welcome back to Behind the Track last

week we talked about November Rain a

song with a powerful story behind it and

if you haven’t seen that episode yet

it’s a great follow-up after this one

today we’re diving into another iconic

ballad one that wasn’t born in a

recording studio or a boardroom but in a

garage this is the story of Take My

Breath Away by Berlin watching every

motion in my love

in 1986 the producers of Top Gun Don

Simpson and Jerry Brookheimimer were

desperate they listened to over 300

songs from different composers none of

them felt right the only thing they had

locked in was the instrumental opening

theme the now iconic Top Gun Anthem

composed by Harold Faltermine

but the emotional centerpiece still

missing that’s when they called Giorgio

Morader he just won an Oscar for Flash

Danc’s What a Feeling and the studio was

eager to replicate that success

they hoped he could work the same magic

marauder quickly came up with two tracks

one of them was Danger Zone

but before Kenny Loggins recorded it the

song was offered to Brian Adams he

turned it down why because he felt the

movie carried a militaristic message he

didn’t agree with he wasn’t the only one

who walked away the band Toto was also

considered but they dropped out due to

contract issues when it came to take my

breath away Morer already had the melody

but there was one problem he had the

music but no lyrics and his usual

lyricists all unavailable that’s where

fate stepped in through a garage tom

Whitlock a young mechanic had just

repaired the brakes on Marot’s Ferrari

up pulls a man in a red Ferrari and

asked if I could help him with his

brakes and I did and his name was George

Maroter and we became fast friends he

started calling me up quite frequently

they struck up a conversation and

Whitlock casually mentioned that he also

wrote lyrics moradair intrigued and out

of options handed him a cassette with

two demos one for Danger Zone and the

other for Take My Breath Away whitlock

listened to the tape in his car the

title Take My Breath Away was already

locked in so he built the story around

that line 2 days later he returned with

finished lyrics now they needed a voice

morauer first contacted Martha Davis

lead singer of the Motel she recorded a

version but it was never used

[Music]

then he reached out to Terry Nun

vocalist of Berlin with whom he’d

previously worked according to John

Crawford basist and co-founder of Berlin

Terry was only supposed to lay down a

placeholder vocal giorgio was planning

to hire a bigger name singer later but

once he heard Terry’s version he loved

it and decided to keep it the rest of

the band they had no idea in fact none

of them had heard the song until the

movie premiered they didn’t play on it

they didn’t write a word when Terry

heard the track she knew it was

something special but she felt the vocal

delivery needed more emotion so she made

subtle changes adding phrasing and

intensity that brought the song to life

the melody was kind of stiff like

watching every motion in this foolish

lover

gate on this endless ocean fight lovers

no no shame i was like I had nothing to

lose so I just sang it the way I wanted

to and I just kind of elongated it a

little bit watching every motion in the

bush lovers game i just wanted it to be

more fluid and they loved that what he

didn’t love take my breath

[Music]

away you know I was doing all this

little pretty like little stuff you you

you must make it just take my breath

away stop take my breath away

[Applause]

the record label pushed to include the

song on Berlin’s album because they knew

the film would be massive and just like

that Take My Breath Away became a Berlin

single despite being completely

disconnected from the band’s identity

the producers loved it so much they

added a brand new scene just to let the

full song play yeah so this was added

later this was not in the original

version of the movie

the the previous scene was but this is

this is all new

so we found a you know we had a long

enough scene finally to be able to use

it and put the lyrics in cuz they’re

always talking and when Top Gun

premiered Take My Breath Away became an

instant hit it topped the Billboard Hot

100 reached number one in the UK Ireland

the Netherlands and more it won the

Academy Award and the Golden Globe for

best original song in 1986 but behind

the scenes things were falling apart

terry Nun didn’t attend the Oscars

and though Berlin’s name was on the

credits the rest of the band felt like

passengers in someone else’s success

story we got the nomination for the song

and the Academy Award people called and

said “Well we want you to come sing the

song on the show.” And I said in my

23-year-old egoed out way “Well uh I

want to sing the whole song.” And they

said “Well no we we’re not doing that

we’re doing a medley you’re going to do

a verse and a chorus and then next song

is going to do their verse and chorus

and it’ll be a medley of the all the the

nominated songs.” And I said “Well I’m

not doing it.” And they said

“Okay thank you.”

And to this

day I regret

it that was I regret it mostly for my

mother cuz

she wanted so much to see that and then

it won

as the world celebrated the love theme

from Top Gun Berlin was unraveling the

song was forced onto their album Count

Three and Prey but its sound was

completely different from the rest of

their work it was a little hard for me

because I think my ego was hurt a little

bit because Berlin had been struggling

um finding an identity i we had reached

this point i had no clue at that point

in time in my life and as an egotistical

musician it was a lot easier to say “Oh

that’s commercial garbage

than I suck i can’t do that.” They

toured Europe with Frankie Goes to

Hollywood a bright spot in an otherwise

complicated time but it wasn’t enough to

hold them together it’s legendary now

but that’s one of the nails in the

coffin that happened for the band it was

a catch22 take my breath away because it

was number one but at the same time we

were already having problems in the band

and this was like oh my god half the

band was oh we’re going to have to play

this for the rest of our lives now cuz

it’s the biggest song we’ve ever had

damn it and the other half which I was

in was yeah it’s a great song and now we

get to go to China and we get to go to

Europe and this is great and so it

pushed us even further apart and I would

have to say that Take My Breath Away was

one of the decisive factors in the

breakup of Berlin as well as in one of

the greatest successes of Berlin so it’s

really strange isn’t it terry Nun

however continued performing the song

[Applause]

the song that took them to the top was

also the one that marked their farewell

today it’s hard to imagine Top Gun

without Take My Breath Away the track

won an Oscar a Golden Globe and became

one of the most iconic songs of the

decade but for the band behind the name

it’s a reminder that success can

sometimes come at a personal cost and

that not every hit is a victory if you

love discovering the stories behind the

music hit subscribe and if you haven’t

seen our November Rain episode yet it’s

waiting for you this was Behind the

Track