Continuing the theme of being an older Steinman song given its first wide English-language release, “Speaking in Tongues” was written for the Cry-Baby musical that eventually came out without any Steinman contributions. It had not been recorded anywhere before this release and seemingly had no known performances, so it’s about as close as we get to new at this point.

The song opens with a pretty-but-simple piano-and-guitar riff on top of some very gospel-sounding backing “oohs.” Then Meat Loaf and Stacy Michelle start singing together. And that’s really all that happens in this song. There is a bridge that changes the melody slightly and for a bit Meat Loaf takes a break and just hands the lead vocal to Michelle, but that change is really small, especially for a bridge.

The simplicity of the arrangement and the gospel-sounding backing vocals suggest that Stacy Michelle should be going for a gospel-sounding lead, and maybe she was, but it sounds twangy and country to me. Most of her career credits are working with Kid Rock, so that does make sense. She doesn’t sound terrible, but I don’t like the country twang at all.

Meanwhile, Meat Loaf sounds weak, even in a song that requires about three notes of him. I think the reason this song is a duet where the singers stay together for 80% of it is to cover up Meat Loaf’s weakness. For me, it’s moments like “Speaking in Tongues” that really make me feel like this is a sad album as far as Meat Loaf’s voice is concerned. For his last album, at his age, it’s not really that sad that he can’t let out a shout like “Life Is a Lemon and I Want My Money Back” anymore. But that he can’t sing this simple, quiet little song at all is just a sign of a completely broken voice.

Lyrically, “Speaking in Tongues” displays a lot of the elements of Steinman’s best work, but it just feels clumsy. It’s like he just hasn’t finished it yet. There has been crude humor like “You’ve got the spark/I’ve got wood” in his songs before, but even “Can’t you see my faded Levi’s bursting apart” is a more poetic and thoughtful version. The bridge repeating “There are things we learn by” with various endings is a common Steinman trick, but it just doesn’t work here the way it does for something like “Making Love out of Nothing at All,” coming across as more repetitive and less thoughtful. Even the title, which seems to be a play on the phrase “speaking in tongues” as a Christian phrase (One that’s typically associated with the same type of revivalist groups as that depicted in Whistle down the Wind, which is probably not a coincidence.) with “French kissing” comes across as sort of a weak attempt at matching past glory. It’s the type of mixing of religion and sexuality that he’s typically done, but there’s really nothing in the song to explain that’s what “It’s time we started speaking in tongues” means. I feel like a non-Steinman fan would never be able to make sense of it. “An erection of the heart” seems like an interesting line that could become something, but it appears here disconnected from anything around it.

“Speaking in Tongues” has a pretty strong melody and a lovely little piano hook that follows the title, but it kind of feels like a partial song demo. It doesn’t have any changes or growth. It doesn’t have anything interesting to say. It’s just a completely one-note song that is really the antithesis of everything that makes Steinman’s work interesting.