The Lost remain trapped beneath Falco Tower. They discuss amongst themselves a sense of loss at Strat’s death and a feeling that their lives have never gone well. During the song, Sloane arrives to set them free, giving Jagwire a pair of bolt-cutters to aid in their escape.

It’s actually an interesting combination of song and scene–a song about how we can be held prisoner by our past traumas even if they are further away than we think they are accompanies the Lost literally escaping from a prison. It’s easy to read the song as being about those traumas themselves and the hold they often have on us, but the title’s invocation of them “appear[ing] closer than they are” is actually a statement of seeking escape therefrom. It’s really a hopeful song about how we can get past those traumas, but we have to recognize them for having been “long ago and far away” instead of being as close as they feel. And the scene in the show really emphasizes that part of the meaning.

Like with most of the Bat out of Hell II: Back into Hell songs, there are few changes. The song opens with the familiar piano refrain, then adds in some horns. The chorus is accompanied by some horns as well. The guitars from the original are still there but quieted considerably. The instrumental bridge is actually still present in this song, but it’s much shorter and re-arranged to be less guitar-heavy. The ending repeats of the title get shortened heavily. It all amounts to a song more than three minutes shorter than the original, but rather little changed.

Dom Hartley-Harris, playing Jagwire, sings the first verse. I would not say that his performance is bad by any means, but he just doesn’t seem all that emotional. He sounds rather disconnected.

Giovanni Spano, playing Ledoux, sings the second verse, and if anything he goes too far in the other direction–he’s barely even bothering to follow the melody. There’s something poignant about the fact that he lacks any rasp at all to his voice, emphasizing his character’s youth.

Patrick Sullivan as Blake gets to sing the most beautiful verse of lyrics ever. He has some rasp to his voice that really fits, especially in the shouting end of the verse. He strikes a pretty good balance between the approaches of the first two singers and sounds good.

All told, this is another faithful song adaptation, though it is one missing some important elements of the original. It’s a smaller arrangement that’s really lacking the awesome guitars of the Meat Loaf recording. The horns really aren’t a problem, but the lack of guitars really is one.

However, I think there is just no replacing Meat Loaf on this song. Not only is his performance of it just incredible, but as I have outlined, I think this song is written for and about Meat Loaf. No one else is going to have the connection he does. It’s his song in a way that no other Steinman song really is. Listening to this version of the song, more than anything else, makes me miss Meat Loaf.