was sent-up on Australian TV show Fast Forward.

Track lists

Side	Title	Length
A	"Eternal Flame"	3:56
B	"What I Meant To Say"	3:20

Charts

Chart (1989)	Peak position
Austria Top 75	5
Australian ARIA Singles Chart	1
Dutch Top 40	1 (Platinum)[2]
German Singles Chart	4
Irish Singles Chart	1
Norway Singles Chart	1
Switzerland Singles Chart	2
UK Singles Chart	1 (Gold)[3]
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	1

Preceded by "The Living Years" by Mike + The Mechanics	Billboard Hot 100 number one single (Bangles version) April 1 1989	Succeeded by "The Look" by Roxette
Preceded by "Like a Prayer" by Madonna	UK Singles Chart number one single (Bangles version) April 9 1989 - April 30 1989	Succeeded by "Hand on Your Heart" by Kylie Minogue

Credits

• Writers: Susanna Hoffs, Billy Steinberg, Tom Kelly
• Producer: Simon Cowell
• Recorded by: John Beverly Jones
• Mixed by: Frank Filipetti

Cover versions

Atomic Kitten

"Eternal Flame"
Single by Atomic Kitten from the album Right Now
Released	July 23, 2001
Format	CD single, digital download
Recorded	2001
Genre	Pop
Length	3:17
Label	Virgin
Atomic Kitten singles chronology
"Whole Again" (2001) "Eternal Flame" (2001) "You Are" (2001)

History

A cover version by Atomic Kitten from the Right Now album was released as a single and reached number one for two weeks in the UK charts in 2001. Susanna Hoffs liked the cover version and she subsequently teamed up with Atomic Kitten and wrote "Love Doesn't Have to Hurt" for their next album Feels So Good.

Track listing

Side	Title	Length
1.	"Eternal Flame"	3:15
2.	"Album Medley"	5:30
3.	"Eternal Flame (Blacksmitch RnB Rub)"	3:54
4.	"Eternal Flame" video	3:16

Charts

Chart (2001)	Peak position
Austria Top 75	3
Australian ARIA Singles Chart	47
Belgium Singles Chart	1
Canadian Singles Chart	15
Dutch Top 40	1
French Singles Chart	2
German Singles Chart	5
Irish Singles Chart	2
New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart	1 (Gold)[4]
Norway Singles Chart	13
Philippine Top Hits	4
Poland Singles Chart	3
Portugal Singles Chart	5
Spain Singles Chart	19
Sweden Singles Chart	2
UK Singles Chart	1 (Gold)[5]

Preceded by "Eternity / The Road to Mandalay" by Robbie Williams	UK Singles Chart number one single (Atomic Kitten version) July 29 2001 - August 12 2001	Succeeded by "21 Seconds" by So Solid Crew
Preceded by "19-2000" by Gorillaz	New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart number one single (Atomic Kitten version) September 23 2001	Succeeded by "Eternity / The Road to Mandalay" by Robbie Williams

Other covers

"Eternal Flame"
Single by Rollergirl from the album Now I'm Singin'... And the Party Keeps Rollin'
Released	2000
Recorded	2000
Genre	Pop
Writer	Susanna Hoffs Tom Kelly Billy Steinberg
Rollergirl singles chronology
"Luv U More" (1999) "Eternal Flame" (2000) "Superstar" (2000)

• The song has been covered in Japanese language in 1997 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", which Nagase played the main role. He also wrote the Japanese lyrics of this song. This Japanese cover version was released as a single in Japan under the name of "Tomoya with 3T".
• The song has been covered in 1999 by the Australian group Human Nature on the Counting Down album.
• 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^[6]
• A cover version has been made in 2005 by the Filipino acoustic duo M.Y.M.P. on the Versions album.
• The song has been covered in 2005 by the Portuguese Power Metal band Oratory on the "Interludium" EP
• The song has been covered in 2006 by Lena Hanenberg on the Love Songs album
• The song has been covered in 2004 by Beni Arashiro on her "Infinite..." single
• The song has been covered in 2005 by Jeremy Udden on his Torchsongs album
• The song has been covered in 2006 by LISA on her LISABEST ~mission on earth 9307~ album

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 also performed in 2006 by one of the Canadian Idol, Ashley Coulter
• It was also performed in the Star Academy by Cynthia, Elfy, and Dominique
• Finally, actress Maggie Gyllenhaal's character sang an abbreviated a cappella version in the independent film Sherrybaby

References

Additional sources used:

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

External links

• The Bangles official website