The Meat Loaf Episode

[00:00:04] One wants society, another variety, others a tranquil life. Some want food, others as good only want a wife. But this poor little cat only wanted a rat to stuff out his own little maw.

[00:00:35] And it were as good some people had such food to make them head down to the... Two Cat Kitchen, it's time for us to pitch in and start another Two Cat Show.

[00:00:47] Down at the Two Cat Kitchen we're starting on a mission to put you in the culinary know. You've got the finest recipes you ever will find, guaranteed to show you all a mighty life.

[00:01:04] We'll keep our time here at the Two Cat Kitchen, time for a new edition of the Culinary Two Cat Show. The Culinary Two Cat Show. Welcome to the Two Cat Kitchen, the show that mixes musical mayhem with culinary calamity. Sarah Grady is here to help with the mixing.

[00:01:29] I sure am. Each episode of the Two Cat Kitchen features new songs, a new recipe and... Well you know Sarah, this is the first episode of our new season and we're going to mix things up a bit and have a themed episode. What's our theme for today?

[00:01:49] Today's episode is all about meatloaf, the artist and the food. We're going to take a look at the artistry of meatloaf and feature a fantastic vegan meatloaf recipe. That's right, and later in the episode, ChiChi Picanese, resident expert in pop music history,

[00:02:08] will bring us up to speed on meatloaf's long and accomplished career as an actor, singer and performer. But first, do you know where the cocoa notes are? It's almost time for our first musical number. Let me check. They're not there but they left a note.

[00:02:34] It says, Dear Two Cats, we are so excited to do this meatloaf episode. We're in our other studio putting the finishing touches on our meatloaf cover for later in the episode. Love you like bats out of hell. The Cocoa Notes. Oh, okay.

[00:02:54] Well, now that I think about it, our first musical number is one from the archives. It's members of the Cocoa Notes joined by Hank Walther on keys, Ray Gennari on bass and Kristy Martel on vocals with Sweet Marie. Let's check it out.

[00:03:31] Oh, Sweet Marie, you're leaving me in blue. Yeah, Sweet Marie, I'm telling you to, to keep on walking and talking and doing that thing you do. Yeah, Sweet Marie. Marie comes around, you know she leaves no doubt. Walking down the avenue, knocking him up.

[00:04:06] You know that she can turn it all on her dime. Keys to boys guessing all of the time. Sweet Marie, I'm telling you to, to keep on walking and talking and doing that thing you do. She takes the sweet boy, spins him about.

[00:04:33] Then she tears their poor hearts inside out. She's walking the dog, mending the fence. The way she struts about you know it makes no sense. Sweet Marie, I'm telling you to, to keep on walking and talking and doing that thing you do. Yeah, Sweet Marie. Yeah, Sweet Marie.

[00:05:02] She really knows how to shake that mess. First to the left, then to the right. She's walking the dog, mending the fence. The way she struts about you know it makes no sense.

[00:05:18] Sweet Marie, I'm telling you to, to keep on walking and talking and doing that thing you do. Keys to boys guessing all of the time. She's walking the dog, mending the fence. First to the left, then to the right. Taking what they're giving just another Saturday night.

[00:06:02] Oh, Sweet Marie. Yeah, Sweet Marie. I'm telling you to, to keep on walking and talking and doing that thing you do. Yeah, Sweet Marie. Last time I saw Marie she was looking fine. Give a shaking chimney as she walked in the line.

[00:06:33] She got the sweetest little smile I ever did see. I only wish I could say she was smiling at me. Sweet Marie, I'm telling you to, to keep on walking and talking and doing that thing you do. Yeah, Sweet Marie. Oh, Sweet Marie. Yeah, Sweet Marie.

[00:07:06] Sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet. You keep on walking and talking and doing that thing you do. We're back at the Two Cat Kitchen. It's time for our recipe. Yes, something a little different this time. We'll be narrating a video recipe.

[00:07:40] Folks listening at home, you can follow along by going to our Two Cat Kitchen YouTube channel and watching the recipe there. The video is called Meat Loaf. And you know Sarah, it's actually a vegan meat loaf recipe. Wow.

[00:07:56] Yeah, so but which is interesting because meatloaf was the artist was actually a vegetarian for a period of his life. Very paradoxical given his name. Well, sounds good. Let's get to the recipe. Great. All right, we are starting our recipe in three, two, one, go. All right.

