“St. Elmo’s Fire (Man In Motion)” by John Parr

First off let it be known that St. Elmo’s fire is actually a thing, not just the name of a movie. What the term traditionally refers to is an object, most notably the masts of sailing vessels, getting electrified during storms and sparking at their tips. 

And it was such a weather phenomenon which John Parr is metaphorically referring to in this song. But in terms of what that metaphor is intended to point to, his inspiration, which we will get more into later, actually came from a disabled athlete named Rick Hansen.

Storyline of “St. Elmo’s Fire (Man In Motion)”

But that noted, the storyline in the song is premised on the concept of youth, and St. Elmo’s Fire is a youth-based movie. But what the track itself actually speaks to is the concept of not giving up in terms of pursuing one’s goal, or perhaps we can even say one’s destiny. 

In fact Man in Motion reads a lot like a modern-day K-pop song, only with more elaborate lyrics/metaphors.

The vocalist is on some type of a journey, not necessarily of the physical variety, but one that will define his young manhood nonetheless. And along the way there appears to be some major setbacks or obstacles. 

But he refuses to give up.  All he “need(s) is a pair of wheels”, and he is remaining on the path to achieving said goal. Indeed he is not going to let any terrain, such as “the highest mountain” or “wildest sea” – which themselves can be interpreted as metaphors – deter him along the way. 

And the desire or will that is driving him is what he refers to as “St. Elmo’s fire burning in(side)”. And no, it’s not necessary to look up who St. Elmo is or anything like that, for again, such an expression is just symbolic. Rather what the bottom line is, most simply put, is that the vocalist is not going to quit until he reaches his intended destination.

John Parr

John Parr is a musician from England who is sort of a one-hit wonder, with that one hit being “St. Elmo’s Fire”. None of his own studio albums, of which he had dropped four between 1984 and 1996, did particularly well commercially. 

And this particular song came out on 1 June 1984 as the title track to the classic Brat Pack film St. Elmo’s Fire (1985). This film starred Demi Moore, Ally Sheedy, Emilio Estevez and others. 

The song also went on to be featured on a 1985 re-release of Parr’s own first album, itself being entitled John Parr (1984).

But the above is not to imply that John Parr is some kind of slouch. For instance, he did drop another studio album, The Mission, in 2012. He also released a live album, Letter to America, in 2011. 

And that long juncture between his fourth and fifth studio albums was as a result of Parr being caught up in a nearly 18 year lawsuit where he was unable to come out with any new projects. 

But “St. Elmo’s Fire” did keep him in the spotlight throughout the years. And apparently prior to said lawsuit, he had also put together other theme songs to major-motion pictures such as the following:

• Arnold Schwarzenegger The Running Man (1987)
• Tom Selleck’s Three Men and a Baby (1987)

Did John Parr write “St. Elmo’s Fire (Man In Motion)”?

John wrote this song alongside a behind-the-scenes music legend, David Foster. Foster is a Canadian musician who has 16 Grammy Awards under his belt. 

The pair was tasked specifically to come up with a song to be featured on the aforementioned film. However, Parr decided not to base the lyrics on the movie directly. In fact he had not even seen it before writing the song. Rather he was inspired by a Canadian athlete named Rick Hansen. 

Rick Hansen, who specializes in track and field, is in fact paraplegic. However, despite being unable to walk since his mid-teens, he remained engaged and successful in athletics nonetheless.

Rick Hansen is a Canadian legend as far as the Paralympics are concerned. But his most famous endeavor was embarking on a world tour, in his wheelchair, in 1985. Said event, which was ongoing when John Parr and David Foster were putting this track together, was called the Man in Motion World Tour. So that is why the song is actually entitled “St. Elmo’s Fire (Man In Motion)”. 

And besides being simply inspired by Hansen, John Parr was hoping that the song would bring some attention to his cause.

More Facts about “St. Elmo’s Fire (Man In Motion)”

A few other famous musicians also participated on the creation of this track. Those include:

• Toto’s Steve Lukather, David Paich and Steve Porcaro
• Richard Page of Mr. Mister fame
• Dave Amato, who later joined REO Speedwagon

In addition to being featured on a Ford ad campaign back around its release date, this song has enjoyed a notable pop media presence since. For instance, it has appeared on a 1994 episode of The Simpsons. It also appears in a short film entitled Deadpool: No Good Deeds (2017) which featured the star of the franchise, Hollywood A lister Ryan Reynolds.

Furthermore, it has been used in the animated masterpiece Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018).

John Parr came out with a new version of this song, entitled Tim Tebow’s Fire, in 2012. And as implied by the title, it serves as a dedication to NFLer Tim Tebow, who was playing for the Broncos at the time. 

And whereas it has been put forth that Parr was compelled to create it due to being a Tebow/Broncos’ fan himself, based on his own recollection, such is simply not true. Instead, being from England, he actually knows diddlysquat about the NFL. But he came out with Tim Tebow’s Fire at the behest of ESPN’s Monday Night Football crew, who do know a lot about the sport.

The music video to this track not only features scenes from St. Elmo’s Fire but also featuring the main cast members filmed specifically for the clip. To note, besides the aforementioned Moore, Sheedy and Estevez, the film also starred Rob Lowe, Judd Nelson, Andrew McCarthy and Andie MacDowell. 

And the director of the video, which due to featuring the aforementioned actors was filmed in just 24 hours, is Kort Falkenberg III.

Success of “St. Elmo’s Fire (Man In Motion)”

The song was a Billboard Hot 100 chart topper and even made the list of the ‘600 greatest songs in Hot 100 history’ in 2018. It also reached number 1 on the Cash Box Top 100 and Canadian Singles Chart. And whereas it did not chart in Poland initially, St. Elmo’s Fire did appear on the Polish Airplay Top 100 in 2016.

NOTE:

For the record, St. Elmo is actually a nickname for the 3^rd century’s St. Erasmus of Formia.  And how he relates to it all is that St. Elmo’s fire actually developed as a maritime term. Meanwhile sailors consider Erasmus to be their patron saint.