Bat Out Of Hell

Album: Bat Out Of Hell (1977)
Charted: 8
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Songfacts®:

  • Like all of Meat Loaf's hits, this was written by the pianist-composer Jim Steinman. He said he wrote it to be the ultimate "motorcycle crash song." The lyrics refer to a rider being thrown off his bike in a wreck and his organs exposed:

    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


    The song "Leader Of The Pack," which also features a motorcycle, was a big influence.
  • The motorcycle sound in the middle of the song is producer Todd Rundgren on electric guitar. Todd hated the idea at first, but Steinman begged him until he tried it, pulling it off, along with the subsequent solo, in one take.
  • Jim Steinman wrote this song for his stage production Neverland, which he had been developing since 1975. The play debuted at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, on April 26, 1977. The Bat Out Of Hell album was released on October 21, 1977 and contained two other tracks from Neverland as well: "Heaven Can Wait" and "All Revved Up with No Place to Go."
  • Steinman trademarked the name "Bat Out Of Hell" in 1995, and in 2006, Meat Loaf sued him when Steinman wouldn't let him use the title "Bat Out Of Hell III" for an album. Steinman produced the album Bat Out Of Hell II, but Desmond Child produced the 2006 album.
  • "Bat Out Of Hell" is an expression meaning very fast.
  • Producer Todd Rundgren told Mojo magazine February 2009 of Bruce Springsteen's influence on the Bat Out of Hell album. Said Rundgren: "Jim Steinman still denies that record has anything to do with Springsteen. But I saw it as a spoof. You take all the trademarks - over long songs, teenage angst, handsome loner- and turn them upside down. So we made these epic songs, full of the silly puns that Steinman loves. If Bruce Springsteen can take it over the top, Meat Loaf can take it five storeys higher than that - and at the same time, he's this big, sweaty, unappealing character. Yet we out-Springsteened Springsteen. He's never had a record that sold like Bat Out of Hell, and I didn't think that anyone would ever catch on to it. I thought it would be just a cult thing. The royalties from that album enabled me to follow my own path for a long time after that."
  • The Bat Out of Hell album spent 474 weeks on the UK albums chart and became one of the top five all-time best selling albums there. >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Bertrand - Paris, France
  • Aside from a limited-edition 12-inch, "Bat Out Of Hell" was never issued as a single in the US, but it was the first song many radio stations started playing after the album came out. Running 9:56, it was far too long for pop radio, but embraced by the Freeform and Album Oriented Rock stations that were all over the airwaves.

    Bat Out Of Hell went on to sell about 30 million copies (give or take a few million depending on whose accounting you believe), but when it was released, its success was anything but a given. Meat Loaf was a very obscure artist and the album was unconventional, with nothing that sounded like a standard radio hit. This break in convention ended up distinguishing the album and prompting the huge sales figures.

    Even the guys who played on the album thought it would flop. In a Songfacts interview with Kasim Sulton, who was the bass player, he said that while recording it, he thought the album was "the biggest joke that I've ever been involved in." He learned that it was not a joke when he heard the song on the influential New York City radio station WNEW-FM. "I hear this track, and I said to myself, 'That sounds vaguely familiar. Where have I heard that song before?'" Sutton said. "Then it hit me: 'I played on that!' It was 'Bat Out of Hell,' that track. And then after hearing it on WNEW, the record exploded."
  • In the UK, this was edited down to 6:40 and released as a single, charting at #15 in February 1979 - 16 months after the album was released. In 1993, it was re-released in the UK (this time cut to 4:50), and charted at #8.
  • On the album version, the vocals don't come in until 1:55.

