Bat Out of Hell (song)

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"Bat Out of Hell"
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The song opens with an instrumental section lasting nearly two minutes, predominantly featuring piano and guitar. The lyrics begin to set the scene of evil, guns, knives and "blood shot streets."

The song then focuses upon a "pure" girl, which Sounds magazine commented is "always an important symbol". [8]

Oh baby you're the only thing in this whole world
That's pure and good and right
And wherever you are and wherever you go
There's always gonna be some light

In the Bat Out of Hell Musical Steinman confirmed that the "pure girl" is a character called Raven, who was based on the Neverland character Wendy Darling. The protagonist singing to her is "Strat" who is based on Peter Pan.

Steinman says that Rundgren vetoed two of his ideas. The first idea involved this section (the second concerns a later part of the song).

In the soft section, I wanted to have a boy’s choir... Todd wanted to do it with the existing vocal backup section and then speed up the tape and use other technical tricks to get the boy’s choir sound. I said that we needed a real boy’s choir but he insisted. But it didn’t work out so we weren’t able to use it. You see, I’d heard this symphony by Mahler and I really wanted a boy’s choir. There’s nothing more beautiful than the sound of 20 boy sopranos singing. [9]

Motorcycle

Steinman insisted that the song should contain the sound of a motorcycle, and complained to producer Todd Rundgren at the final overdub session about its absence. Rather than use a recording of a real motorcycle, Rundgren himself played the section on guitar, leading straight into the solo without a break. [2] In his autobiography, Meat Loaf relates how everyone in the studio was impressed with his improvisation. Meat Loaf commends Rundgren's overall performance on the track:

In fifteen minutes he played the lead solo and then played the harmony guitars at the beginning. I guarantee the whole thing didn't take him more than forty-five minutes, and the song itself is ten minutes long. The most astounding thing I have ever seen in my life. [10]

Steinman also wanted a choir in this section of the song, but Rundgren vetoed it. Steinman says that he wanted it to sound "just like in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey , they used a choir sounding like it was singing whole clusters of notes. I wanted to use an entire orchestra, and I wanted to use them viciously." [9]

Crash

Rundgren and Meat Loaf were angry with Steinman when he refused to stop writing when the track was already six minutes long. He knew that he had to do the crash. [2]

The lyrics describe how the biker is riding "faster than any other boy has ever gone." He is so involved that he "never [sees] the sudden curve till it's way too late." Drums and a roaring guitar indicate the crash.

The biker lies fatally injured, "torn and twisted at the foot of a burning bike." He can see his "heart still beating", which is also represented musically through bass guitar, a section devised by Kasim Sulton. [5] Steinman says "I don't think there's ever been a more violent crash... the guy basically has his body opened up and his heart explodes like a bat out of hell." [2]

Throughout the song, the chorus "I'll be gone when the morning comes" is a double entendre of leaving his lover and of his impending death.

The song ends with the line "like a bat out of hell" repeated three times, each ending on a high C. [2]

Music video

The video intersperses shots of a motorcyclist riding through a graveyard, lit by a full moon, with shots of Meat Loaf and backing singers at microphones.

Single release

Despite being released more than a year after the album became available, the single reached number 15 in the UK in 1979, becoming his first top 20 UK hit and the highest-charting song off the Bat Out of Hell album [11] and was reissued in December 1993 following the huge chart success of "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" in 1993. This time it reached number 8 giving Meat Loaf two singles in the UK Top Ten at the same time - a feat not repeated by any artist until 2002. A live version of the song, from the album Live at Wembley , was released as a single on 26 October 1987 but failed to chart in the UK. [12]

Critical reaction

Sounds magazine described it as "heavy metal thunder with Bruce Springsteen overtones (it's L-O-U-D, but this fellow sang with Ted Nugent...), a lyrical, white-noise tale of screaming sirens, silver black phantom bikes, the Ultimate Girl and her purity (always an important symbol), ending in the final death crash when his heart tears out of his chest and flies away." [8]

The song was honored at the Q Awards 2008 with the "Classic Song" award. [11] Paul Rees, Q's editor in chief, said: "There are some songs that transcend such things as time and genre, and "Bat Out Of Hell" is assuredly one of them. It sounded extraordinary when it was first released, and it appears no less so now—like something beamed in from another planet. Extraordinary, and magnificent too, thanks in large part to one of the great vocal performances on record." [13]