[00:08:22] What do we have here? We have some I think we're going through the ingredients first. First ingredient. I thought that was an egg at first. Strange, look at it. Egg sized onion. Oh, very large. Carrot. Carrots, two carrots, two small carrots. One medium onion, two small carrots.

[00:08:44] Two sticks of celery. Two small. Oh, what is that? Garlic cloves. Three cloves garlic. So one medium onion, two small carrots, two small sticks of celery and three cloves of garlic. And what's happening now? We're chopping up the garlic.

[00:09:10] It looks like probably the idea here I would if I had to guess is that we want to mince the garlic. This could take a while. Oh, more garlic. Little pieces. I don't know about you but I don't know.

[00:09:31] I might enjoy getting a big chunk of surprise chunk of garlic in my meatballs. I like garlic. Yeah, I mean this is definitely minced garlic. Now we've taken the three garlic cloves and we have minced them. Now we're starting on the onion.

[00:09:48] You know there's a more efficient way to cut an onion. This person doing the recipe does not know how to chop vegetables. I can tell you that right now because I know from personal experience. So we are in the two cat kitchen, you know Sarah.

[00:10:08] But that doesn't necessarily mean we know how to cook and this person does not know what he's doing. I'm assuming it's a he because... Those look like man hands. I don't think that anyway. Man handling the onion. Man handling the onion.

[00:10:30] It looks like the goal if I had to say... Is that a dice? The goal is to also dice the onions. Yes. Into small pieces which sort of makes sense. Chunk of onion, chunk of garlic. Oh there's one that's a little bit. These are a little bonus.

[00:10:49] Quite a few that are bigger here. This is interesting. It looks like we're going to be dicing the vegetables. That's probably a very important component. That makes sense. Moving on. This is a mirepoix. A what? A mirepoix?

[00:11:07] A mirepoix when you have the celery and the carrots and the onions. Oh. What is that? I have no idea what you're talking about. When you cook all of those up together it's like a base for all sorts of things. Chicken soup, in this case meatloaf.

[00:11:26] So you're saying that this vegetable combo here that we're talking about. Classic. Classic vegetable combo. Onions, carrots, celery and garlic. Minced. It looks like we're attempting to mince the carrots as well but again this idiot doesn't seem to know what he's doing here. You could take this anywhere.

[00:11:48] This could be a chicken soup start situation. This could be some stuffing. That's exciting. Although meatloaf in its own way is kind of stuffing-esque. Yeah, I would agree. So if we didn't know what this recipe was we would say that we wouldn't know

[00:12:06] what it is at this point just based on the ingredients because it could be anything. But we're moving on to the celery. We're chopping the celery and we took the knotty bits off the celery. It looks like. The knotty bits? I didn't realize.

[00:12:23] And then the person is struggling with the... You know when you chop up celery you get those little freaking stringy things or whatever it is. You can't get it to actually cut unless you have a decent knife which obviously we don't have here.

[00:12:39] This person that's doing the recipe for those of you listening along on the 2K Kitchen the person making the recipe not only does not know what he is doing but does not have the proper implements to accomplish what he is trying to accomplish.

[00:12:52] So it's amazing that anything has been diced at all. And we're having some stop motion here. There are attractive little piles of all of the ingredients though. It looks pretty good. What is it? Mise en place? Ooh, olive oil. Another ingredient. Olive oil.

[00:13:10] Looks like we're getting an implement of measurement. Some measurement. Tablespoon. Two tablespoons of olive oil. So we have more ingredients. Two tablespoons of olive oil. So we've got the olive oil measured out into a little thing. And now what's going to happen? A... I guess a...

[00:13:32] A crack bowl. The olive oil is going away. No. We're waiting with anticipation as to what's going to happen. What's next? We have our ingredients so far. The olive oil is going... Ah! It's going into a pan. I'm wondering. Ooh. Oh. Olive oil into a saucepan or...

[00:13:55] A saucepan. Testing the heat of the oil with one little tiny piece of onion which is a good strategy. So the olive oil is into a pan. I recommend you do that. That's good. That oil, you can wait until the oil shimmers.

[00:14:10] Or you can test it with a little tiny piece of onion. Excellent. And onions, garlic going in. Carrots going in. Everything into a... Everything. Everything into a fry pan with two tablespoons of olive oil. All the vegetables. And this fry pan. 12 inch. Looks like we're under medium heat.

