On this day, 34 years ago, “Bat Out of Hell”, written by Jim Steinman, for the 1977 album Bat Out of Hell and performed by Meat Loaf, was released. The record was released as a single in 1979, and again in 1993. Like most songs on the album, the song was written about Peter Pan and the Neverland story. Steinman had intended for the song to appear on “a rock ‘n roll sci-fi version of Peter Pan”. Steinman finally completed the musical (which he started writing in 1968) in 2017.
“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”
The song was also inspired by teenage tragedy songs such as “Leader of the Pack”, “Terry” and “Tell Laura I Love Her”, the latter being the first single Jim Steinman had ever bought. Steinman wanted to write the “most extreme crash song of all time”
Despite being released more than a year after the album became available, the single reached number 15 in the UK in 1979, becoming his first top 20 UK hit and the highest charting song off the Bat Out of Hell album and was reissued in December 1993 following the huge chart success of “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)” in 1993. This time it reached number 8 giving Meat Loaf two singles in the UK Top Ten at the same time – a feat not repeated by any artist until 2002.
Listen to the iconic ballad here.
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