This song placed third of Top Gear's Top 5 Ultimate Driving Songs, as voted by the audience of the show. It was ranked below Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now" and Golden Earring's "Radar Love". The song was viewed negatively by the show's hosts, Jeremy Clarkson, James May, and Richard Hammond, who implored viewers of the show to not vote for the song, with Clarkson calling Meat Loaf a "fat oaf". [14]

Brett Milano of udiscovermusic.com rated this motorcycle guitar solo as one of the 100 all-time greatest. [15]

Charts

"Bat Out of Hell"
Bat Out of Hell UK 1979 red vinyl front cover.jpg
UK 12-inch red vinyl limited edition (1979)
Single by Meat Loaf
from the album Bat Out of Hell
B-side "Heaven Can Wait"
ReleasedMay 1978
Genre Hard rock, progressive rock, heavy metal
Length
  • 9:52 (album version)
  • 7:19 (edit)
  • 4:53 (single edit)
Label Epic
Songwriter(s) Jim Steinman
Producer(s) Todd Rundgren
Meat Loaf singles chronology
"Paradise by the Dashboard Light"
(1977)		"Bat Out of Hell"
(1978)		"Dead Ringer for Love"
(1981)
I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)
(1993)
Bat Out of Hell
(1993)
Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through
(1993)
1993 weekly chart performance for "Bat Out of Hell"
Chart (1993)Peak
position
UK Singles (OCC) [16] 8
2022 weekly chart performance for "Bat Out of Hell"
Chart (2022)Peak
position
US Hot Rock & Alternative Songs ( Billboard ) [17] 23

Certifications

RegionCertification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA) [18] Platinum70,000‡
United Kingdom (BPI) [19] Platinum600,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Personnel

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References

  1. ↑ "A Trip To Neverland". jimsteinman.com. Retrieved January 28, 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Jim Steinman (1999). Classic Albums: Meat Loaf Bat Out of Hell (DVD). Image Entertainment.
  3. ↑ "The Power Of Rock 'n Roll". Gallery magazine. May 1978. Archived from the original on November 3, 2006. Retrieved November 17, 2006.
  4. ↑ "Sold on Song Top 100: Bat Out Of Hell". BBC Radio 2. Retrieved November 17, 2006.
  5. 1 2 Meat Loaf (commentary) (2004). Meat Loaf Live with the Melbourne Symphone Orchestra (DVD). Melbourne: Warner Music Vision.
  6. ↑ Hotten, Jon (September 2000). "Bat Out Of Hell - The Story Behind The Album". Classic Rock Magazine. Archived from the original on June 9, 2007. Retrieved June 16, 2007.
  7. ↑ "NEVERLAND by Jim Steinman". jimsteinman.com. Retrieved June 17, 2007.
  8. 1 2 Robertson, Sandy (1978). "Heavy Metal With A Heart". Sounds magazine. Archived from the original on November 7, 2006. Retrieved November 17, 2006.
  9. 1 2 Yorke, Ritchie (June 1978). "The Julia Child Of Rock 'N Roll". Sounds magazine. Archived from the original on January 7, 2008. Retrieved January 23, 2008.
  10. ↑ Loaf, Meat; David Dalton (2000). To Hell and Back: An Autobiography. London: Virgin Publishing. p. 122. ISBN   978-0-7535-0443-7.
  11. 1 2 "Meat Loaf's epic to be honoured". BBC News. September 29, 2008. Archived from the original on October 1, 2008. Retrieved October 4, 2008.
  12. ↑ "Index: Releases". Record Mirror . October 24, 1987. p. 8. ISSN   0144-5804.
  13. ↑ Barnes, Anthony (September 29, 2008). "Meat Loaf to win 2008 Q award". Archived from the original on October 9, 2008. Retrieved October 4, 2008.
  14. ↑ Sala, Sofia Della (January 21, 2022). "Jeremy Clarkson makes uncomplicated tribute to Meat Loaf". Oxfordshire Live. Retrieved June 11, 2023.
  15. ↑ Milano, Brett (September 11, 2020). "The Best Guitar Solos: 100 Hair-Raising Moments". udiscovermusic.com. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
  16. ↑ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved February 1, 2022.
  17. ↑ "Meat Loaf Chart History (Hot Rock & Alternative Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved February 1, 2022.
  18. ↑ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2017 Singles" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association . Retrieved October 13, 2021.
  19. ↑ "British single certifications – Meat Loaf – Bat Out of Hell". British Phonographic Industry . Retrieved June 18, 2021.
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