Take My Breath Away

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“Take My Breath Away”
Single by Berlin from the album Top Gun soundtrack
B-side	"Radar Radio"
Released	1986
Genre	New Wave
Length	4:11
Label	Columbia Records
Writer(s)	Giorgio Moroder, Tom Whitlock
Producer	Giorgio Moroder
Certification	Gold (US)
Berlin singles chronology
"Dancing in Berlin" (1984) "Take My Breath Away" (1986) "Like Flames" (1986)

"Take My Breath Away" is the name of a love song about sex from the film Top Gun, written by Giorgio Moroder and Tom Whitlock, performed by the band Berlin. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song as well as the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song in 1987.

Contents 1 Releases and performance 2 Chart performance 3 Music Video 4 Cover versions 4.1 Jessica Simpson cover 4.1.1 Music video 4.1.2 Remixes and other versions 4.1.3 Chart performance 4.1.4 Charts 5 Uses 6 Charts 7 Of Interest to Ballroom Dancers 8 References 9 See also

[edit] Releases and performance

"Take My Breath Away" was the first single from the Top Gun soundtrack album and was released in 1986 as a split single alongside the song "Radar Radio":

1. "Take My Breath Away (Love Theme from Top Gun)" (performed by Berlin)
2. "Radar Radio" (performed by Giorgio Moroder featuring Joe Pizzulo, written by Giorgio Moroder and Tom Whitlock)

The song reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on September 13, 1986 and became number 1 in the UK for four weeks in November 1986.

"Take My Breath Away" is available on both the original Top Gun soundtrack album and the expanded edition, and was also released on Berlin's Count Three and Pray album in 1986 and featured in several of the band's best-of and remix albums: Best of Berlin 1979-1988, Master Series, Greatest Hits Remixed (which includes a "Mission UK Remix" version), Live: Sacred & Profane and Metro Greatest Hits. "Take My Breath Away" was one of the only songs not written by Berlin's John Crawford that they had performed on any album up to that point.

"Take My Breath Away" was re-released in October 1990 to coincide with the first television showing of Top Gun (by ITV, on the evening of 6 October) as well as Peugeot's new television advertising campaign for the 405 model range. The re-release reached number three in the UK singles charts.^[1]

[edit] Chart performance

Country	Peak position
Netherlands Dutch Top 40	1[2]
UK Singles Chart	1
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	1

[edit] Music Video

The music video features scenes from the movie Top Gun intermingled with Berlin's singer Terri Nunn performing the song in blue coveralls walking between pieces of planes in a windy junk yard or aircraft boneyard at night. Bandmates John Crawford and Rob Brill are shown relaxing in the yard and then following Terri.^[3] This video clip can be seen occasionally in VH1 Europe's Top 10 Movie Soundtracks program. This video was re-released within the 2004 Top Gun DVD Collector's Edition.

[edit] Cover versions

The song has been performed by other artists, such as Jessica Simpson, who included it on the special edition of her album In This Skin, the band Copeland on their album of cover songs, Know Nothing Stays the Same, and was translated into Cantonese and covered by Sandy Lam.

The Christian rock band Relient K also covered it as part of their "Top Gun Medley" on a few of their tours.

Originally Martha Davis of The Motels was asked by Giorgio Moroder to make a demo of the song. Her demo version is available on The Motels' Anthologyland CD.

Also to be found on YouTube under the listing for a Romanian band by the name of Activ,^[4] but unsure as to its validity due to not finding it on their website Activmusic.ro.