[00:14:32] And we are sauteing the vegetables. Fantastic. Until they are fragrant. And I must say that if you happen to be watching this along with us, it's one of the worst quality recipe videos I've ever seen. Which kind of fits right in with the Toucan Kitchen here.

[00:14:51] Obviously our video capability has not made it. So now I think the vegetables are starting to simmer. I'm kind of hoping for a cut away. Yeah, it could be a long time. So how long do you think you would cook vegetables? What did you call it? A mirepoix?

[00:15:13] Mirepoix. A foie gras? Yeah. This is why on actual cooking shows they have the same recipe. This is why on actual cooking shows they have three pans going at once with different phases of the recipe. Julia Childs or whoever. They have the roasted chicken ready to go.

[00:15:44] Pulled out of the second oven. Oh, there's steam. It's starting to cook. So I guess the point here being we're sauteing the vegetables and under medium heat. It looks like we'll keep them. Ah, action. Oh, more ingredients. Bio Italia. Those must be organic garbanzo beans. Organic black beans.

[00:16:08] Garbanzo beans, chickpeas. A 15 ounce can of chickpeas, garbanzo beans. And a 15 ounce can of garbanzo beans. I figured I would call them garbanzo beans since the brand was Bio Italia. Yeah, that's a good point. Obviously sophisticated. These are sophisticated beans. All right, so you're emptying both.

[00:16:33] Draining the black beans. I think the message here, the fact that we have a... The beans are going into a colander, which means that they're going to be drained. But one of the questions now is do you drain them or do you drain and rinse them? Stay tuned.

[00:16:53] You want to know a really interesting fact is that... See how that's foaming kind of? Yeah. The liquid that is in a can of chickpeas is called aquafaba. Ah, aquafaba. And it actually is like you can use it to do all sorts of things.

[00:17:16] You can use it to make like fake meringues. Oh. You can replace eggs in vegan recipes. So maybe that's a hint. It doesn't look like we're doing that here because it looks like... No, no.

[00:17:31] We're pouring water over the beans and I think the point is that we are draining the beans and rinsing them. Not to confuse the listeners, we are definitely rinsing these black beans and garbanzo and not reserving the canned liquid to make pretend meringues. Absolutely. No meringue happening here.

[00:17:57] I shouldn't call them pretend meringues. Vegan meringues. The beans are back, they're rinsed, they're in a bowl and now we're mashing them. This must be very satisfying for the person making this. Well, it's the same person... ...who doesn't know what they're doing obviously.

[00:18:17] So they're trying to mash the beans but not having much fun. For those who are not watching, the various kinds of beans are getting stuck in the masher. Yep. But it looks like we've gotten them... But it looks like they're a success.

[00:18:32] Yeah, we got to a consistency where they're not totally mashed but there's still some chunks. What's happening? Something exciting is happening. I feel like the vegetables from the saucepan are going in with the bean mixture.

[00:18:44] This is good because I was wondering at the beginning what was going to replace the meat in the meatloaf and it appears to be bean. Yeah, so in the vegan meatloaf we have beans.

[00:18:57] So now we have the vegetables that had been sauteed for five minutes under medium heat are mixed in with the beans. What is coming next? Something's got to be coming next. The mixing, I imagine. As we always say, someone is here to help with the mixing.

[00:19:16] Something here. Looks like soy sauce. Soy sauce, tablespoon. I was going to guess balsamic vinegar but yeah, I think soy sauce makes more sense. One, two. Two tablespoons soy sauce into the mixture. That adds some umami flavor. Umami. Which brings that meatiness to the vegan meatloaf.

[00:19:39] Interesting, that's great. And also provides salt because if you imagine the beans probably require some salt there. Another ingredient. It's Worcestershire sauce. This looks like we have one tablespoon with about another half a tablespoon spilled off to the side. And two tablespoons with another half.

[00:20:04] Okay, so maybe two to three tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce. Two generous tablespoons. That's interesting. So we have soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce as they say. Ah, another ingredient. Ketchup. Ketchup and we have one, let me see if I can read the measurement here. One quarter cup.

[00:20:31] That looks like a very antique quarter cup. Yeah, it's an old school measuring cup and it's a quarter cup and we're putting the quarter cup of ketchup into the mixture. And boy whatever happened to the days when ketchup was really hard to get out of the

[00:20:47] bottle because that came right out. The squeeze bottle. You know it's a big controversy in the meatloaf making world among people who make meatloaf whether you should put ketchup on top of your meatloaf. Ah, okay well we're putting ketchup in. Oh, another ingredient coming up. I'm guessing.

