Quote Of The Day By Meat Loaf: 'Before I Can Sing The Song, I've Got To ...'

There are many superlatives that could be applied to Meat Loaf, but none more earned than "loudest" and "most outspoken." Not only was the late singer a vocal powerhouse when singing his operatic rock epics, but he was also never afraid to speak his mind, and often at length. One of the topics he always seemed happiest to return to was Meat Loaf's love for acting and how it informed his singing and concerts, which is why his music was always theatrical and larger than life.

That life started with a different type of drama than what he brought to the stage, however. From an early age, Meat Loaf had a less-than-loving father. Their tense relationship came to a head, prompting the young Meat Loaf to strike out on his own for Los Angeles. From there, his career soared higher and higher, until his hard rock masterpiece "Bat Out of Hell" made him one of the best-selling artists of all time.

Meat Loaf's trademark dramaturgy imbued his music with an epicness that few could match. Both when he was recording and when he was on stage, the singer transformed himself into whatever character suited the song best. For all he overcame during his life and for his versatility and commitment to his art, Meat Loaf earns our quote of the day.

"Before I can sing the song, I've got to find the character. I don't just walk in and sing a song. As far as I'm concerned there's no meaning or reason to sing it."

Meat Loaf revealed this process of his during a 2016 interview with Variety, which sat unpublished until the singer's death in 2022. The interview covered all the usual beats for Meat Loaf: his upcoming work, his repeated collaborations with songwriter Jim Steinman, and of course, his landmark album "Bat Out of Hell" and its sequels. If there's one topic the singer was happiest to expound upon, however, it was the way in which acting informs his singing.

As Meat Loaf said in the same interview, "I've never thought of myself as a singer. I think of myself as an actor," and it shows in the tone and mood of his unusually expressive vocal performances. "Bat Out of Hell" wouldn't be half the album it is without Meat Loaf's signature grandiosity.

Meat Loaf's quote specifically referred to the mindset with which he approached each song. They all had a unique viewpoint that the singer tried to embody to make the song feel authentic, even though it hadn't come from any personal experience. As he explained in the Variety interview, "It's about me being able to present [the audience] with the truth. They would know if I wasn't telling them the truth — subconsciously, they would know that."

Fittingly, the singer's remarks touch on an even deeper truth about the relationship between artists, their art, and their audience. Audiences are largely smarter than some give them credit for and can sniff out inauthenticity pretty quickly. An intelligent guy, Meat Loaf was aware of this and knew that even when singing songs written by others, there was always a way to approach their performance from an honest place. In the same way that actors channel personal memories and commonalities with the character in order to bring another person's script to life, Meat Loaf always brought sincerity to the lyrics — which paid off for him in spades.

The broader lesson in Meat Loaf's words is to tackle every project head-on and with sincere intentions. Even if a project isn't your brainchild, you can still make it your own. That kind of personal care doesn't go unnoticed and, if Meat Loaf is any indication, will take your work higher than it ever would have reached otherwise.

• "I would much rather people hate me or love me than to be lukewarm."

• "I don't think you should ever regret a moment nor can you ever say "I should have done this."

• "The minute you stop learning is the minute you stop growing is the minute you should go home and sit in your chair and watch TV."

• "Give everything you've got all the time. Do whatever it is. Never walk through anything."

• "My mantra is — and has been for years — I want to learn something today and I want to be a better person today than I was yesterday."