I’ve got a few rules for this. I have to like the song, which means 99.9% of country, rap, and hip-hop is out of contention. The lyrics also need to communicate the message that will carry me through the next few years. This song is a good example of being so close to that, but it’s just not quite there. Still love the song though.
As for my fan club of four or five people, I’m pretty certain there will be something on this here blog later today. Maybe the big reveal??? (which I worry I’ve overplayed a bit, but what the heck, it’s my blog, my rules)
I need to come up with a new theme song. So, while I wait for the last chicken to hatch, I’m going to be trotting out a few ideas.
Today, is the first candidate.
And, yes, I’m kind of joking about this song, but it’s just so incredible and wonderful and classic and makes me laugh whenever I hear it as I wallow through Meatloaf’s Bat Out of Hell II. So, here you go … candidate #1 for my new theme song.
Let me know what you think. Also, out of curiosity … what’s your theme song?
When I was a kid, I wished for a lot of things and my Pops, wise man that he was, advised me to make sure I didn’t wish my life away. It’s a thing I’ve struggled with pretty much my entire life.
Another pearl of wisdom is “don’t count your chickens until they’re hatched.”
So, all I’m gonna say is that there is one more chicken left to hatch and I am trying to combine both pearls of wisdom … don’t wish away the time and don’t count the chicken until it’s hatched.
This album was in 1993, when I was 29 years old. I would have thought it was earlier than that, but so be it. Bat Out of Hell II was apparently Meatloaf’s return to relevancy. (Who, by the way, names themselves Meatloaf for purposes of artistic expression? Okay, never mind.)
Anyway…
I never experienced Meatloaf’s first run to fame with Paradise by the Dashboard Lights, but I’ve seen the live version of that song often enough to fall in love with the drama of the performance.
Bat Out of Hell II though is just one song after another that is the kind of music that appealed to me for much of my teens and 20’s — overwrought rock opera. I mean, I’m a massive Queen fan and if there’s a band that speaks to “rock opera”…
I was reminded of the album a few days ago and pulled it up on Spotify and took a trip down memory lane.
This song is the archetype of the genre, clocking in at a robust 10 minutes and 11 seconds on the album. Nothing speaks to epic rock songs like a song that reaches double digits in the ol’ minutes category. But even more than the length … the lyrics.
Here’s a taste…
‘There was a beauty living on the edge of town
And she always put the top up and the hammer down
And she taught me everything I’ll ever know
About the mystery and the muscle of love
The stars would glimmer and the moon would glow
I’m in the back seat with my Julie like a Romeo
And the signs along the highway all said
Caution! Kids at play!
Those were the rights of spring, and we did everything –
There was salvation every night
We got our dreams reborn and our upholstery torn,
But everything we tried was right
She used her body just like a bandage
She used my body just like a wound
I’ll probably never know where she disappeared
But I can see her rising up out of the back seat now
Just like an angel rising up from a tomb!
But it was long ago, and it was far away
Oh God it seems so very far
And if life is just a highway – then the soul is just a car
My God … these are quintessential rock and roll lyrics. The mystery and the muscle of love? She used her body just like a bandage, she used my body just like a wound? This is poetry. This is art. This is schmaltz like you’ve never seen it before and I love every dramatic, overwrought twist and turn of the thing.
Enjoy. I know you will. Well, maybe one or two of you.
