The History of a Theme Song

While watching the intro to Paradise the other night, my eye caught Ann Wilson’s name in the closed caption.

In a blog entry from last year,[1] I incorrectly credited the great Ann Wilson from Heart as a co-writer on the Bachelor in Paradise theme song. I was shocked in a good way that the woman whose voice powered such rock classics as Crazy on You, Barracuda, and Alone[2] would have co-created such a fabulously cheesy earworm.

Allow me to correct the story. I was partially incorrect. Ann did help bring the song to life, not as a co-writer but as a co-singer with Mike Reno, the lead singer for Loverboy (Turn Me Loose and Working for the Weekend). But more famously, the song Almost Paradise was one of the three hit songs from the 80’s classic movie Footloose. It reached #7 on the Billboard Hot 100, while the more familiar title track Footloose and Let’s Hear It for the Boy both hit #1.

The song’s writer is Eric Carmen, and he has a history, too. Boomer Dad knows him as the lead singer of the Raspberries (Go All the Way) and his big solo smash All By Myself. His millennial daughters know him from Celine Dion’s version of All By Myself. While Celine’s version seems the most ubiquitous, Eric’s version was the bigger hit in the U.S, #2 to Celine’s #4. However, hers was by far the bigger global smash.

Anyway, with my self-correction out of the way, you can hear the original rendition of the familiar chorus here. And although the producers of Paradise are using the song, it’s apparent they made their own very similar recording of it for the show. No doubt Mr. Carmen got paid, though.

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[1] April 14, 2020

[2] Sigh. One of my favorite power ballads. It moves me beyond words.