Search YouTube for “meatloaf” and the first listing is for a dinner recipe that is “lean, delicious, and easy to make.” Second is a news report of Meat Loaf’s death at age 74 last week. Only then do videos of the singer appear. (Don’t get us started on how far down one must scroll on Google). Suffice to say that’s hardly the legacy that one of rock’s greatest performers deserves.
Ironically, “Meat” – born Marvin Lee Aday – died just nine months after partner Jim Steinman, with whom he most famously collaborated on “Bat Out of Hell” in 1977, an album that notoriously failed to garner initial industry interest (like Queen’s “A Night at the Opera”) but went on to become an all-time classic and one of the best-selling albums in history.
Hits from the album included the signature title track, “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad,” and especially “Paradise by the Dashboard Lights” an epic, theatrical eight-minute song that many of my generation (prompted by a drink or two) can still sing word for word.
Meat Loaf was also an actor – notably coming to prominence both in film and onstage as Eddie in “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” (prompting the cheeky audience call-and-response refrain whenever he appeared: “What’s for dinner? Meat Loaf!” If you know the reference, I don’t have to give the next line. But he achieved true superstar status for ‘Bat,’ both for his bombastic performances and sweaty, powerhouse vocals, contrasted with an ample girth that contributed to life-long health problems.
A falling out with Steinman and other issues mostly sidetracked Meat Loaf for years (Steinman continued writing his stylistically unique songs for the likes of Celine Dion, Bonnie Tyler, and Air Supply; Meat lost his voice due in part due to his no-holds barred singing style), but the dynamic duo eventually reunited in 1993 for a sequel to their epic debut and “Bat of Hell II: Back Into Hell” sent Meat Loaf back to the top of the charts and produced his first and only No. 1 single, “I Would Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That!)”
(Despite their occasional professional differences, both would maintain that they were meant for each other and that no one could come close to Meat Loaf as the voice of Steinman’s songs. “We didn’t know each, we were each other,” Meat Loaf said after Steinman’s death.)
In the end, Meat Loaf (who changed is legal name from Marvin to Michael along the way) performed for over 60 years and sold 100 million records – half of them “Bat Out of Hell.” And while Internet algorithms might not do him justice, we will, and offer this version of his biggest hit, performed on a Dutch TV show in 1993 – don’t worry, it clocks it at about half the length of the 12-minute album version. Featured is his long-time female foil Karla DeVito (the lady in tight white from the iconic “Paradise by the Dashboard Lights” video).
Lyrics
And I would do anything for love
I’d run right into hell and back
I would do anything for love
I’d never lie to you and that’s a fact
But I’ll never forget the way you feel right now,
Oh no, no way
And I would do anything for love, but I won’t do that
No, I won’t do that
Anything for love
Oh, I would do anything for love
I would do anything for love, but I won’t do that
No, I won’t do that
Some days it don’t come easy
Some days it don’t come hard
Some days it don’t come at all, and these are the days that never end
Some nights you’re breathing fire
Some nights you’re carved in ice
Some nights you’re like nothing I’ve ever seen before or will again
Maybe I’m crazy, but it’s crazy and it’s true
I know you can save me, no-one else can save me now but you
As long as the planets are turning
As long as the stars are burning
As long dreams are coming true
You’d better believe it, that I would do
Anything for love
And I’l be there until the final act
I would do anything for love, and I’ll take a vow and seal a pact
But I’ll never forgive myself if we don’t go all the way, tonight
I would do anything for love
Oh, I would do anything for love
Oh, I would do anything for love, but I won’t do that
No, I won’t do that
I would do anything for love
Anything you’ve been dreaming of, but I just won’t do that
I would do anything for love
Anything you’ve been dreaming of, but I just won’t do that
I would do anything for love
Anything you’ve been dreaming of, but I just won’t do that
I would do anything for love
Anything you’ve been dreaming of, but I just won’t do that
Some days I pray for silence
Some days I pray for soul
Some days I just pray to the god of sex and drums and rock ‘n’ roll
Some nights I lose the feeling
Some nights I lose control
Some nights I just lose it all when I watch you dance and the thunder rolls
Maybe I’m lonely, that’s all I’m qualified to be
That’s just one and only, the one and only promise I can keep
As long as the wheels are turning
As long as the fires are burning
As long as your prayers are coming true
You’d better believe it, that I would do
Anything for love
And you know it’s true and that’s a fact
I would do anything for love, and there’ll never be no turning back
But I’ll never do it better than I do it with you. So long, so long
I would do anything for love
Oh, I would do anything for love
Oh, I would do anything for love, but I won’t do that
No, I won’t do that
No, no, no, I won’t do…
I would do anything for love
Anything you’ve been dreaming of, but I just won’t do that
But I’ll never stop dreaming of you ev’ry night of my life, no way
I would do anything for love
Oh, I would do anything for love
I would do anything for love, but I won’t do that
No, I won’t do that
Will you raise me up? will you help me down?
Will you get me right out of this godforsaken town?
Will you make it all a little less cold?
I can do that
I can do that
Will you hold me sacred? Will you hold me tight?
Can you colourize my life, I’m so sick of black and white?
Can you make it all a little less old?
I can do that
Oh no, I can do that
Will you make me some magic with your own two hands?
Will you build an emerald city with these grains of sand?
Can you give me something I can take home?
I can do that
I can do that
Will you cater to every fantasy I got?
Will you hose me down with holy water, if I get too hot?
Will you take me places I’ve never known?
I can do that
Oh no, I can do that
After a while you’ll forget everything
It was a brief interlude and a midsummer night’s fling
And you’ll see that it’s time to move on
I won’t do that
I won’t do that
I know the territory, I’ve been around
It’ll all turn to dust and we’ll all fall down
Sooner or later you’ll be screwing around
I won’t do that
No, I won’t do that
Anything for love
Oh, I would do anything for love
I would do anything for love, but I won’t do that
No, I won’t do that