It's All Coming Back To Me Now

"It's All Coming Back to Me Now" is a power ballad, written by Jim Steinman. According to Steinman the song was inspired by Wuthering Heights, and was an attempt to write "the most passionate, romantic song" he could ever create. Meat Loaf has said the song was intended for Bat out of Hell II and given to the singer in 1986, but that they both decided to use "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" for Bat II, and save this song for Bat III. In interviews, Meat Loaf has said that, in his mind, the song was always meant to be a duet. It was recorded as a duet by Meat Loaf and Marion Raven for the album Bat out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose, produced by Desmond Child. Raven had been working on her solo album with Child, and was chosen because the timbre of her voice starkly contrasts to Meat Loaf's. In promotional interviews, Meat Loaf said that "I believe that the version that Marion Raven and myself did on this album is the definitive version." Meat Loaf cried when he first heard the song, which "is the only time that's happened." He has also said that the song could refer to Steinman and himself, with an array of emotions coming back every time they work together. Referring to lines like 'when I kiss you like that', he said that although "I love Jim Steinman', he wouldn't French kiss him!" To me it wasn't a song about romance, it was about me and Jim Steinman. We'd had a load of problems with managers in the early '80s and all of a sudden after five years we started to communicate. After I'd been to his house, he sent me the song, and it was "It's All Coming Back To Me Now". Not the line 'When you kiss me like that', but the emotional connection. It doesn't have to be literal." The website Allmusic called the song 'a tormented ballad about romantic loss and regret built on a spooky yet heart-wrenching piano melody'. The torment is present in the song's opening ('There were nights when the wind was so cold'), from which the singer recovers ('I finished crying in the instant that you left... And I banished every memory you and I had ever made'). However, the defiance in the verses are replaced by the return of the 'subservient' feelings in the chorus ('when you touch me like this, and you hold me like that...'); this juxtaposition continues throughout the song. 'There were those empty threats and hollow lies 'And whenever you tried to hurt me 'I just hurt you even worse and so much deeper.' Eroticism is implied in the lines 'There were nights of endless pleasure' and 'The flesh and the fantasies: all coming back to me'. The song ends with a passionate, quiet reprise of the chorus. Critics have also identified Wagner, of whom Steinman is an admirer, as an inspiration. Specifying this song, the Sunday Times said "the theme of Wagner's opera Tristan and Isolde, with its extreme passions and obsessive love, informs all his best work."

[Intro: Meat Loaf, Marion Raven] There were nights when the wind was so cold That my body froze in bed If I just listened to it right outside the window There were days when the sun was so cruel That all the tears turned to dust And I just knew my eyes were drying up forever [Verse 1: Meat Loaf & Marion Raven] I finished crying in the instant that you left And I can't remember where or when or how And I banished every memory you and I had ever made [Chorus: Meat Loaf & Marion Raven] But when you touch me like this (Touch me like this) And you hold me like that (Hold me like that) I just have to admit that it's all coming back to me When I touch you like this (Touch you like this) And I hold you like that (Hold you like that) It's so hard to believe, but it's all coming back to me now It's all coming back It's all coming back to me now [Verse 2: Meat Loaf & Marion Raven] There were moments of gold, and there were flashes of light There were things I'd never do again, but then they'd always seemed right There were nights of endless pleasure It was more than any laws allow Baby, baby! [Chorus: Meat Loaf & Marion Raven] If I kiss you like this (Kiss you like this) And if you whisper like that (Whisper like that) It was lost long ago, but it's all coming back to me If you want me like this (If you want me like this) And if you need me like that (If you need me like that) It was dead long ago, but it's all coming back to me It's so hard to resist, and it's all coming back to me I can barely recall, but it's all coming back to me now [Guitar solo] [Verse 4: Meat Loaf & Marion Raven] But you were history with the slamming of the door And I made myself so strong again somehow And I never wasted any of my time on you since then [Chorus: Meat Loaf & Marion Raven] But if I touch you like this (Touch you like this) And if you kiss me like that (Kiss me like that) It was so long ago, but it's all coming back to me If you touch me like this (Touch me like this) And if I kiss you like that (Kiss you like that) It was gone with the wind, but it's all coming back to me now It's all coming back It's all coming back to me now [Verse 5: Meat Loaf & Marion Raven] There were moments of gold, and there were flashes of light There were things we'd never do again, but then they'd always seemed right There were nights of endless pleasure It was more than all your laws allow Baby, baby, baby! [Chorus: Meat Loaf & Marion Raven] When you touch me like this (Touch me like this) And when you hold me like that (Hold me like that) It was gone with the wind, but it's all coming back to me When you see me like this (See me like this) And when I see you like that (See you like that) Then we see what we want to see, it’s all coming back to me The flesh and the fantasy, all coming back to me I can barely recall, but it's all coming back to me now [Verse 6: Meat Loaf & Marion Raven] If you forgive me all this (Forgive me all this) If I forgive you all that (Forgive you all that) We forgive and forget, and it's all coming back to me now [Outro: Meat Loaf & Marion Raven] It's all coming back to me now When I touch you like that It's all coming back to me now And if you do it like this It's all coming back to me now And if we...