Songs That Make You Cry: Readers Respond
Bonnie Taylor &mdash Total Eclipse of the Heart
I used to hate this song. It is a sappy song of no use to someone who is a self-proclaimed music nerd, who rushes to the record store the day of a Kings of Leon release. It is the kind of song a fellow music nerd sees when searching through my iPod, snickers, repeats the title incredulously, and stores in their mental filing cabinet to mock me with later. But it always causes me to well up.
My sister downloaded it off Kazaa when I was about 11, and would dance around to it drunkenly while I sat on my bed blasting Bad Religion from my headphones and yelled at her to TURN IT THE FUCK OFF, IT WAS EATING AWAY AT MY SOUL, in my charming middle-school-punk manner. But she never did.
And we both got older, and we got closer, and she did more drugs and got further and further from who she used to be. But she still loved "Total Eclipse of the Heart," and always sang it to me when I cried, lying awake late at night, talking like only sisters can. And then she got sent to boarding school, charming high-school-punk that she was, and when she ran away and was home for one night, we stayed up all night talking, crying, and listening to "Total Eclipse of the Heart."
That was 2 years ago. Every time someone plays that song at a party (for irony's sake only, they insist), I politely excuse myself and stay in the bathroom until it's over, or I sing along with a pained smile and then take over as DJ. Damn you Bonnie Tyler, as I need you now tonight, and I need you more than ever.
Lexi Sasanow is a high school student in New York City. There, she enjoys iced coffee and going to concerts on school nights. She can be found on the web at xanga.com.