Talk:I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)

[The following text originally appeared on the page:] To the record company, Meat Loaf's comeback record. The one that went number one in over 25 countries! Released in 1993 from 'Bat Out Of Hell II'! Written by Jim Steinman and with a 7 and a half minute music video that has a Beauty And The Beast 1993 theme to it. Twelve minutes on the album, with a classic instrumental opening.

Vampirism?

I've seen the theory, which I believe is based on the music video (wherein Meat Loaf plays a vampire, or at least a disfigured human with qualities attributed to mythical vampires, who admires a female human. When she notices him, she chases him and he runs away): That 'it' is turning the woman into a vampire herself. However, I'm not sure where I came up with this (I know I didn't come up with it on my own, at least) and I can't find a credible source. Evidence is mostly found in the music video, but I think some of the lyrics might support this theory. Notably:

"I'll never forget the way you feel right now" : If she becomes a vampire, her appearance would change, her body temperature would lower, etc.

"I know you can save me, no one else can save me now but you"

"Maybe I'm lonely and that's all I'm qualified to be"

Its hard for me to say, and I don't want to toss something on there with no real evidence. Thus, I leave it to the discretion of whoever happens to come along later and read this.

I have a twenty minute documentary on vidoe about the marketing of Bat II and the making of this video — the video is based on Beauty and the Beast. The JPS 10:17, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC)

It's pretty much evident that it's the Beauty and the Beast. EliasAlucard|Talk 12:46, 12 Jun, 2005 (UTC)

Mixing of two concepts

I have read a few sources crediting this video to Beauty and the Beast, which is obviously consistent with the make-up and most of the concept. It seems that there are others who believe that this is about vampirism, to which I completely agree also.

I say this because a there are at least a few scenes that directly relate to the legend of Dracula. Very specifically at 3:30 with the mystically moving chair and more significantly at 4:22 when the girl is laying on the bed and twisting around while sinister-faced women (dracula's wives) crawl over her. Both are historically famous as part of Bram Stoker's Dracula. There are also a couple of shots with broken glass that also appears to have come from a mirror (maybe or maybe not, plenty of glass breaks in the video). It seems that the disappearing act at the end could be related either to dracula or simply a general move used in tons of music videos for effect

Censored?

Is there a reference for the claim "sex, drums, and rock 'n' roll" is a censored version? It sounds more like an intentional play on words to me. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.63.24.51 (talk • contribs) 18:05, 11 September 2006 (UTC)

Now cited. The JPS^{talk to me} 18:18, 11 September 2006 (UTC)

Interesting coincidence -- worth a mention?

There's an interesting blog article here demonstrating the lyrical and musical similarities between the chorus of "I'd Do Anything ..." and the outsider musician Y. Bhekhirst's 1986 song "I Will Sing." This is almost certainly pure coincidence (Bhekhirst is extremely obscure, and not the sort of composer Jim Steinman would be looking to for ideas), but it's so remarkable that I wondered if it was worth a mention in the article. If you'd like to hear Bhekhirst's song for yourself, you can download an MP3 of it here (wait about 40 seconds for the vocals to come in). I really was struck by the resemblance. Perodicticus 20:59, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

I see what you mean! It's bloody dreadful tho'!! We can't really put in the article, though, because it would be original research. The JPS^{talk to me} 09:23, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

Lyrics

ok, why have you undone my changes. i feel offended by the fact that you disappreciate my work. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.234.110.198 (talk • contribs) 21:36, 29 October 2006 (UTC)

Unfortunately we cannot accept copyrighted lyrics into Wikipedia. Normally I would leave an explaination for removing others' work, but since your changes effectively consisted of copy and pasting, and hence little to be offended about, I belived that it wasn't an issue. There is an external link to a site with the lyrics. The JPS^{talk to me} 21:23, 29 October 2006 (UTC)

"That"

What won't he do?--Kingforaday1620 22:39, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

You're joking, right? The JPS^{talk to me} 09:37, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

Yeah.--Kingforaday1620 22:48, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

:P The JPS^{talk to me} 01:18, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

You know, when this song came out I remember thinking that "that" could either be interpreted as what Meat Loaf says he won't do or as something unspecified, or as both, and now that it has been revealed innumerable times that the former was intended, it seems that the lyric was structured very awkwardly, referring to antecedents that came a minute before, etc. bleh. I hated this song when it came out, the campy costumes in the music video, and I hate the song today. 67.185.99.246 23:18, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for your interesting opinion. The JPS^{talk to me} 23:20, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

The current explanation of what "that" is has to be one of the worst things I have ever read. It was written in a form that no one would be able to interpret.