[edit] Jessica Simpson cover

“Take My Breath Away”
Single by Jessica Simpson from the album In This Skin
Released	March 25, 2004
Format	CD single
Recorded	2004
Genre	Pop
Length	3:15
Label	Columbia
Writer(s)	Giorgio Moroder, Tom Whitlock
Producer	billymann
Certification	Platinum
Jessica Simpson singles chronology
"With You" (2004) "Take My Breath Away" (2004) "Angels" (2004)
Audio sample
file info · help

"Take My Breath Away" is the third single by pop singer Jessica Simpson, released from the album In This Skin in 2004. It is a cover of the classic hit by Berlin, written by Giorgio Moroder and Tom Whitlock, with Simpson's version produced by billymann. Simpson chose to cover this song because she felt that it was the theme song of her relationship with her then husband, Nick Lachey. Simpson's version was also included on the compilation album Now That's What I Call Music! 16 (from the U.S. Now! series). The remix is seen on Much Dance 2005. It also received heavy airplay on Mainstream Urban stations.

[edit] Music video

The video shows her driving through a southwestern desert. She stops to fill up with gas, and then arrives at a diner where she watches lovers in motion. The music video peaked at #5 on MTV's TRL and spent a total of 12 days on the countdown.

[edit] Remixes and other versions

• "Take My Breath Away" [Album Version] - 3:12
• "Take My Breath Away" [Eddie Baez Mix 2] - 7:08
• "Take My Breath Away" [Orangefuzzz Club Mix] - 7:35
• "Take My Breath Away" [Passengerz Hourglass Mix] - 6:17
• "Take My Breath Away" [Eddie Baez Late Night Club Mix] - 6:30

[edit] Chart performance

"Take My Breath Away" became a number-twenty hit on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as a top ten hit on the Top 40 Tracks and the Top 40 Mainstream charts. The song also became another number-one hit for Simpson on the Hot 100 Singles Sales. Although the song did not break records of any sorts, it performed decently on the other tracks it charted on: the Adult Top 40, the Adult Contemporary, the Hot 100 Airplay, the Hot Dance Club Play, and the Hot Digital Tracks. In late 2005 it received a gold certification by the RIAA.

[edit] Charts

Chart (2004)	Peak position
Australian ARIA Singles Chart	15
Belgian Ultratop 50 Singles (Flanders)	16
Canadian Singles Chart	10
French Singles Chart	18
México Top 100	9
Swedish Singles Chart	43
UK Singles Chart	6
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	20
U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary	23
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play	10

[edit] Uses

• This song was used by Ford Motor Company in advertisements for the Mercury Cougar in 1989.
• This song was used on a Peugeot 405 advertisement for United Kingdom market at the end of eighties. The adverts opening sequence (featuring an unknown man dowsing a corn field with petrol, prior to it being 'ignited' by the car driving past) was cut due to concerns arsonists would be tempted to 'copycat' the advert.
• This song was used by GE Transportation Systems in an advertisement for the GE Evolution Series diesel locomotive.
• The song was used on a Daewoo Espero advertisement in early nineties for the Korean market.
• The song was also played in an episode of The King of Queens.
• A little fragment of the song was performed in a scene of Ocean's Eleven.
• The song plays during a clip from Baywatch watched by Borat in the 2006 film of the same name.
• The popular Canadian teen drama Degrassi: The Next Generation named an episode after this song.
• The song is featured prominently in Wong Kar-Wei's 1988 Movie As Tears Go By
• This song was used in the Season 3 finale of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia as Charlie's winning dance song against Dennis in a dance competition.
• The song appears in the video game Karaoke Revolution Volume 3.

[edit] Charts

Preceded by "Venus" by Bananarama	Billboard Hot 100 number-one single (Berlin version) September 13, 1986	Succeeded by "Stuck with You" by Huey Lewis and the News
Preceded by "Every Loser Wins" by Nick Berry	UK number one single November 4, 1986	Succeeded by "The Final Countdown" by Europe
Awards and achievements
Preceded by "Say You, Say Me" from White Nights	Academy Award for Best Original Song 1986	Succeeded by "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" from Dirty Dancing

[edit] Of Interest to Ballroom Dancers

Take My Breath Away is a great song for Rumba. It has a nice slow Rumba rhythm good for using great Cuban motion. http://www.tophatballroom.com/practice_rumba.php

[edit] References

• The Berlin Fan Page
• Top Gun Soundtrack Extended Edition Booklet

[edit] See also

• You Take My Breath Away