"St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)" is a song by British singer

John Parr John Stephen Parr (born 18 November 1952) is an English musician, singer, and songwriter, best known for his 1985 single " St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)" for the 1985 movie St. Elmo's Fire, charting at No.1 in the US and No.6 in the UK, and ...

from the 1985 film '' St. Elmo's Fire''. It hit No. 1 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart on 7 September 1985, remaining there for two weeks. It was the main theme for

Joel Schumacher Joel T. Schumacher (; August 29, 1939 – June 22, 2020) was an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Raised in New York City by his mother, Schumacher graduated from Parsons School of Design and originally became a fashion designe ...

's film, and first

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

from the soundtrack. The song was created and edited within 24 hours. The record peaked at No. 6 in the United Kingdom, Parr's home country, and became a No. 1 hit for him around the world, and provided many awards and a

Grammy The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

nomination. The song did not initially feature on Parr's studio albums, only appearing on the

London Records London Recordings (or London Records and London Music Stream) is a British record label that marketed records in the United States, Canada, and Latin America for Decca Records from 1947 to 1980 before becoming semi-independent. The London nam ...

re-release of his self-titled debut album in the United Kingdom. Members of the bands Toto,

REO Speedwagon REO Speedwagon (originally stylized as R.E.O. Speedwagon), or simply REO, was an American Rock music, rock band from Champaign, Illinois. Formed in 1967, the band cultivated a following during the 1970s and achieved significant commercial suc ...

and Mr. Mister appear on the recording.

Background and writing

David Foster David Walter Foster (born November 1, 1949) is a Canadian record producer, composer, arranger, and musician. He has won 16 Grammy Awards from 47 nominations. His career began as a keyboardist for the pop group Skylark in the early 1970s befor ...

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 Richard Marvin Hansen (born August 26, 1957) is a Canadian track and field athlete (Paralympic Games and Olympic Games), activist, and philanthropist for people with disabilities. When Rick was 15, he was riding in the back of a pickup truck ...

, 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.

Personnel

– guitar, vocals *

Steve Porcaro Steven Maxwell Porcaro (born September 2, 1957) is an American keyboardist, songwriter, singer, and film music composer, known as one of the founding members of the rock band Toto and the last surviving Porcaro brother (after the deaths of Jeff ...

David Paich David Frank Paich (born June 25, 1954) is an American keyboardist, singer, and songwriter, best known as the co-founder, principal songwriter, keyboardist, and secondary vocalist of the rock band Toto (band), Toto since 1977. He wrote or co-wrot ...

– keyboards *

Steve Lukather Steven Lee "Luke" Lukather (born October 21, 1957) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer, best known as the sole continuous founding member of the rock band Toto. His reputation as a skilled guitarist led to ...

– guitar *

Carlos Vega Carlos Vega (December 7, 1956 – April 7, 1998) was a Cuban-born Los Angeles-based session drummer best known for his performances with James Taylor. As a part of the L.A. studio scene from the late 1970s through the 1990s, Vega contributed to ...

– drums *

Jerry Hey Jerry Hey (born 1950) is an American trumpeter, flugelhornist, horn arranger, string arranger, orchestrator and session musician who has played on hundreds of commercial recordings, including Michael Jackson's '' Thriller'', '' Rock with Y ...

– trumpet * Bill Reichenbach Jr. – trombone * David Amato,

Richard Page Richard Lewis Page (born 22 February 1941) is a former Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979, and from 1979 to 2005. Early life Born the so ...

– backing vocals

In popular culture

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Ford played the song in advertisements for its

Mustang The mustang is a free-roaming horse of the Western United States, descended from horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish conquistadors. Mustangs are often referred to as wild horses, but because they are descended from once-domesticate ...

Pony car Pony car is an American car classification for affordable, compact, highly styled coupés or convertibles with a "sporty" or performance-oriented image. Common characteristics include rear-wheel drive, a long hood, a short deck, bucket seats ...

. In

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

, John Parr re-recorded the song with new lyrics, dubbed "Tim Tebow's Fire", to honor

Tim Tebow Timothy Richard Tebow (; born August 14, 1987) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for three seasons, primarily with the Denver Broncos. Tebow played college football for t ...

of the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West, West division. The team is headquartered in E ...

. Parr stated to

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

FOX Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

affiliate

KDVR KDVR (channel 31) is a television station in Denver, Colorado, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is simulcast full-time over satellite station KFCT (channel 22) in Fort Collins. Nexstar Media Group owns KDVR and KFCT alongsi ...

, "I was inspired by Tim Tebow so I wanted to modify the lyrics...in his honor of the way that he lives his life as being a great example." In 2017, it was heard on the short film '' Deadpool: No Good Deed''. It was also used in the 2018 animated film '' Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse'' and in the 2024 film ''

MaXXXine ''MaXXXine'' is a 2024 American horror film written, directed, produced, and edited by Ti West. It is the third and final installment in West's ''X'' trilogy and a direct sequel to '' X'' (2022). Mia Goth reprises her role as Maxine Minx, sta ...

''. In 2020–21, during '' Conan's'' stint at the Largo Theater, the song was part of a running gag, with different lyrics set to the tune of the chorus, while

Conan O'Brien Conan Christopher O'Brien (born April 18, 1963) is an American television host, comedian, writer, actor, and producer. He is best known for having hosted Late-night talk show, late-night talk shows, beginning with ''Late Night with Conan O'B ...

looked at a different camera often with a fan blowing wind in his face. The song re-entered the UK Singles Chart in 2023 when it was featured on an advert for

Virgin Media Virgin Media Limited is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, television and internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, England. It is owned by Virgin Media O2, a 50:50 ...

Music video

The music video features all seven of the main cast of the film ''St. Elmo's Fire'' looking sadly through the foggy windows of a run-down and fire-damaged version of the St. Elmo's Bar set. The video was directed by Kort Falkenberg III, who devised the concept with the film's director, Joel Schumacher. The production company only had Parr for a single day before he had to go back to England, so the shoot had to be done in exactly 24 hours. The Canadian version of the video intersperses images of Rick Hansen's trek with those of the film. The ending of the video shows Parr singing to each individual cast member from the film before he disappears into the night, and the cast follows him.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

All-time charts

Certifications

Release history

References

External links

"Zizek and the 80s Movie Song" by Graham Wolfe
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion) 1984 songs 1985 singles John Parr songs Dance-rock songs Film theme songs Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Cashbox number-one singles Songs written by David Foster RPM Top Singles number-one singles Songs written by John Parr RCA Records singles Atlantic Records singles Song recordings produced by David Foster