Eternal Flame (3:55)

Released February 11, 1989

“Eternal Flame” is a song by The Bangles, which became a hit single in 1989, peaking at number one in the charts in six countries; including: Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It was written by popular songwriters Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly and the Bangles’ own Susanna Hoffs.

It was a ballad, unlike the rest of the garage-band pop songs on their album Everything. Co-writer Billy Steinberg describes it as “The Beatles meet The Byrds”.

The song was inspired by two eternal flames: one for Elvis Presley that Michael Steele saw when the band was at Graceland, and one at a local synagogue in Palm Springs which Steinberg attended as a child.[1]

It spent one week at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, preceded by “The Living Years” by Mike + The Mechanics and followed by “The Look” by Roxette; spent four weeks at number one on the UK singles chart, preceded by “Like a Prayer” by Madonna and followed by “Hand on Your Heart” by Kylie Minogue; and spent seven weeks at the #1 position in the Dutch Top 40. It also topped the U.S. adult contemporary chart for two weeks.

The song was Australia’s biggest selling single of ‘89 and was sent-up on the Australian TV show Fast Forward.

Eternal Flame was featured in an episode of True Blood on HBO and Pushing Daisies on ABC, where it was sung by Kristin Chenoweth.