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| And my verdict on the song? | |
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rockfenris2005 10:37 am UTC 03/07/07 |
| In reply to: | god this gets confusing - rockfenris2005 10:21 am UTC 03/07/07 |
I think it's up there with "For Crying Out Loud" "Confession Of A Vampire" and "The Graveyard Shift" I'll be the first to admit that I'm an enormous fan of great, intricate lyric-writing. Ray demonstrates this with great blurred meaning, subtle and haunting innuendo and superb word-play. Yes, the tune basically is an amalgamation of a) the intro to "Death Is Such An Odd Thing", b) the chord-sequence for "It's Your Life" and c) the instrumental of "All Revved Up" Neverland version which, subsequently, was used on the early 80s tour for Meat Loaf ("Come In The Night") and the instrumental for "Holding Out For A Hero" most famously. I think that in order to appreciate it, truly, you have to understand what stage of "Steinmania" it was written in. Back in 1974, Jim wasn't writing songs like "Bat Out Of Hell" and "Making Love Out Of Nothing At All", it was very theatre, MTYD-ish and so on. It was also not written for any album with artists like Bonnie Tyler. It's truly old-style theatre, think Kurt Weill's "Lady In The Dark" and all that stuff, "The Threepenny Opera" by Brecht and Weill. This is also the reason why I ADORE "Not Allowed To Love" is because it summons up this beautiful golden-age of theatre that got lost somewhere. It got lost and obscured because rock and Elvis and The Beatles came onto the scene and suddenly this music sounded like old people and their parents. The storyline is very disturbing, because this soldier has walked away and the woman is still madly in love with him. How can she not be? Back then the man of the house was superior and it was probably the only life she had known, but he'd beat her and scar her. He dies in war I also feel I have to verify some things on Ray's behalf. The second bit with "bitch of a Holocaust" is only an optional extension. There is another verse which makes the first half into a full cohesive song, THAT first half is what made me arrive at the conclusion it was also a veiled reference to someone squeezing someone's privates, which could then almost make it a guy's song. It's four lines. But those lines aren't on the demo ALSO, Barry Keating wrote an extra verse for it that Ray didn't even know about. One of the lines including something about "face like a wet piece of bread" which made me sit up and go, WAIT A MINUTE!! ISN'T THAT THE LINE FROM INVITATION TO THE BALL??? Ray NOW knows and had apparently forgotten it was used in one of the versions at one of the cabarets. The cabarets I refer to are mentioned in the WORKS section of BAT OUT OF EXCESS. These are: STEINMAN & FRIENDS and BLOODSHOT WINE Some other songs that were played at this cabaret, which too place at the MANHATTAN THEATER CLUB w/ the likes of Andre DeShields, Johanna Albrecht, Barry Keating, Sarah Harris, Dale Soules and Meat Loaf were... * GO GO GO GUERILLAS * MORE THAN YOU DESERVE w/ Meat Loaf * FOR CRYING OUT LOUD which Barry says was a woman's song at this point * PRIVATE OF PRIVATES * PAST PERFECT WEDDING, another song Ray and Jim wrote together And no one seems to remember what else :S But Keating was the director. Thank you to Ray and Barry for verifying THAT. | |
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