In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
The sirens are screaming and the fires are howling
Way down in the valley tonight
There's a man in the shadows with a gun in his eye
And a blade shining oh so bright
There's evil in the air and there's thunder in the sky
And a killer's on the bloodshot streets
And down in the tunnel where the deadly are rising
Oh I swear I saw a young boy
Down in the gutter
He was starting to foam in the heat
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
But I gotta get out
I gotta break it out now
Before the final crack of dawn
So we gotta make the most of our one night together
When it's over you know
We'll both be so alone
Like a bat out of hell
I'll be gone when the morning comes
When the night is over
Like a bat out of hell I'll be gone gone gone
Like a bat out of hell I'll be gone when the morning comes
But when the day is done
And the sun goes down
And the moonlight's shining through
Then like a sinner before the gates of heaven
I'll come crawling on back to you
I'm gonna hit the highway like a battering ram
On a silver black phantom bike
When the metal is hot and the engine is hungry
And we're all about to see the light
Nothing ever grows in this rotten old hole
Everything is stunted and lost
And nothing really rocks
And nothing really rolls
And nothing's ever worth the cost
And I know that I'm damned if I never get out
And maybe I'm damned if I do
But with every other beat I got left in my heart
You know I'd rather be damned with you
If I gotta be damned you know I wanna be damned
Dancing through the night with you
If I gotta be damned you know I wanna be damned
Gotta be damned you know I wanna be damned
If I gotta be damned you know I wanna be damned
Dancing through the night
Dancing through the night
Dancing through the night with you
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
But I gotta get out
I gotta break it out now
Before the final crack of dawn
So we gotta make the most of our one night together
When it's over you know
We'll both be so alone
Like a bat out of hell
I'll be gone when the morning comes
When the night is over
Like a bat out of hell I'll be gone gone gone
Like a bat out of hell I'll be gone when the morning comes
But when the day is done
And the sun goes down
And the moonlight's shining through
Then like a sinner before the gates of heaven
I'll come crawling on back to you
I can see myself tearing up the road
Faster than any other boy has ever gone
And my skin is raw but my soul is ripe
No one's gonna stop me now
I gotta make my escape
But I can't stop thinking of you
And I never see the sudden curve until it's way too late
I never see the sudden curve until it's way too late
Then I'm dying at the bottom of a pit in the blazing sun
Torn and twisted at the foot of a burning bike
And I think somebody somewhere must be tolling a bell
And the last thing I see is my heart
Still beating
Breaking out of my body
And flying away
Like a bat out of hell
Then I'm dying at the bottom of a pit in the blazing sun
Torn and twisted at the foot of a burning bike
And I think somebody somewhere must be tolling a bell
And the last thing I see is my heart
Still beating
Still beating
Breaking out of my body and flying away
Like a bat out of hell
Like a bat out of hell
Like a bat out of hell
Like a bat out of hell
Like a bat out of hell
Like a bat out of hell
Way down in the valley tonight
There's a man in the shadows with a gun in his eye
And a blade shining oh so bright
There's evil in the air and there's thunder in the sky
And a killer's on the bloodshot streets
And down in the tunnel where the deadly are rising
Oh I swear I saw a young boy
Down in the gutter
He was starting to foam in the heat
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
But I gotta get out
I gotta break it out now
Before the final crack of dawn
So we gotta make the most of our one night together
When it's over you know
We'll both be so alone
Like a bat out of hell
I'll be gone when the morning comes
When the night is over
Like a bat out of hell I'll be gone gone gone
Like a bat out of hell I'll be gone when the morning comes
But when the day is done
And the sun goes down
And the moonlight's shining through
Then like a sinner before the gates of heaven
I'll come crawling on back to you
I'm gonna hit the highway like a battering ram
On a silver black phantom bike
When the metal is hot and the engine is hungry
And we're all about to see the light
Nothing ever grows in this rotten old hole
Everything is stunted and lost
And nothing really rocks
And nothing really rolls
And nothing's ever worth the cost
And I know that I'm damned if I never get out
And maybe I'm damned if I do
But with every other beat I got left in my heart
You know I'd rather be damned with you
If I gotta be damned you know I wanna be damned
Dancing through the night with you
If I gotta be damned you know I wanna be damned
Gotta be damned you know I wanna be damned
If I gotta be damned you know I wanna be damned
Dancing through the night
Dancing through the night
Dancing through the night with you
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
But I gotta get out
I gotta break it out now
Before the final crack of dawn
So we gotta make the most of our one night together
When it's over you know
We'll both be so alone
Like a bat out of hell
I'll be gone when the morning comes
When the night is over
Like a bat out of hell I'll be gone gone gone
Like a bat out of hell I'll be gone when the morning comes
But when the day is done
And the sun goes down
And the moonlight's shining through
Then like a sinner before the gates of heaven
I'll come crawling on back to you
I can see myself tearing up the road
Faster than any other boy has ever gone
And my skin is raw but my soul is ripe
No one's gonna stop me now
I gotta make my escape
But I can't stop thinking of you
And I never see the sudden curve until it's way too late
I never see the sudden curve until it's way too late
Then I'm dying at the bottom of a pit in the blazing sun
Torn and twisted at the foot of a burning bike
And I think somebody somewhere must be tolling a bell
And the last thing I see is my heart
Still beating
Breaking out of my body
And flying away
Like a bat out of hell
Then I'm dying at the bottom of a pit in the blazing sun
Torn and twisted at the foot of a burning bike
And I think somebody somewhere must be tolling a bell
And the last thing I see is my heart
Still beating
Still beating
Breaking out of my body and flying away
Like a bat out of hell
Like a bat out of hell
Like a bat out of hell
Like a bat out of hell
Like a bat out of hell
Like a bat out of hell
Lyrics submitted by mlttabh
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Funny how this site works. You can have a lame rap song getting 200 comments but this rock classic only have a good 20-30 comments at most. :-/
Actually the author of the song has stated numerous times that this song is meant to depict the ultimate crash scene.