Comments: 40

  • Dee from Florida UsaRIP Jim Steinman (1947-2021)
  • David Hutchinson from Beltsville, Md.The Bruce Springsteen connection is the fact that Steinman used half of his band recording some of this material. Specially Dashboard!!!
  • T from Vlaardingen, The NetherlandsThis song was featured in our 'literature/fiction appreciation'-lessons in what Americans would call high school. It's lyrics were combined with parts of Lord of the Rings' passage of Gandalf falling in the abyss. Although this song has nothing to do with lotr, both share the same kind of fatalism.
    I can't hear this song without thinking of the phrase 'Run, you fools'. :)
  • Crüe from Chelmsford, United KingdomAmazing song. Always.
  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyGreat song from a great album, one of the few CDs I have that I don't program out a a single track, it's great from start to finish...
  • Jonathan from Parsippany, NjHELP HELP HELP !!! Does anyone know where to find the sheet music for the FULL INTRO TO BAT OUT OF HELL??? I've tried every legitimate outlet I know and have found zip.
  • Jon from Scotland, United Kingdom@ Stu, Philadelphia: Jim Steinman said on an interview with the Sky Arts channel that he was a big fan of "Thunder Road" by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band and acknowledges that had an influence on his track Bat Out Of Hell.

    Although unlikely to be recorded, Jim Steinman still holds up hope for the fourth and final installment of the "Bat Out Of Hell" series which he'd like to title "Bat Out Of Hell IV: The Final Bat". Meat Loaf, on the other hand, is adamant the "Bat Out Of Hell" journey ended with "The Monster Is Loose".

  • Richard from Invercargill, New ZealandSkeletim, USA, NJ may not be too far off the mark because I remember reading in Meat Loaf's autobio that all the songs that Stienman writes go into this 'super-musical' called Neverland.
  • Paul from Boston, MaThe exact length is actually 9:59. This corresponds to the chapter and verse from the book of Lividicus "seek not the shortest distance to the truth, but hasten thy journey to the light lest ye never escape the fire of hell" Jim Stienman was a devout Catholic.
  • Jon from Scotland, United KingdomBelieve it or not, "Bat Out Of Hell" and the album of the same name was supposed to be a country music project.
  • Gary from Blackwood, NjI've heard this song more times than I can count, and it always blows me away. I love it. But I swear, the line, "When the metal is hot and the engine is hungry" sounds like, "When the metal is hot and the engine is 'holy'". The next line is,
    "And we're all about to see the light", can be interpreted as "we're all about to die, about to meet a higher power, etc.", which is likely a "holy" experience, if you believe in a higher power. I know what the lyrics are, as printed on the album/CD jacket because I own it. Maybe I'm wrong, but listen to him sing it a few or several times. If it was a misprint on the jacket, there may have been so many copies printed & sold before the error was noticed that they just decided to leave it as is.
  • T from Tucson, AzI have been a fan from the beginning and this song is about as raw and energetic as it gets. If this song doesn't get your heart pumping you just might be dead. I hope Meat Loaf goes on for another 30 years.
  • Stu from Philly, PaThe piano behind the first verse sounds almost EXACTLY like the first verse in Springsteen's "Thunder Road".

    Either way, Bat Out Of Hell is one of my absolute favorite songs, and favorite albums as well.

    My bride walked down the aisle to a shortened, instrumental version i recorded of "Heavan Can Wait".

    I LOVE MEAT LOAF!! :)

