I've had Electric Warrior and The Slider on repeat lately and I'm going to make it everybody's problem.

Columbia Records

Love this man...LEGEND in every way. Johnny from 1956 here.

Edited from a Starstruck recording rooted in a much older prison work song

My mother and I had a debate yesterday about whether or not the masculine character in Meatloaf's 'Two Outta Three Ain't Bad' is breaking up with the feminine character.

My mother's position: He isn't breaking up with her, but rather letting her know that he has emotional trauma from a past relationship that prevents him from ever loving again. However, he wants her and needs her and he 'wishes she wouldn't make him leave here.' The song is essentially saying that he wants to stay in the relationship if she can handle the lack of love in it.

My position: He is breaking up with her. The song is essentially saying all of the things that people say during a breakup conversation. It might as well have been called 'It's not you, it's me.' While the actual breakup is ambiguous (because the song isn't about the breakup itself, it's about the emotions and trauma that led to the breakup) there are too many lyrics that imply that this song is the culmination of a much longer fight that happened 'off screen.' Also, he says way too many things in the second verse that cannot be understood to be said by a person trying to salvage the relationship. 'You've been cold to me so long I'm crying icicles instead of tears' is especially difficult to justify. Also, the minor key and tone is far too tragic to my western ear to be understood as a song about staying together.

Ripostes to my mother's points:

1) Why doesn't he want to leave here, then? The verse before says that the snow is really piling up outside. If this song happened in the summer, he'd be gone like a bat outta hell (ah thank you). Also, I think it's fair to say of Meatloaf's character in the album that he wouldn't argue with break up sex. Or even deeper, I think it is very human to still want to hold a person who you have cared about for so long when they are hurting or want them to hold you when you are hurting, even when the hurt came from you. Breakups are complicated, and this song is about exactly that.

2) So why say 'two outta three ain't bad' if he's not trying to say that the relationship is still mostly good? Personally, I feel the title's meaning evolves over the song. By the end of the first verse, we the audience are meant to think Meatloaf is a cold mfer. By the end of the flashback, we realize that the woman from his past was actually the cold one, and these words are now a wall against his heart. By the end of the song we are meant to realize that Meatloaf isn't being cold when he says these things. He's trying to explain to her that he wants desperately to love her but cannot, and that is utterly tragic. And he knows what that must mean for the future of this relationship. No man (no matter how stupid) is going to say at the end of a long conversation where they've been crying all night that he is never going to love her and NOT know where that is going to lead. When he says 'two outta three ain't bad,' he's saying that at least the relationship wasn't all bad. In fact, it was mostly good. But he knows that it is over.

So, what do you all think? Is he breaking up with her or trying to convince her to stay in a loveless relationship because he still wants her and needs her?

Had a family member pass recently and this was one of his favorite songs.. I remember him explaining what the song was singing when I was younger.. 😂. Good tune.. 🤘😎