Meat Loaf - I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)
"I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" is a song composed and written by Jim Steinman, and recorded by Meat Loaf.
The song was released in 1993 as the first single from the album Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell.
The last six verses feature a female vocalist who was credited only as "Mrs. Loud" in the album notes. She was later identified as Lorraine Crosby, from North East England. She does not, however, appear in the video, in which her vocals are lipsynched by Dana Patrick.
Meat Loaf promoted the single with American vocalist Patti Russo performing the live female vocals.
The title of the song confused some listeners, who were curious to know what "that" is.
The song was a commercial success, reaching number one in 28 countries.
The single was certified platinum in the United States and became Meat Loaf's first number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and on the UK singles chart, and was the best-selling single of 1993 in the UK.
The song earned Meat Loaf a Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Solo.
Music and lyrics
The timings in this article refer to the original album version. There are many shorter single and radio edits.
The song opens with a guitar played to sound like a revving motorcycle. Roy Bittan's piano begins to play, along with the guitars. The vocals begin at the 1:50 point.
Steinman "alternates ... [a bombastic] style with mellow moments where the hard-hitting piano licks are fleshed out with ethereal synthesizer and choral-styled backing vocals."
And I would do anything for love
I'd run right into hell and back
These opening vocals are accompanied by piano and backing vocals.
The song then becomes much louder as the band, predominantly piano, plays the main melody for twenty seconds. An instrumental section follows the first verse and chorus, lasting over 45 seconds, with piano playing the title melody, accompanied by guitar and wordless background vocals by Todd Rundgren, Rory Dodd and Kasim Sulton.
The lead vocals recommence with another verse. The popular phrase "sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll" was edited to become "Some days I just pray to the god of sex and drums and rock and roll" on the recording (though not always in live shows).
Perceived ambiguity of "that"
The title of the song was first written by Steinman for the track "Getting So Excited" on Bonnie Tyler's Faster Than the Speed of Night album.
Some people misunderstand the lyrics, claiming that the singer never identifies what "that" thing is, which he will not do. Meat Loaf says that the question, "What is 'that'?" is one of the most popular questions he is asked.
Each verse mentions two things that he would do for love, followed by one thing that he will not do. The title phrase repetition reasserts that he "won't do that". Each mention of "that" is a reference to the particular promise that he made earlier in the same verse.
The four things he says he will never do are:
- forget the way you feel right now
- forgive myself if we don't go all the way tonight
- do it better than I do it with you, so long
- stop dreaming of you every night of my life
At the song's conclusion, the female vocalist predicts two hurtful things that he will do: "You'll see that it's time to move on", and "You'll be screwing around." To both of these, the male emphatically responds, "I won't do that!"
In his 1998 VH1 Storytellers special, Meat Loaf even explained it on stage using a blackboard and a pointing stick.
In a 1993 promotional interview, Steinman states that the definition of "that" is fully revealed in the song in each of the several verses in which it is mentioned.
It sort of is a little puzzle and I guess it goes by - but they're all great things. 'I won't stop doing beautiful things and I won't do bad things.' It's very noble. I'm very proud of that song because it's very much like out of the world of Excalibur. To me, it's like Sir Lancelot or something - very noble and chivalrous. That's my favorite song on the record - it's very ambitious.
It is significant that in this clarification, Steinman says "and I won't do bad things," not "but I won't do bad things." If the lyric had similarly used "and" instead of "but," its meaning would have been clear. "I would do anything for love AND I won't do that."
The ambiguity of the song could be unintentional and merely due to a grammatical error. This could be viewed as unfortunately poor writing. It could also be considered serendipitous, since the song has intrigued listeners and resonated with them.
Meat Loaf believed that the lyrics were unambiguous, but Steinman predicted that they would cause confusion.
An early episode of the VH1 program Pop-up Video made this claim at the end of the song's video: "Exactly what Meat Loaf won't do for love remains a mystery to this day."
A reviewer writing for Allmusic commented that "The lyrics build suspense by portraying a romance-consumed lover who pledges to do anything in the name of love except 'that,' a mysterious thing that he will not specify."
The reviewer concludes that the mystery is revealed during the closing stages of the song, incorrectly implying that all references of "that" refer to the female vocalist's predictions at the end. Others assume that "that" is a reference to euthanasia or anal sex.
In a DVD audio commentary, Meat Loaf indicated that the latter of these could be what "that" refers to.
Dr. Frank O'day interprets this as providing "an enlightening example of how listeners project their own thoughts, values, and concerns onto the meaning of the song with misconstrued lyrics."
In the 1998 film Spice World, which charted fictional experiences of The Spice Girls leading up to a much-anticipated concert, Meat Loaf played the part of Dennis, the coach driver of the Spice Girls tour bus. In the film, during a long journey between gigs, the girls demand the bus pull over so they can relieve themselves in the bushes due to the broken toilets within the tour bus. When tour manager Richard (Richard E. Grant) tells Dennis to fix the toilets, Dennis replies "I'll do anything for those girls, but I won't do that."
Music video
Michael Bay directed the music video.
Filming took place in Los Angeles County, California in July 1993; the opening chase was filmed at Chávez Ravine, with the interior mansion scenes filmed at Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills. The cinematographer was Daniel Pearl, particularly known for filming The Texas Chain Saw Massacre in 1973. Pearl says that this video "is one of my personal all-time favorite projects... I think the cinematography is pure, and it tells a story about the song."
The video is based on Beauty and the Beast and The Phantom of the Opera. Bob Keane did Meat Loaf's make-up, which took up to two hours to apply. The make-up was designed to be simple and scary, yet "with the ability to make him sympathetic."
It went over budget, and was filmed in 90 °F (32 °C) heat, across four days. According to one executive, it "probably had the budget of Four Weddings and a Funeral."
It is the abridged seven minute single version, rather than the twelve minute (11:58) album version.
The actress in the video, Dana Patrick, is miming to Crosby's vocals, however, as she would to Patti Russo's in the 1995 song "I'd Lie for You (And That's the Truth)".
According to the captions aired on Pop-Up Video, Patrick received several offers for record deals after the video aired, by executives who assumed she was actually singing in the video.
The 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
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
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...
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
[Girl:]
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?
[Boy:]
I can do that
I can do that
[Girl:]
Will you hold me sacred? Will you hold me tight?
Can you colourise my life, I'm so sick of black and white?
Can you make it all a little less old?
[Boy:]
I can do that
Oh no, I can do that
[Girl:]
Will you make me some magic with your own two hands?
Will you build and emerald city with these grains of sand?
Can you give me something I can take home?
[Boy:]
I can do that
I can do that
[Girl:]
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?
[Boy:]
I can do that
Oh no, I can do that
[Girl:]
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
[Boy:]
I won't do that
I won't do that
[Girl:]
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
[Boy:]
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
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