New Telegraph Interview

[stretch37]

A surprisingly refreshing interview with Meat - possibly from when he was in the UK last time? Or, is he back there again? Anyways, some may, of course disagree with some of his comments, but you have to admit, the journalist here is an interesting character.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/interviews/meat-loaf-ive-forgiven-my-father-for-trying-to-kill-me-with-a-bu/

[CarylB]

From when he was here the other week. I do think that having acknowledged Meat was in really, really severe pain from that damned trapped nerve, some of the comments (frail, snail's pace, clawed right hand hand etc) were a bit unnecessary. He fulfilled a packed promo schedule, including dozens of interviews (like the one afforded this guy) ... making him sound like some decrepit, drooling old geezer was a bit off imo. He takes some effective strong pain medication, they slow his speech down, and the tabloids speculate he's drunk or had a stroke :roll:

But aside from that, yes, it was a good and interesting interview :-)

This one was shorter, but also good

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/interviews/meat-loaf-ive-forgiven-my-father-for-trying-to-kill-me-with-a-bu/

And this leaflet given out at Waitrose this week (one of our premier grocery chains) was also fun

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd173/CarylBurton/UKF/Waitrose%20QA%2002_zpslln719qm.jpg

[rockfenris2005]

But when I suggest this might be interpreted as the old troupers addressing mortality, Meat Loaf seems surprised. “I never thought of it until you said that. Maybe it was too close to mortality, so I didn't want to go there. Now you've got me thinking about it.”

This is actually how I saw it! And one of the reasons I was really interested, because I saw "Only When I Feel" and other songs Steinman had written as this older guy. If anything I was probably actually surprised that he was approaching it as a 19 year old.

[letsgotoofar]

This is actually how I saw it! And one of the reasons I was really interested, because I saw "Only When I Feel" and other songs Steinman had written as this older guy. If anything I was probably actually surprised that he was approaching it as a 19 year old.

Seconded. "Who Needs The Young?" alone does not sound like a 19 year old to me.

[CarylB]

It doesn't sound like one to me, but it does FEEL like one. I hear a man of indeterminate age looking back and experiencing all those feelings of anger and frustration as if they're happening again right now, so as the song unfolds I feel and then hear all those emotions of the 19 year old

[stretch37]

Yeah I mean Meat knows he doesn't, and will never sound like a 19 year old given the characteristics of his voice now.

but he's not going around saying "I sound like I'm 19!", he's saying the character is 19.

And how that comes out is in Meat's emotions.

I'm still trying to figure out how that makes this album different than other albums that caught me emotionally like CHSIB.

Meats either very deep or just likes to over-complicate things. Perhaps a little of each ;) ;)

[Wario]

The most expensive thing he did was 250 bucks?

Man he wasnt lieing.... he is not extravagant at all. A multimillionaire and that is the most expensive thing.

[letsgotoofar]

It doesn't sound like one to me, but it does FEEL like one. I hear a man of indeterminate age looking back and experiencing all those feelings of anger and frustration as if they're happening again right now, so as the song unfolds I feel and then hear all those emotions of the 19 year old

To each their own. I hear in the lyrics (and the voice and the feel, not that that's the point) the emotions of an old man disparaging the youth. A 19 year old may very well be angry at the world for a variety of reasons, but I highly doubt they would be that vituperative. (I say this as someone who was very recently 19.)

[PanicLord]

Well either way it's superb to see someone using the word vituperative in public.

Good work.

[duke knooby]

Well either way it's superb to see someone using the word vituperative in public.

Good work.

(I'd to look it up earlier)

[CarylB]

.... I highly doubt they would be that vituperative. (I say this as someone who was very recently 19.)

Jim was at 19, both as bitterly scathing and able to articulate it ;) However he was perhaps exceptionally able, that's why I said I hear a man looking back and experiencing all those feelings again, as if he were 19 again but with a wisdom, or perhaps an ability, to express them in words beyond his youthful years.

As you say, to each our own, which is also what Meat always says he wants us to create for ourselves. Although I don't think we're poles apart

[letsgotoofar]

Jim was at 19, both as bitterly scathing and able to articulate it ;)

Which is why it's important to note Jim wasn't writing from his own point of view, but as a character piece from the POV of the authority figures putting down the Chicago riots of '69 (i.e., old men disparaging the youth). ;) (Doesn't dismiss Meat's particular character motivation, necessarily, but it is interesting that no matter how he got there, it still fits Jim's basic idea.)

As you say, to each our own, which is also what Meat always says he wants us to create for ourselves. Although I don't think we're poles apart

No, not poles. You're in the UK right? I'm in the U.S., so I'd wager it's about a pond's worth. :-P (ba-dum-tish)

[rockfenris2005]

Jim writes character songs really. But at the SHOF speech, he said that he was writing about the Chicago riots, but he was writing the song from the point of view of the people they were fighting against. And those were the characters singing the song. And that's what I've always got from the song anyway. In the original "Dream Engine", where the song was first performed, it was sung by Max and Emily, two agents sent out by the city to deal with Baal and the tribe who were living on the coast of Northern California. In "Neverland", it evolved into Hook's song, which is how I always saw that song in the context of that musical. It was a song sung by Hook, but that's interesting to me - going back to this thing with the 19 year old - because both Peter and Hook are like similar characters, both of which (Peter more naturally) could be related to a younger person. I hope some of this made sense....