Paradise by the Dashboard Light

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Paradise by the Dashboard Light (English for. " Paradise in the light of the instrument panel ") is one of Jim Steinman written song in 1977 as a duet between Meat Loaf and Ellen Foley on the album Bat out of Hell was released.

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At 7 minutes and 55 seconds, the piece is one of the longest songs ever to be released on a single. The album version lasts 8:28. The song is divided into three sections.

The first part, "Paradise", begins with the memory of a rendezvous between a young high school couple. When parking by the lake, the two experience their "paradise in the light of the dashboard". The boy tries to persuade the girl with “go all the way tonight”, a metaphor from baseball jargon that stands for sexual intercourse in US-American usage. His efforts are backed by the radio broadcast of a baseball game in which the announcer of the New York Yankees , Phil Rizzuto used more baseball terms that are considered metaphors with sexual innuendo. The baseball broadcast was recorded at The Hit Factory in New York in 1976 by Rundgren , Meat Loaf and Steinman. Rizzuto later denied knowing the sexual context of his contribution. However, Meat Loaf asserted that Rizzuto had only faked his ignorance to counter criticism from a priest.

The second part of the song, Let Me Sleep on It , begins with the girl calling out "Stop right there!" She refuses and demands that the boy swear eternal love and marry her. The boy hesitates to make such far-reaching promises and tries repeatedly to persuade her to "sleep on it" again and not give her the answer until the next morning. Finally, he gives up and promises her "by God and his mother's grave, that he will love her until the end of time".

The third part, Praying for the End of Time , takes place in the present. The male part can no longer bear the presence of his loved one. But because he cannot break his promise, he prays for the end of time to deliver him from his promise. The song ends with the juxtaposition of the depressed review of the male part “It was long ago, it was far away, it was so much better than it is today!” And her happy answer “It never felt so good, it never felt so right , we're glowing like the metal on the edge of a knife. "

Although the song on the album was recorded with Ellen Foley, the video was shot with Karla DeVito .

reception

The single had limited success in the US and reached number 39 on the Billboard Hot 100. In England, the song did not enter the charts, while in the Netherlands it became Meat Loaf's biggest hit, reaching number one on the charts.

Chart placements

Chart (1977) Highest
position
Dutch Top 40 1 - 3 weeks)
US Billboard Hot 100 39

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jeff Pearlman : Phil and Meat Loaf will always have "Paradise" . In: ESPN . August 29, 2007. Retrieved August 28, 2009.

literature

  • James F. Harris: Philosophy at 33 1/3 Rpm: Themes of Classic Rock Music . Open Court Publishing, 1993, ISBN 0812692411 , pp. 116-118.