"Hysteria" is a love song by the English glam metal band Def Leppard. It is the tenth track on their 1987 album of the same name and was released as the third single from that album in November 1987. On VH1 Storytellers: Def Leppard, lead singer Joe Elliott revealed that the song title came from drummer Rick Allen. The song peaked at number ten on the Billboard Hot 100, but did not crack the year-end, despite the fact that some of the band's songs that did not crack the top 10 have made appearances in the year-end.
The song features a clean guitar melody and heavily multi-tracked vocals in its chorus. The "extreme" nature of producer Mutt Lange's recording methods is also exampled in the chorus, where the clean guitar chords were recorded one note at a time as opposed to the traditional method of strumming them, in effect "building" a chord by recording the notes that make them up. The melody was also derived from Pink Floyd's "Goodbye Blue Sky". An acoustic rendition of the song was performed by Elliott and guitarist Phil Collen on the Hysteria edition of VH1's Classic Albums.
"Hysteria"
Out of touch, out of reach yeah
You could try to get closer to me
I'm in luck, I'm in deep, yeah
Hypnotized, I'm shakin' to my knees
I gotta know tonight
If you're alone tonight
Can't stop this feeling
Can't stop this fire
Oh, I get hysterical, hysteria
Oh can you feel it, do you believe it?
It's such a magical mysteria
When you get that feelin', better start believin'
'Cos it's a miracle, oh say you will, ooh babe
Hysteria when you're near
Out of me, into you yeah
You could hide it's just a one way street
Oh, I believe I'm in you, yeah
Open wide, that's right, dream me off my feet
Oh, believe in me
I gotta know tonight
If you're alone tonight
Can't stop this feeling
Can't stop this fire
[Repeat Bridge]
[Repeat Chorus]
Oh, I get hysterical, hysteria
Oh can you feel it, do you believe it?
It's such a magical mysteria
When you get that feelin', better start believin'
'Cos it's a miracle, oh say you will
Ooh babe
Hysteria when you're near
Come on
[Guitar solo]
[Repeat Bridge]
[Repeat Chorus]