Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell - Compositions

Compositions

The album opens with "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)", a marathon twelve-minute opus which was edited for single release in some countries. The track begins with a guitar played to sound like a revving motorcycle, a reference to Todd Rundgren's contribution in the middle of "Bat Out of Hell". Each verse comprises two things that he would do for love, followed by one thing that he would not do. It is that latter parts of each chorus that is the "that" of the title. However, some people misunderstand the lyrics, claiming that the singer never identifies what the "that" is that he is unwilling to do, a confusion that Steinman predicted during production. The song combines stadium rock and ballad for much of its twelve minutes. However, near the end of the song, a female vocalist is introduced. Credited in the liner notes as Mrs. Loud, this part was sung by Lorraine Crosby.

Rundgren points out that "the themes of the songs were darker." The second track, "Life is a Lemon and I Want My Money Back", demonstrates this pessimism. Several things are identified as "defective", including love, sex, gods, childhood and the future. Allmusic labels it "a stomping rocker that wraps serious feelings in a cryptically witty metaphor." Despite the pessimism, both Allmusic and Meat Loaf point out that "it is a funny song."

The third track, "Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through", is a prayer to rock music, celebrating how it is always there to help you through troubled times. One of its lyrics is "You're never alone, 'cause you can put on the 'phones and let the drummer tell your heart what to do." The fourth track also has dark overtones. "It Just Won't Quit", Steinman explains, "is about the fact that there are some things you never shake off... That's love, I guess." "Out of the Frying Pan (And into the Fire)" is a more upbeat song.

The album's sixth track, "Objects in the Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer than They Are" is a three part narrative that uses pathetic fallacy, where the seasons (summer, winter and spring) reflect the atmosphere of the events being described, drawing "its inspiration from the singer's often-tragic childhood. The lyrics portray a man who has overcome tragedies in his life yet still feels haunted by their memory." Steinman says that it was "the hardest song to write and get across."

It's a very passionate song. It's really, I think maybe, the most passionate one on the record. I mean, I'm really proud of it because that's really one that goes over-the-top in the sense that it's got images—it has religious imagery of resurrection, it's got images of fertility and rebirth, it has really very good sexual images, images of cars—which I always like.

The track quotes lyrics from the original's "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" ("It was long ago and it was far away"), as does the next track, "Wasted Youth", a spoken word fantasy monologue (a remixed version of "Love and Death and an American Guitar" from Steinman's Bad for Good album). The 1977 song's opening line "I remember every little thing as if it happened only yesterday. I was barely seventeen" opens this track also, but instead of being "barely dressed" the protagonist "once killed a boy with a Fender guitar." Influenced by The Doors, Steinman wanted to write a piece where "the rhythm wasn't coming from the drums so much as the voice—the rhythm of the spoken voice and the heartbeat behind it."

According to Steinman, "Good Girls Go to Heaven (Bad Girls Go Everywhere)" is a "teenage prayer". "Lost Boys and Golden Girls" is "Steinman's interpretation of the story of Peter Pan." The composer says that Peter Pan has "always been about my favorite story and I've always looked at it from the perspective that it's a great rock and roll myth because it's about—when you get right down to it—it's about a gang of lost boys who never grow up, who are going to be young forever and that's about as perfect an image for rock'n'roll as I can think of."