Meat Loaf claimed forever that this song was always meant for Bat out of Hell II and that he was angry at Steinman for putting it on Original Sin. Steinman denied that he had written it for Meat Loaf. I don’t like to wade into the interpersonal arguments between Meat Loaf and Steinman, because neither is a credible witness, but it does seem that both agree that they decided to do Bat out of Hell II at a Christmas party in either 1989 or 1990. Since the Original Sin album came out in 1989, Meat Loaf’s story doesn’t seem to hold water.

However, I have to assume that Meat Loaf was a big fan of the Original Sin version of the song, because the version that appears here, four years later, is nearly identical. Most of the musicians are the same between the two, with the only real personnel changes being Meat Loaf replacing Elaine Caswell, Kenny Aronoff replacing Jimmy Bralower, and Tim Pierce and Pat Thrall replacing Eddie Martinez (Thrall playing the solo while Pierce plays “guitars”). The arrangement is nearly the same, adding a bit more guitar and giving it a slightly modernized drum sound compared to the more ’80s sound of the original. There is only one small change to the lyrics (Replacing “There used to be every hope every joy/ . . . / But there never used to be this boy” with “There used to be every hope in the world/ . . . /But there never used to be this girl”).

As a result, nearly the only difference worth mentioning is replacing Elaine Caswell’s vocal with Meat Loaf’s. In the verses, their delivery is very close. Meat Loaf is his usual melodramatic self, but Caswell absolutely keeps up with him. And while he is in fine voice in this song, there are still a couple of shouts where it feels like he is using hoarseness to cover that he can’t hit a high note where he should, an issue Caswell does not share. In the chorus, though, Meat Loaf is surprisingly a bit too restrained. Through most repetitions of the chorus, both are almost robotically on-rhythm and on-key, almost coming across like percussion as much as vocals, but both cut loose at certain points and Caswell, shockingly, gives hers more passion and energy than Meat Loaf can muster (though admittedly the difference is small).

If I had never heard the Pandora’s Box recording, I would say this song is a masterpiece, because it really is great–it’s a phenomenal song and everything about this recording so good. But it’s difficult not to compare it to the original, and then it comes up just a little short, because Elaine Caswell is just a bit better than Meat Loaf. It’s a small difference, though–this is nothing like the chasm between Caswell’s other lead vocal and the more famous version of it that appeared later.

Programming Note: I just realized during writing this post that I somehow skipped over the 1992 Taylor Dayne cover of “Original Sin.” I will get to it after Bat out of Hell II: Back into Hell. It’s easy to forget because it’s difficult to find.