It's All Coming Back to Me Now is a power ballad written by Jim Steinman that has been recorded by Pandora's Box, Celine Dion and Meat Loaf.
"It's All Coming Back to Me Now" | |
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Steinman says that he attempted to write the most passionate, romantic song that he could ever write. Influenced by Wuthering Heights, he compares it to "Heathcliffe digging up Kathy's corpse and dancing with it in the cold moonlight." The song, though, is about the "dark side of love".[1]
"It's about obsession, and that can be scary because you're not in control and you don't know where it's going to stop. It says that, at any point in somebody's life, when they loved somebody strongly enough and that person returns, a certain touch, a certain physical gesture can turn them from being defiant and disgusted with this person to being subservient again. And it's not just a pleasurable feeling that comes back, it's the complete terror and loss of control that comes back. And I think that's ultimately a great weapon."[1]
In 1986, Steinman gave the song to Meat Loaf for Bat out of Hell II: Back into Hell, which they were then planning. However, they decided to use "I'd Do Anything for Love (but I Won't Do That)" for Bat 2 and save this song for Bat Out of Hell 3.[2]
Pandora's Box
In the interim, Steinman produced a concept album, Original Sin, with an all-female group called Pandora's Box, which featured many Steinman tracks that would later be recorded by other artists. Elaine Caswell was the vocalist for "It's All Coming Back to Me Now", and she apparantley collapsed five times during its recording.[3] The song was released as a single in the UK, but only reached number 51 in the singles charts, in October 1989.[4] In its emphatic review of the album, Kerrang! magazine called this song "excruciatingly operatic."[5]
The video was directed by Ken Russell, and was filmed at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire. Steinman wrote the script, based on Russell's segment in the compilation opera movie Aria.[6] Elements include leather, snakes, tombstones and cockrings with shrunken heads. It featured Caswell as a girl near death from a motorcycle crash being ministered to by paramedics, fantasising and being "sexually aroused by a large python and writhing on a bed that lit up in time with the music, while surrounded by a group of bemused, semi-naked dancers."[7] When Steinman's manager saw it, he said "It's a porno movie!"[6] The two day shoot ran over schedule and budget, costing £35,000 an hour. Russell and Steinman even designed a sequence where a motorcyclist would cycle up the steps of a local church-tower, jump out of the turrets at the top, and then explode. The wardens of the church refused permission, however.[7]
The 7", 12" and CD singles featured Steven Margoshes's piano solo "Pray Lewd", Steinman's monologue "I've Been Dreaming Up A Storm Lately", and "Requiem Metal", a sample from Verdi's Requiem Mass, all from the Original Sin album.[8]
Celine Dion
Template:Sample box start variation 1 Template:Multi-listen start Template:Multi-listen item Template:Multi-listen end Template:Sample box end Steinman then gave the song to Celine Dion for her Falling Into You album. He produced the track, with Steven Rinkoff and Roy Bittan as co-producers. Bat Out of Hell and Meat Loaf collaborators Todd Rundgren, Eric Troyer, Rory Dodd, Glen Burtnick and Kasim Sulton provided backing vocals. The track reached #2 in the US, and #3 in the UK.
The video was written and directed by Nigel Dick, with Simon Archer as cinematographer and Jaromir Svarc as art director. It was shot in Prague across five days in June and July 1996.[9] It again features Steinman typical imagery, including a motorcyclist and gothic setting.
Bat Out of Hell III
In an interview, Meat Loaf said that, in his mind, the song was always meant to be a duet.[10] Before the listings for the Bat III album were made public, Meat Loaf performed the song in the 2006 season finale of American Idol with Katharine McPhee. It was recorded as a duet by Meat Loaf and Marion Raven for the album Bat out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose, and produced by Desmond Child.
P. R. Brown directed the video,[11] which premiered on VH1 Classic on 8 August 2006[12]. The story is told through flashback, with Raven as a ghost for the darker parts. She flees from a masquerade ball in a car during the final chorus, which she crashes when swerving to avoid a man standing in the road.
The track was available to download from iTunes in the UK in August 2006, two months before its CD release on 16 October. According to Amazon.co.uk, it will also be released as a DVD single. The album version was made available on Meat Loaf and Marion Raven's MySpace sites in August.[13] y
References
- ^ a b "Jim Steinman on "It's All Coming Back To Me Now"". JimSteinman.com. Retrieved 2006-09-04.
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at position 26 (help) - ^ Loaf, Meat (2006-08-04). (Interview). Interviewed by Steve Wright.
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suggested) (help) - ^ "Pandora's Box Press Kit" (Reprint on website) (Press release). Virgin Records. 1989. Retrieved 2006-09-04.
- ^ British Hit Singles, Guinness
- ^ Jeffries, Neil (1989). "Jim In A Box" (Reprint on website). Kerrang!. Retrieved 2006-09-04.
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specified (help) - ^ a b Simmons, Sylvie (1989). "Sex, Lies & Videotape" (Reprint on website). RAW magazine. Retrieved 2006-09-04.
- ^ a b Hotten, Jon (September, 2000). "Bat Out Of Hell - The Story Behind The Album" (Reprint on website). Classic Rock Magazine. Retrieved 2006-09-03.
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(help) - ^ "Pandora's Box Discography & Collectibles". JimSteinman.com. Retrieved 2006-09-03.
- ^ "Clipland / Music Videos / Celine Dion 'It's All Coming Back To Me Now'". Clipland. Retrieved 2006-09-04.
- ^ "Rock Legend". Channel 9. Retrieved 2006-09-02. -- interview posted on YouTube
- ^ "Meat Loaf & Marion Raven "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" dir. P.R. Brown". videos.antville.org. Retrieved 2006-08-29.
- ^ "Latest headlines". Virginrecords.com. Retrieved 2006-08-29.
- ^ http://www.myspace.com/meatloaf ; http://www.myspace.com/marionraven