St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)
| "St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by John Parr | ||||
| from the album St. Elmo's Fire soundtrack | ||||
| B-side | "Treat Me Like an Animal", "Somebody Stole My Thunder", "One Love" (instrumental), "Georgetown" | |||
| Released | June 23, 1985 | |||
| Format | 7" | |||
| Length | 4:11 | |||
| Label | Atlantic | |||
| Writer(s) | David Foster, John Parr | |||
| Producer(s) | David Foster | |||
| John Parr singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)" is a song recorded by John Parr. It hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on September 7, 1985, remaining there for two weeks. It was the main theme for Joel Schumacher's 1985 film St. Elmo's Fire.
The song also peaked at number six in the United Kingdom, Parr's home country.[1] and became a number-one hit for John Parr around the world and provided many awards and a Grammy nomination.
The song was originally written by David Foster and John Parr for the Canadian athlete Rick Hansen, who at the time was going around the world in his wheelchair to raise awareness for spinal cord injuries. His journey was called the "Man in Motion Tour."[2][3]
The song did not initially feature on Parr's studio albums, only appearing on the London Records re-release of his self-titled debut album in the United Kingdom[4] and on a very rare 1985 West German CD re-release of the album.
Several members of Toto appear on the recording.
Personnel
- John Parr - Guitar, vocals
- David Foster, Steve Porcaro, David Paich - Keyboards
- Steve Lukather - Guitar
- Carlos Vega - Drums
- Jerry Hey - Trumpet
- Bill Reichenbach Jr. - Trombone
- David Amato, Richard Marx - Backing vocals
In popular culture
The song is briefly heard in an episode of The Simpsons, "Sideshow Bob Roberts" it is Lisa Simpson's favorite song.
The song is used at the end of an episode of The Goldbergs when the family prepares a Thanksgiving dinner.
The line "Gonna be your man in motion" is repeated by Jason Sklar in an episode of Cheap Seats.
It was featured heavily in the 2007 movie The Brothers Solomon.
The song is briefly heard in an episode of The Facts of Life.
In 2012, John Parr re-recorded the song with new lyrics, dubbed "Tim Tebow's Fire", to honor Tim Tebow of the Denver Broncos.[5] Parr stated to Denver FOX affiliate KDVR, "I was inspired by Tim Tebow so I wanted to modify the lyrics...in his honor of the way that he lives his life as being a great example."[6] The re-recorded song was featured on an episode of SportsNation. Both the original and Tim Tebow versions are available for download for the video game Rock Band 3 via the Rock Band Network.
In 2016, the track was used in a TV commercial named 'Rock, Paper, Scissors' for Google's Android operating system.[7]
Music video
The music video features all seven of the main cast of the film St. Elmo's Fire looking sadly through the foggy windows of a run-down and fire-damaged version of the St. Elmo's Bar set. The video was directed by Kort Falkenberg III, who devised the concept with the film's director, Joel Schumacher. The production company only had Parr for a single day before he had to go back to England, so the shoot had to be done in exactly 24 hours.
The Canadian version of the video intersperses images of Rick Hansen's trek with those of the film.
The ending of the video shows Parr singing to each individual cast member from the film before he disappears into the night, and the cast follows him.
Covers
The Ventures performed an instrumental cover version of the song on their 2006 album, Major Motion Picture.
It was remixed by Tommyknockers in May 2006 with the title "New Horizon", which reached #43 in Britain, but failed to chart at all in the United States.
It was remixed by 2-4 Grooves in 2008 with the title "Writing on the Wall".
Parr himself performed two other versions ("unplugged" and "acoustic") for the film The Brothers Solomon.
Chart performance
| Chart (1985-1986) | Peak Position |
|---|---|
| Austrian Singles Chart | 8 |
| Canadian RPM Singles Chart | 1 |
| Dutch Top 40 | 22 |
| French Singles Chart | 62 |
| Irish Singles Chart | 5 |
| New Zealand Singles Chart | 5 |
| Norwegian Singles Chart | 3 |
| Swedish Singles Chart | 4 |
| Swiss Music Charts | 4 |
| UK Singles Chart | 6 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 | 1 |
| US Hot Adult Contemporary | 4 |
| US Top Rock Tracks | 2 |
| US Album Rock Tracks | 1 |
| Chart (2016) | Position |
|---|---|
| Poland (Polish Airplay Top 100)[8] | 81 |
| Preceded by "The Power of Love" by Huey Lewis and the News |
Billboard Hot 100 number-one single September 7, 1985 – September 14, 1985 |
Succeeded by "Money for Nothing" by Dire Straits |
| Preceded by "Crying Over You" by Platinum Blonde |
Canadian RPM Singles Chart number-one single September 14, 1985 – September 28, 1985 |
Succeeded by "Dancing in the Street" by Mick Jagger and David Bowie |
References
- ↑ Farrar, Doug (2012-01-10). "John Parr re-records the 'St. Elmo's Fire' theme song with Tebow-centric lyrics | Shutdown Corner - Yahoo! Sports". Sports.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2013-03-28.
- ↑ (January 12, 2012). "John Parr Rewrites 'St. Elmo's Fire' As Valentine To Tebow", NPR. Retrieved October 8, 2012.
- ↑ (October 27, 2010). "Foster's song struck chord with Johns", The Province. Retrieved October 8, 2012.
- ↑ Original copy of album #LOnLP 12
- ↑ KDVRDenver (2012-01-09). ""Tim Tebow's Fire" by John Parr". YouTube. Retrieved 2012-01-10.
- ↑ Web Staff, FOX 31 Denver (2012-01-10). "'St. Elmo's Fire' singer reworks 1980's hit for Tim Tebow". FOX 31 Denver. Retrieved 2012-01-10.
- ↑ Google (2016-02-28). "Android: Rock, Paper, Scissors". YouTube.
- ↑ "Listy bestsellerów, wyróżnienia :: Związek Producentów Audio-Video". Polish Airplay Top 100. Retrieved April 11, 2016.