The Real Meaning Behind Meat Loaf’s ‘But I Won’t Do That’?

The music world has mourned over the loss of rock star Meat Loaf last week, at the age of 74. Meat Loaf has sold over a hundred million copies all over the world, and had made several classic hits such as “Dead Ringer for Love,” “Bat Out of Hell,” and the fan-favorite, “I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That).”

The song practically made Loaf a breakthrough star and earned him the prestigious Grammy Award for Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance. It was also a no. 1 hit to 28 countries, an impressive amount that guaranteed him worldwide recognition.

But just like the rest of us here, what exactly did Meat Loaf mean when he sang the iconic line, “But I Won’t Do That?”

Several theories have explained it all, and while it’s tempting to latch on to such bizarreness, Meat Loaf actually explained the reason behind the line in a 2014 interview. Jim Steinman, who wrote the song with the singer, told the singer his mini-explanation to it.

“It’s the line before every chorus,” Meat Loaf revealed. “There’s nine of them, I think. The problem lies because Jimmy likes to write, so you forget what the line was before you get to ‘I won’t do that.’”

Some of the lines he meant were “I’ll never lie to you and that’s a fact,” “But I’ll never forgive myself if we don’t go all the way,” “But I’ll never do it better than I do it with you,” “But I’ll never stop dreaming of you every night of my life,” and many more.