Not A Dry Eye In The House

Friday morning started off as per normal. I grabbed a coffee and settled in to do some typing for #FollowFriday. Also as per normal, I took a skim of the headlines from some European News Services to see what was happening. In some of the cases, I don’t understand the language but can make a pretty good guess.

One of the websites had an article with Meat Loaf in it and so I had Google translate it for me and the story indicated that the musician had died. I switched back to Canadian news sources and there wasn’t a mention of it but that changed within the hour. Meat Loaf had indeed died.

That was sad for me. I have such great memories of his wonderful music from university days and indeed up to today. I have copies of his records – I had actually worn out my copy of Bat Out of Hell and replaced it so that I could keep a copy. I also purchased the CD-ROM and ripped it onto my computer and my iPod to listen when I’m out and about.

It’s always special when a Meat Loaf song appears in the random shuffle. There are also times where I’ll play his songs all in a row if I need to pick up my pace. You just can’t stand still or slow down as you’re going like a Bat Out of Hell.

I attribute Meat Loaf and other artists of the time for turning me on to FM Radio. They played the songs that were longer than the three minute quickies that AM Radio did. Most certainly Meat Loaf’s collection of story telling fell into that class.

My wife and I have attended many concerts over the years but, sadly, a Meat Loaf concert was never an option anywhere we lived. Thanks to the reach of YouTube, we can enjoy those that have been recorded for playback. It’s also because of YouTube that I discovered that he played the El Mocambo during my university days.

It’s impossible for me to pick a favourite Meat Loaf song; I don’t recall any of his works that we would hit skip on or move to a different channel. Both of us know all the words to all of his songs, it seems. Perhaps the best love song (because he declared it as such) is “For Crying Out Loud”. This version is what I would consider the best of the best.

Meat Loaf was a wonderful performer during his concerts and always gave credit to those he played with. He also was appropriately glowing with recognition for Jim Steinman who wrote so many incredible songs. Here’s a list of 10. Of course, there’s a couple of Meat Loaf songs there. We also have a copy of his Bad for Good album.

Those who are Meat Loaf fans know that he’s had health issues for a while. But still, it’s always a shock when you get news like this.