    My band Raised On Radio does a good rendition of Paradise too, 9 minutes be damned :)
  • Roman from Barrie, OnSaw Meat Loaf on a double bill concert with Electric Light Orchestra. thought it was innovative and wild that he drove on stage on a Harley, and then for their show ELO arrived in their white flying saucer.......
  • Rich from Bellevue, WaTom: One reason this sounds a bit like Springsteen is because the piano player is Roy Bittan and the drummer is Max Weinberg, both of the E Street Band.
  • Joe from East Rockaway, Ny"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." that chorus has got to hit home with many people in love, people mis judge love and think to little of it in my opinion and they don't realise how good it can be.
  • Skeletim from Usa, NjThis song is about Peter Pan promising to visit Wendy every night but returning to Neverland (San Fernando Valley) every morning. "Nothing ever grows in this rotten old hole and everything is stunted and lost" because the lost boys never grow old in Neverland. If he leaves too far away from the radiation that mutated his genes, then he will grow old. Hence why he is damned if he never gets out to see Wendy, but he is also damned if he does.
  • David from Youngstown, OhThis is a great song. The album was a tremendous success in the United States even though dozens of labels rejected it. But it's considered an all-time great in Australia and England, which is shown by many of the comments here coming from people from those two countries.
  • David from Grimsby, EnglandSteinman was going to sing it but lost his voice after booking the studio. Money was tight so step in Marvin Adey and the rest is history. Check out Steinmans Bad for good album if you like Bat out of Hell.
  • Tom from East Lyme, CtDoes anyone else think this song sounds a LOT like Bruce Springsteen?
  • Tracey from Johannesburg, South AfricaJust a brillient song....
  • Ed from Ottawa, CanadaThis stretches to over 12 minutes when performed live and also has female back-up vocals when played live.
  • Clayton from Mons, BelgiumThis is an amazing song, and anyone who really likes this song should listen to Heaven Can Wait, i am a romantic, and that song always puts me in a very sensual mood.
  • Damian from Melbourne, AustraliaGrea song! The album sells up to 200,000 copies a year!
  • Will from York, EnglandThe album is the top selling Rock album in the UK in the 70s. Followed by BooH II.
  • Elie from The U.k, EnglandThis song is great I like to listen to it while I am in the car driving and going fast but sometimes I go crazy and almost crash you know because I get too much into the song.
  • The Darkness Rock from Millmerran, AustraliaOk, Ok I'm a Darkness, AC/DC, Thin Lizzy, Aerosmith and Guns n Roses fan. But in this part of my Rock n Roll heart I'm a Meat Loaf fan. I don't know why I just like him. Just the titles of his songs. You know Bat out of Hell. You took the words right out of my mouth. Paradise by Dashboard Light.
  • Alexio from Haslemere, EnglandAn incredible intense rock and roll song made perfect lol, he is an incredible singer as well and his guitar playing skills are very top notch, sad he never released many more like this.
  • Susan from San Francisco, CaI'm 65 and absolutely no music revs my engine like this song! The driving intensity is downright sexual.
  • Sarah from Spur, TxI love this song its an awesome song and one of the few songs i can relate to as a racer...and this song is how i came to have nick name ( the bat out of hell)...
  • Rodin from Brighton, EnglandI love this song, it made me go back with my ex-wife, then we had a kid, then we broke up. Well I can thank this song for the good parts and blame her for the bad :P
  • Chris from Stuttgart, GermanyI think he most special thing about this song is the "singing guitar" (i think it's the best impression for the sound that appears at 8:59). This is such a great sound that everytime I hear that song I go crazy!
  • Sandra from New York, NyWhen I feel my age, I put on this song - awesome
  • Jack from Annan, ScotlandGreat song, brilliant album too....but the sequel, "Bat 2: Back Into Hell" was a major disappointment.
  • Madeline from Melbourne, AustraliaThis song is played at every party I've gone to. It's a classic but its bloody long
  • Aj from Cleveland, GaThis was on 1977's Bat Out Of Hell album. By far Meatloaf's greatest work.
  • James from Billingham, EnglandSteinman's inspiration for writing this song actually came from the film pyscho. Meat tells us this on the Story Tellers DVD. Another fact from that is that the song was originally only half the length it was until meat got hold of it and persuaded Steinman to add more.
  • Josh from Plainview, NyThe exact length is 9:52
  • Shana from Pembroke, CanadaAwesome song...super long thjo..anyone know the exact length?
  • Aj from Ontario, CanadaAn awesome song. I'm a ski racer, so that involves pushing ourselves to always go faster. Anyways, every year I pick a theme song to sing while I'm waiting for my turn to race. As soon as I heard this song, I knew what I'd be singing this year!
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