antonijan said: "So...did you figure out what he won't do for love?"
Okay, it's been explained before (once, memorably, by Meat Loaf himself, with a blackboard and pointer, on VH1 Storytellers), but I will break this down again:
Each verse mentions two things that the man would do for love, followed by one thing that he will not do. The title phrase repetition reasserts that he "won't do that." Each mention of "that" is a reference to the particular promise that he made earlier in the same verse.
Example:
"And I would do anything for love
I'd run right into hell and back
I would do anything for love
I'll never lie to you, and that's a fact
But I'll never forget
The way you feel right now
Oh no, no way
And I would do anything for love
But I won't do that -- no, I won't do that"
And so on, throughout the song, including at the very end when the female vocalist names two things she assumes he will do that he insists he will not.
In order: he'll never "forget the way [she] feel[s] right now," "forgive [him]self if [they] don't go all the way tonight," "do it better than [he] does it with [her]," "stop dreaming of [her] every night of [his] life," "see that it's time to move on," or "be screwing around" (all "I"/"you" statements replaced according to character).
All of the above are "that." The song is just so long that it completely sweeps by people. Ironically enough, Meat Loaf thought the lyrics were unambiguous, whereas Steinman predicted the confusion they would cause. Those rare rock critics who are also schooled in grammar have since suggested that this sense would have been more clear if the lyric had been "and I won't do that" instead of "but I won't do that." Per them, it is the use of "but" instead of "and" that leads to the ambiguity. I think it wouldn't make a lick of difference, personally.
Formerly gvendo2005
Broadway Legend
joined: 5/1/05
Blocked: After Eight, suestorm, david_fick, emlodik, lovebwy, Dave28282, joevitus, BorisTomashevsky, Seb28
Updated On: 7/21/18 at 09:44 AM
