And I would do anything for love, and I'll be there 'til the final act.
I have traveled across the universe through the years to find her.
Sometimes going all the way is just the start...
"I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)" is a 1993 song by Meat Loaf, written and composed by Jim Steinman for the second album of their joint works, Bat Out of Hell II. The music video for the track is basically a Beauty and the Beast love story crossed with a crime mystery, and it was directed by Michael Bay.
"I Would Do Anything for These Tropes":
- Bathing Beauty: Pun aside, the Beauty of the video clip is introduced while taking a bath in a pool in the forest, and later she is seen in a bathtub in the Beast's mansion.
- Beast and Beauty: The theme of the music video: Meat Loaf plays some kind of creature with a deformed face and hands who has supernatural powers and is hunted by the police. One day he spots a beautiful woman and falls in love with her from afar, but she notices him watching her and he flees. She tracks him to his castle, and he hides from her while contemplating approaching her. She finds him when he starts smashing mirrors in shame of his appearance. As the police arrive at the castle, the woman caresses his face and accepts him for who he is, and The Power of Love causes him to return to his human form. The two of them then escape and ride off into the sunset.
- Call-and-Response Song: Part of the lyrics is Lorraine Crosby asking questions to her lover and Meat Loaf answering her.
- Chase Scene: The music video begins with the Beast being pursed on his motorbike by some cops.
- Color-Coded Characters: The Beauty is always seen clad in white, while the Beast is wearing black.
- Color Motif: In the dual repartee, Lorraine Crosby asks if Meat Loaf can colorize her life, since she is sick of black and white.
- Dual-Meaning Chorus: Each verse mentions something that Meat Loaf will not do. The chorus then emphasises that he won't do that. A surprising number of people ignore the verses and assert that he never tells us what 'that' is.
- Epic Instrumental Opener: The song goes about two minutes before the first vocals are heard.
- Epic Rocking: "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" is 7:38 in its short version, making it, at the time, the longest song to have reached #1 on the US charts. (The album version is an even twelve minutes — Steinman reportedly wept when he was told they'd have to trim it down to get it on the radio. More to the point, Meat Loaf's autobiography describes the original studio version pre-album as fifteen minutes long, needing a shave presumably due to the limited space of a vinyl LP.)
- Falling Chandelier of Doom: The Beast escapes from the police on his motorbike, and a cop accidentally shoots the chandelier, causing it to fall on himself as Meat Loaf escapes.
- Fire/Water Juxtaposition: The male singer describes his love interest using the contrasting imagery:And some nights you're breathing fire
And some nights you're carved in ice... - Gender Flip: Symphonic Metal band Xandria made a cover of the song, changing the gender of the singers (as in, the Beast is sung by a woman, and the Beauty by a man).
- To Hell and Back: The singer promises to "run into hell and back".
- Inexplicably Awesome: The Beast has magical powers: at the start of the video, he vanishes into a crypt without opening its doors to escape the cops; he can also scry on the Beauty by the liquid of a wine cup, rolls his chair without any visible mechanism, and even teleports with the Beauty to escape the cops that raided his mansion.
- MacGuffin: The Beast accidentally drops a gem-encrusted brooch in some branches, which draws the Beauty to his mansion. At the end of the video, the detective grabs the brooch, left there in the mansion floor by the Beast.
- Music Video Overshadowing: Song: A man swears to his lover that he'll always cherish her and never leave or be inconsiderate. Video: The Beast runs down some cops on his motorcycle, leads the Beauty to his mansion where he wins her heart, and the two ride off into the sunset as the police show up to arrest him.
- Noodle Incident: Well, Noodle Boundary in this case. In "I Would Do Anything For Love," the line that the speaker refuses to cross is never specified and has been a subject of debate among fans. Meat Loaf and Steinman have both claimed it should be intuitively obvious, but this may be trolling on their part.
- Opening Scroll: The video begins with two sentences as part of its opening credits:"I have travelled across the universe through the years to find her. Sometimes going all the way is just a start."
- The Promise: In essence, the song is Meat Loaf promising his lover what he would to for love and what he would not.
- Rage Against the Reflection: There's a scene where Meat Loaf (as the Beast) smashes a hallway of mirrors, visibly enraged.
- Romantic Ride Sharing: Meat Loaf and the love interest are seen at the end of the video riding a motorbike into the sunset.
- Shout-Out: Many:
- In a part of the video, the love interest is lying on a bed when three women come out of the mattress and writhe on her. This is a reference to the three Brides of Dracula who seduce Jonathan while he was in bed.
- During the duet part, Lorraine Crosby asks Meat Loaf if he can build an emerald city with these grains of sand.
- Almost at the end of the song, Lorraine Crosby doubts Meat Loaf's promises, and says that their tryst will be simply a midsummer night's fling.
- Sliding Scale of Law Enforcement: A detective and some cops are pursuing the Beast in the beginning of the music video, and later raid his mansion after him, but he has teleported away with the Beauty.
- Stalking is Love: Meat Loaf, as the Beast, meets the Beauty character for the first time as he spies on her bathing time; then somehow scries on her coming to his mansion on a wine cup. Just before the dual song repartee, the Beast goes back to spying on her, this time through a pair of ocular lenses, akin to a microscope.
- There Was a Door: The cops enter the crypt after the Beast, when he crashes out of its walls on his motorbike.
- Title-Only Chorus: The song title is repeated in the chorus.