So yes, it is quite literally about a man dying after wrecking on his motorcycle.
You should learn to research before blasting people who have heard the meaning from Jim Steinman himself.
I love this song too, but I think it's possible to over-analyse about it. Personally I don't think Jim Steinman or Meat Loaf are sophisticated enough to write songs with hidden meanings, or even non-obvious meanings. Steinman uses some pretty transparent techniques for his songwriting, such as the constant religious references to try to make things sound more dramatic and grand - sinner, gates of heaven, pure and good and right, hell, pit, tolling a bell... it goes on and on. Another of his techniques is to start with a phrase that has two meanings and write a whole song around it, e.g. For Crying Out Loud (meaning "for Pete's sake" or "for crying out with passion"), Left in the Dark (meaning "left without light" or "left uninformed"), You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth (read it and see). It's quite clear that Steinman is just stringing together various songwriting techniques, and should not be taken too seriously.
Note also the way he writes for his market! It's all bikes, sex and rebelliousness, and don't get me wrong, those things are great, but if you think Steinman writes like that because that's who he is, forget it. He writes that way because he knows how to give his market what it wants.
Bat Out of Hell is a great song, but unless you're aged 17 and an impressionable biker yourself, you'll take it with a pinch of salt.
You might be right, that he writes his songs with his target audience in mind, but let's be honest, he does a damn' fine job. And what's wrong with a song that relates to you whe you're 17, and makes you still smile when you're 41? I still sing it out loud in the car, or when I'm washing the dishes.
@songanalyst uh... "Personally I don\'t think Jim Steinman or Meat Loaf are sophisticated enough to write songs with hidden meanings" You wrote? That, dear stranger, is blasphemy.
I agree This song is one of the best songs ever
I recently did a research essay for one of my modules in uni on this piece. The module was entitled "Love and Desire" and we had to research and analyse any text we wanted with it being related to love or desire. I look at the song and compared it to that of Sigmund Freud's ideas of the Death Drive to which we subconciously wish to return to our most natural state like when we were in our womb. Anyways what I got from the song was that it entails two loves one being his woman whom he seems to be returning to and the other for his lifestyle, hes a biker. It is well known that bikers can be on the road for months and only return to see their girlfriends and wives once a year at least. It seems to be the rush he has for life is paralleld with that of the rush to get home to see his other love.
I could also be totally wrong but hey songs are there for you to interpret whatever you want out of them right? Hence peoples love of such a form of communication.
Songanalyst pretty much sums it for me.
Folk, there is no girl in the song. If you think it's a girl he's singing to, it's his motorcycle. The machine fills the role for him, because of his desperation.
I guess I could be convinced the protagonist killed someone at the beginning, a la "The Outsiders", but honestly, to me, it's more dramatic scene-setting than recounting the events off-screen. He sees himself as a killer on the bloodshot streets - nice image - and then describes himself as a young boy foaming in the heat (not so nice an image).
The only thing that's good and pure in his life is his love for his motorcycle. He doesn't ride in the day (when the sun comes up... gone like a bat out of hell, which is also metaphor for his short and shortened life). When the night comes - the day is done, moonlight shining, he comes crawling back to his bike to ride (dancing through the night, riding twisty roads, a dangerous activity at night).
When the night's over, he misses riding... both gonna be so alone (his bike isn't ridden by anyone else). Here, you could convince me that he's running from a murder, and after he gets as far away from his crime as the bike can take him in a night, he'll have to leave it behind (because it's traceable?), because of the lyric "make the most of our one night together".
i agree with dearheart........this song has nothing to do with a girl<br /> Jim Steinman said it himself that it was a motorcycle crash song...thats why he had Tod Rundgren play a motorcycle guitar solo.....and in the Hits Out of Hell DVD.... the video shows a motorcycle.....<br /> <br /> So long story short, his life is surrounded with horrible things and the only good in it is his motorcycle, which he only has a chance to ride at night....at the end he crashes and his organs are exposed (grusom but AWESOME) and all he sees is his heart still beating leaving his body there.<br /> <br /> This is my opinion and I may be wrong but this makes a lot of sence to me.<br />
can it be any better than this?
no it can't this is a gr8 song. i'm listenin 2 it now!
haha yeah its cool...my sista added it :O)!
meat loaf rules & so does this song!!