St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)

"Man in Motion" redirects here. For the Night Ranger album, see Man in Motion (Night Ranger album). For the song by Night Ranger, see Man In Motion (song).

"St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)"
Single by John Parr
from the album St. Elmo's Fire soundtrack
B-side	"Treat Me Like an Animal", "Somebody Stole My Thunder", "One Love" (instrumental)
Released	June 1985 (1985-06)
Format	7"
Recorded	1985
Genre	Rock
Length	4:11
Label	Atlantic
Writer(s)	David Foster, John Parr
Producer	David Foster
John Parr singles chronology
"Magical" (1985) "St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)" (1985) "Rock 'n' Roll Mercenaries" (1986)

"St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)" is a song recorded by John Parr. It hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on 7 September 1985 and peaked at number six in the UK, Parr's home country.

The song was originally written by David Foster and John Parr for 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."

The song was used as the theme song for the film St. Elmo's Fire, and became a number-one hit for John Parr around the world and provided many awards and a Grammy nomination.

Strangely, this hit song did not also appear on a John Parr album - except on a very rare 1985 CD re-release of his self-titled album from 1984 in West Germany.

Several members of Toto appear on the record.

In popular culture

The song is briefly heard in an episode of The Simpsons, "Sideshow Bob Roberts"; it is supposedly a favorite song of Lisa Simpson.

The line "Gonna be your man in motion" is repeated by Jason Sklar in an episode of Cheap Seats.

It was featured heavily in the 2007 movie The Brothers Solomon.

The song is briefly heard in an episode of The Facts Of Life.

The song was played on an episode "SportsNation" to celebrate Tim Tebow starting for the Denver Broncos.

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 Canadian version of the video intersperses images of Hansen's trek.

Covers

It was remade by REO Speedwagon in 1989. REO Speedwagon's guitarist, Dave Amato, re-created the song on his solo album, Still Got It, which was released in 1995.

The Ventures performed an instrumental cover version of the song on their 2006 album, Major Motion Picture.

It was remixed by Tommyknockers in May 2006 with the title "New Horizon", which reached #43 in Britain, but failed to chart at all in the United States.

Chart performance

Chart (1985)	Peak position
Canadian Singles Chart	1
French Singles Chart[1]	62
UK Singles Chart	6
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	1
U.S. Billboard Album Rock Tracks	1
U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary	4

Preceded by "The Power of Love" by Huey Lewis and the News	Billboard Hot 100 number-one single September 7, 1985 – September 14, 1985	Succeeded by "Money for Nothing" by Dire Straits
Preceded by "Crying Over You" by Platinum Blonde	Canadian RPM Singles Chart number-one single September 14, 1985 – September 28, 1985	Succeeded by "Dancing in the Street" by Mick Jagger and David Bowie

References

1. ^ http://www.infodisc.fr/Bilan_P.php