Dance of The Vampires - Songs

Songs

While Steinman's fans acclaim it as his biggest musical success, about 70% of the musical score written by Steinman was recycled from his earlier projects, mainly from his less-known shows like The Dream Engine and The Confidence Man (co-written with Ray Errol Fox), although it also features music from his widely known records like "Total Eclipse of the Heart" (remade as "Totale Finsternis"), the melody, but not the lyric, from a Bat Out Of Hell II song called "Objects in the Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are" (remade as "Die unstillbare Gier") and "Original Sin", originally written for Pandora's Box album of the same name and later sung by "Meat Loaf" in Welcome to the Neighborhood (parts of which were remade as "Gott Ist Tot" and "Einladung Zum Ball").

Asked at one point to explain this phenomenon, particularly with regard to the re-use of "Total Eclipse," Steinman explained, "That was an accident almost. I'm surprised it stayed in. in Vienna, I had only a month and a half to write this whole show and we needed a big love duet... But with 'Total Eclipse of the Heart,' I was trying to come up with a love song and I remembered I actually wrote that to be a vampire love song. Its original title was 'Vampires in Love' because I was working on a musical of Nosferatu, the other great vampire story. If anyone listens to the lyrics, they're really like vampire lines. It's all about the darkness, the power of darkness and love's place in dark. And so I figured 'Who's ever going to know; it's Vienna!' And then it was just hard to take it out."

Asked about the impact of previously heard songs, especially "Total Eclipse," on the show's popularity in Europe, Steinman replied, "Well, the reaction, at least in Europe, was great. They recognized it, but then it seems - if it's done well - to take on a different personality."