In the Meatloaf song “I’d do anything for love” what is “that” as sung in the line “But I won’t do that.”?
The real question here is, how is “that” somehow NOT a subset of “anything”?
Fagjunk Theology: Not just for sodomite propagandists anymore.
There are several things he won’t do; each time he says it, it refers to a specific thing. Each verse has the female singer saying, “You’ll do this to me” and the chorus says, “I won’t do that.”
IIRC, in the final verse she says something akin to “You’ll love me and leave me,” and he says, “I won’t do that.”
It’s actually quite clear from the lyrics.
Lie to you.
The female vocal in the song says that she “knows the territory, I’ve been around; it’ll all turn to dust, and we’ll all fall down; sooner or later you’ll be screwin’ around.”
Meat Loaf is saying he won’t do that. His character in the song is desperate for love, but not to the extent of jeopardizing the trust of the lady.
The video of the song is quite effective at portraying this; Meat Loaf is a monster (or at least, a deformed person); the female vocal is a beautiful woman. Her jaded opinion is based on her past relationships with “normal” guys who treated her like crap. Meat Loaf’s character, although less than appealing to the eye, is actually the man for whom she’s been looking her whole life.
OK, here are the various relevant lyrics:
i.e., forget the way you feel
i.e., forgive himself if they don’t go all the way
i.e., never have better sex than with you
No explanation necessary here.
And finally
i.e., screw around with someone else.
Okay…I’m following it now.
Basically he’s saying he’d do anything to have love and to be loved but he won’t do any of the lengthy list of bad things both he and she mention in order to acheive it.
Never particularly enjoyed that song, so I guess I never really paid attention to what he’s saying. But I’ve had it stuck in my head for a few days now and before I go completely insane I wanted to understand it.
Thank you.
Meat Loaf did storytellers on VH1 and he went over this extensively. He got out a chalk board and wrote it all down, laying out what he wouldn’t do.
He gets really annoyed that people ask him about it.
The above posts all have it correct, by the way.
Interesting sidenote: I recall an interview with the “female vocal” in the video. She is actually a model named Dana Patrick, not a singer. She didn’t record a note of the vocal you hear, which was recorded by Lorraine Crosby. But, as Dana shows in the video, she’s a very good lip-syncher, and is so striking, that after the video came out several record companies expressed an interest in signing her.
At the time, the fact that she didn’t sing was considered a deal breaker. 10 years later, witness Britney/Jessica/Avril, maybe not so much.