Depends if they were above the age of 12, or were willing to learn more complex terms than "before". The JPS^{talk to me} 22:21, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

It seems to me that "that" is clearly a variable in this song. The character is agreeing to anything the elusive woman is asking of him and agrees to not do anything that she is afraid he might do. In short, his end goal is to "..go all the way tonight..", and he's willing to say whatever is necessary to achive it. The fact that some believe it to be more complex, romatic, or sophisticated surely gives both Jim and Meatloaf endless hours of giggles. He could just as easily be saying "yah, yah, whatever, let's go". —Preceding unsigned comment added by RobertGary1 (talk • contribs) 23:09, 17 October 2007 (UTC)

I think the common (mis)interpretation is hardly sophisticated. What Neanderthals don't like is the sophisticated vocabulary used to explain it in this article. The JPS^{talk to me} 08:48, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Good Article

This is a good article! Yay! Twinxor t 08:53, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

What he won't do

Clearly "love" = "sex" in this song. He'll do anything to get laid except that he won't take advantage of her (forget her feelings, screw around on her, etc).

-Robert —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 192.25.240.225 (talk) 22:17, 29 December 2006 (UTC).

The All Music Guide review

This is a poorly written review. The song is rendered "...I won't do hat" and "prophesizes" is not a word. Shiggity 23:39, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

So correct it then. It seems to me that you are being a troll. The JPS^{talk to me} 10:59, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

JPS, I believe you wrong to snap that Shiggity. It sounds like they are complaining about All Music Guide's review that is used frequently as a reference here... NOT the Wikipedia article itself. I believe it was an attempt to question whether a given source was a good quality one, not complain about this article's coverage in general. This doesn't sound at all like a "troll" to me, quite the opposite. Whereas you came off as sounding like you had never read WP:Civility or WP:AGF before, and seem to have failed to notice the title of this section of the talk page, which clearly denotes the subject as referring the the All Music Guide review. If Shiggity was unfamiliar with All Music Guide, perhaps he was merely trying to ask if it was considered a generally good source before he removed it, which I don't blame him for at all, since many times editors on here do add sources that are less than ideal, and even the article itself claims that "one reviewer" for All Music Guide does not understand the song's lyrics. I'm not sure I care enough to check All Music Guide at this point as the last time I looked on that site (ages ago) I didn't find much use in it, but honestly, you were quite unnecessarily rude, and give the impression that you completely misunderstood what Shiggity was actually talking about in the first place. Runa27 (talk) 22:36, 8 December 2007 (UTC)

Quanity of fair use lyrcis

Whereas the anon makes some useful edits, we might be breaching the acceptable amount of lyrics we can quote. The JPS^{talk to me} 13:32, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

There was an interview on UK TV when this song first came out where Meat Loaf was asked what "that" was and he jokingly replied "Eat a worm!" I wish I could remeber what show it was on, it was definately daytime TV.

Oh, and no I am not Joking! Can anyone else remeber this?

I guess he was just bored at having to answering the same question two billion times. I can imagine him doing that. 08:55, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

why no reference to the plagiarism of the Dracula movie?

the lesbo vampire girls in the video. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 58.142.51.31 (talk) 16:08, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

What plagiarism of which Dracula movie? Do you have a reliable source? Dracula (1991, wasn't it?) wasn't the first to feature "lesbo vampire girls." It wasn't entirely original itself. The JPS^{talk to me} 17:14, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

We even have an article on Lesbian vampires. In this case, the correct word, I feel, is homage. --Agamemnon2 18:43, 3 October 2007 (UTC)