WHAT EXACTLY WOULDN’T MEAT LOAF DO FOR LOVE?

It’s one of music’s most enduring mysteries. What does the “that” mean in Meat Loaf ’s biggest hit?

In late 1993, the singer topped the UK singles charts for seven weeks with I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That ), a song written by long-term collaborator Jim Steinman. The track also reached number one in around 30 other countries. Debate raged about what the “that” meant, with Meat Loaf saying years later that it remained the one question he was asked more than any other.

The song was a typical Meat Loaf romantic epic.

The single version was over five minutes long, the accompanying music video reached almost eight minutes, and on the album on which it featured, Bat Out of Hell II, it ran to 12 minutes.

It was therefore perhaps no surprise that listeners lost the thread as the loved-up and possibly lovelorn singer belted out the labyrinthine verses about what he would do for his sweetheart. He’d go to hell and back. He’d be there until the final act. He’d take the vow and seal the pact. But he won’t do… that.

Minds boggled. Was he talking

about cheating on her? Lying for her? Engaging in an unconventional sex act with her?

The answer was rather more prosaic. And it was included in the song’s lyrics all along, a fact that was obscured by all the cuts made for the various abridgements. Meat Loaf ’s assertion that he “won’t do that” in the track’s chorus followed promises that he’d already made in the preceding verse. For example, in one verse he sang that he’d “never forgive [himself ] if we don’t go all the way tonight”.

A few lines later he declared he’d do anything for

love, “but I won’t do that”. Later in the song, he said he’d “never stop dreaming of you every night of my life”. Four lines later, he declared that he’d do anything for love, but – again – he won’t do that.

Meat Loaf himself realised that the lyrics had baffled fans. In a VH1 documentary in 1998, he played a mockexasperated lecturer and used a blackboard and a pointer to explain the song. “It’s the line before every chorus,” he explained with an exaggerated sigh.

Not so bewildering after all.