Burning The Ground Exclusive 1985
“St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion)” is a song by British singer John Parr from the 1985 film St. Elmo’s Fire. It hit number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart on 7 September 1985, remaining there for two weeks. It was the main theme for Joel Schumacher’s film and the first single from the soundtrack. The song was created and edited within 24 hours.
The song also peaked at number six in the United Kingdom, Parr’s home country, and became a number-one hit for John Parr around the world and provided many awards and a Grammy nomination.
David Foster and John Parr were contracted to write a song for the film, but Parr struggled with inspiration for the lyrics. Foster showed Parr a news clip about 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.” Parr decided to help the campaign by writing words that would fit vaguely with the film, but which directly referenced Hansen’s efforts.
Members of the bands Toto, REO Speedwagon, and Mr. Mister appear on the recording.
SIDE A:
St. Elmo’s Fire (Man In Motion) 4:10
Producer – David Foster
Written-By – Foster, Parr
SIDE B:
Treat Me Like An Animal 4:27
Producer – John Parr
Written-By – Parr*
Making Love With A Stranger 3:35
Producer – John Parr
Written-By – Parr*
VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint
U.S. CHART HISTORY:
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | St. Elmo’s Fire (Man In Motion) | U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | #1 |
| 1985 | St. Elmo’s Fire (Man In Motion) | U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks | #2 |
| 1985 | St. Elmo’s Fire (Man In Motion) | U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary | #10 |
RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: London Records – LONX 73, London Records – 884 003-1
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 45 RPM, Single
Country: UK
Released: Sep 1985
Genre: Rock
Style: Pop Rock
CREDITS:
Lacquer Cut By – Arun*
NOTES:
From the original motion picture soundtrack “St Elmo’s Fire”
featuring John Parr.
A 21st Century Wolff Production
Find the 12″ at DISCOGS
VINYL RESTORATION:
-DjPaulT
burningtheground.net
THE GEAR:
Turntable: Pro-Ject Debut Carbon (DC)
Cartridge/Stylus: Ortofon 2M Black
Turntable Isolation Platform: ISO-Tone™ Turntable Isolation Platform
Platter: Pro-Ject Acryl-It platter
Stabilizer: Pro-Ject Record Puck
Phono Pre-amp: Pro-Jec Tube Box DS2
DAC: Alpha Design Labs GT40a USB DAC
Record Cleaning: VPI HW 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine
Artwork Scans: Epson Workforce WF-7610 Professional Printer/Scanner
SOFTWARE:
Recording/Editing: Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Down Sampling/Dither: iZotope RX Advanced 2
Artwork Editor: Adobe Photoshop CS5
Click Removal: Manual
FLAC/MP3 Conversion: dBpoweramp
M3U Playlist: Playlist Creator
RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
FLAC (Level Eight)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi
Password: burningtheground
You can help show your support for this blog by making a donation using PayPal. Thank you for your help.
correction: file name is “niteromantics”
no, as of 8/3/2021 the file name on the 24bit flac file says “newromantic”
This still gets played on my local 80’s music station. I remember seeing the movie in 85 too.
Thanks Paul 🙂
Love the movie. It still gets played here too 🙂
This one is a real blast from the past! It was so huge at the time, but seems to have been mostly forgotten — kind of like the movie. I remember playing the soundtrack album a lot when walking to classes in college. It’s funny, but listening to it now, it sounds so much like David Foster’s production for Chicago of the same era. I don’t think I ever noticed that back then.
David Foster had a certain sound to his productions classic 50s 🙂
(Hey another David G. here!) I was a Chicago / David Foster fan in 1985, so I recognized Foster’s music and production immediately. St. Elmo’s Fire was one of the first CD’s I bought, as Foster wrote and produced almost all the music for the film. The instrumental ‘Love Theme’ actually hit #15 on the Billboard chart as well. The music to St. Elmo’s Fire is in a similar heroic vein as another Foster tune from that same era – “Flight of the Snowbirds”, from his 1986 solo album. A majestic instrumental written for the Canadian airplane military stunt team… Read more »
That’s very interesting about the first note. It does sound clipped on the soundtrack album. I always assumed that was what they intended, but obviously it wasn’t. I have a CD in my collection (“Sounds of the ’80s: 1985”) that has the full first note. I had never noticed that it was different!
Wow, two US #1’s in a row… You’re outdoing yourself Paul! Thank you!!
You’re welcome, Retro Hound maybe we can continue that trend 🙂
A definite favorite if mine Paul. Great memories of this song all through college. In fact, heard it on my college radio station first, before ever hearing it on commercial radio. Great production work from David Foster. Thanks for the amazing rip!!
Jeff
You’re welcome, Jeff 🙂
24bit version directs to wrong file…… (to Duran Duran LP)
Fixed now!