 Critics have also identified Wagner, of whom Steinman is an admirer, as an inspiration.Specifying this song, the "Sunday Times" said "the theme of Wagner's opera "Tristan and Isolde", with its extreme passions and obsessive love, informs all his best work".A 2007 article in the "Toronto Star" claims that the song was written as Steinman's "tryout" as lyricist for Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Sunset Boulevard".