How the song "Eternal Flame" was created, and what it cost its authors

"Eternal Flame". - is a song by the American band The Bangles, written by Susanna Hoffs, who also performed it at one of their concerts. The song was very popular, became a number one hit in a number of countries and got a lot of covers. Today we will tell the story of this song and its author Susanna Hoffs.

Background

Suzanne has loved music since she was a child. When she was a little girl, her mum played Beatles songs for her on the guitar, and of course it didn't go unnoticed: in her teenage years Suzanne had already learnt to play the guitar. The inspiration didn't leave her when she became an adult.

In the late 70s, Suzanne received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Berkeley. Interestingly, Suzanne originally wanted to be a dancer rather than a musician, but studying at university and attending concerts of famous rock bands of the time shifted her priorities. From then on, Suzanne knew for sure that she wanted to play in a band.

Inspired by the work of punk rock bands such as The Ramones, Hoffs organises his own band with Debi and Vicky Paterson. At first, the band was called The Bangs, but as is often the case, it turned out that there was already a band, the day before the release of their first album. So The Bangs became The Bangles.

Song Creation

At a concert in '86, Suzanne met songwriter Tom Kelly. Kelly wrote music with another songwriter, Billy Steinberg. That's how their trio came to be. Working with these songwriters was very interesting for Susanna, because they took the exact opposite approach to songwriting than she did: Susanna matched the lyrics to the melody he had composed, while Kelly and Steinbeck drew from the lyrics and matched the melody to them.

The first song they created was "I Need A Disguise", sung by Belinda Carlisle. The trio went on to work on the album "Everything" for The Bangles.

The song "Eternal Flame" was inspired by two eternal flames. One of them was in Graceland on the grave of Elvis Presley. A private tour was organised especially for the female members of the band. However, it was raining that day and the "eternal" flame did not burn. When Suzanne told Steinberg about this, he immediately recalled how he had attended Sunday school as a child and had seen the eternal flame for the first time during a tour of a synagogue in Palm Springs.

It was after this that Steinberg got the idea for the song. He and Suzanne composed it in his house and then brought it to Kelly to finish writing the music.

The style of the song was heavily influenced by the Beatles' "We Can Work It Out": like it, "Eternal Flame" lacks a chorus and both verses end with the song's title. In an interview, Steinberg explained that this was normal for songs from the 60s. Therefore, there is a touch of retro style in "Eternal Flame".

However, the recording of the song didn't "stick" at first. The demo song was played on guitar, even though it would have been more suitable for a keyboard instrument. Except that The Bangles didn't have a keyboard player. As a result, producer Davit Sigerson and the other band members decided not to include the song on the next album. Suzanne was very upset, but decided to accept her friends' choice.

However, a few days later, Sigerson came up to her and said that the song was on his mind. He even came up with a new arrangement for the song that would sound like a music box. They decided to give "Eternal Flame" another chance. Sigerson found keyboardist John Philip Chenalet, and they made a new recording of the song. Sigerson knew that Suzanne liked Patsy Klein's vintage recordings and was inspired by their sound to arrange "Eternal Flame".

However, that was not all. Next, the band's manager, Michael Copland heard the recording, and he didn't like the sound of the drums. As a result, the song was re-recorded again, with a stronger beat.

They really worked hard on the song and it's no surprise that it wasn't long before "Eternal Flame" became a hit.

The success of the composition

Nine Fears of the World placed the song at number one, including the Billboard magazine chart. The song has been described as a beautiful and tender ballad, with influences from bands such as The Byrds and The Beatles.

However, in a wicked irony, the popularity of the song itself had a negative impact on the popularity of the band as a whole. The song emphasised the talent of Susanna Hoffs too much, while the rest of the band looked more like a support group. In the next singles the girls tried to restore the balance of power and Debbie Paterson took over the vocals. But this attempt was unsuccessful, and in less than a year the band broke up.

The song itself flourished without even realising the impact it had on its creators. Later, "Eternal Flames" was covered, the most successful of which was the version by Atomic Kitten, who were able to give the old ballad a completely new reading.