[00:21:08] That's a powder. We got two. I'm thinking flax, ground flax seed. Two tablespoons. And another one. If I had to guess I would say nutritional yeast three. Nutritional yeast three tablespoons. So two tablespoons of ground flax seed and three tablespoons nutritional yeast. And what do we have here?

[00:21:34] Now it's starting to sound like, you know, more stereotypical kind of vegan recipe with all that flax and nutritional yeast and stuff like that. Yeah. Breadcrumbs coming next. But I bet that adds good texture and flavor. Breadcrumbs? How much?

[00:21:55] Did you catch whether these were the kind of breadcrumbs that have the Italian flavor in them? I did not. Maybe we'll see again. Oh, I can see the breadcrumb can. Italian, yeah. And they are definitely Italian breadcrumbs. One cup. So we're moving right along on our recipe here.

[00:22:13] This is exciting. We're looking at the breadcrumbs again. Thank you, sir. Good. Now we know. I was editing the video, forgot that we had already seen the breadcrumbs. So we got to see them again. I'm glad I asked. Yeah, good thing. They must have heard your question.

[00:22:33] We're mixing it all together. Wow. And this could take a while. Oh no, actually we're cutting away. That was a fancy cut. We had a fancy change of scene and we're back and we've had all our ingredients mixed together and everything is rotating slightly. Have you noticed that?

[00:22:54] The video is rotating. This is an advanced effect here in the Toucat kitchen. Oh my God. The video is moving around in a circle. It's moving counterclockwise while the meatloaf is being mixed.

[00:23:04] Like when you switch your mapping in your car to point whatever direction your car is going. It's like a little bit of a tilted now. Okay, so we have the mixture and we're working with a loaf pan. It looks like a nine inch loaf pan.

[00:23:26] Adding some oil to the loaf pan. Oh my God. It's going to be upside down soon. We're spreading it. Well, not necessarily. It's just a different perspective here. We're still rotating. I'm getting a little bit seasick here actually. If you're watching along. Why is that?

[00:23:47] Why is the video rotating? I don't know. Who knows? You get it all here at the Toucat kitchen. Special effects. Alright, we have the well oiled loaf pan. Nine inch loaf pan. And we are adding the mixture into the loaf pan. Alright.

[00:24:07] And once we pack it all in there folks, it's done. You don't even have to cook it. Just eat it with a spoon. That's not... I think that's true. I don't know how this person is going to fit everything in this loaf pan.

[00:24:22] They're doing a good job given that it's rotating. That's the nice thing about vegan food. Is that for the most part... It's compressible? Well, compressible. I think you... Because it doesn't have meat in it. You can eat it at any point in the recipe.

[00:24:40] That's true. You don't have to worry about it being cooked. You're not like, oh I added eggs. You know, I gotta pretend I'm concerned about eating cookie dough. Did you not advise eating raw cookie dough here on the Toucat kitchen? For reasons.

[00:24:54] More because of flour than the eggs though. Apparently. Apparently flour. Raw flour actually is more likely to make you sick than raw eggs. Supposedly. Alright, so the meatloaf has made it into the loaf pan. It's being packed in. I like it. It's very colorful.

[00:25:13] Yeah, it looks pretty good. I think we've come full circle in our rotation of the video. We're back where we started. Yeah, I think you're right. It's a handsome looking meatloaf here. Looks really good. I'm very hungry right now. This looks amazing to me.

[00:25:34] What's going to happen next? I can only imagine that the next step might be to put it in an oven. I guess. We're going to put some foil on top of the loaf pan. Do you know what they call it on the Great British Bake Off? Aluminium?

[00:26:02] It's going in the oven. We're seeing who the idiot that made it is and we don't want to say who it was. Here's the details. The oven is set at 375 for 30 minutes. Now, another step here. We have ketchup. One third cup of ketchup.

[00:26:43] We are now answering the question as to whether we want to put ketchup on top or not. It looks like we're making something that was probably going to go on top of the meatloaf. This is a separate part of the recipe. In a different bowl. One third cup.

[00:27:03] Just leave it on the cup. Novel techniques here. We have a tablespoon. No, it's a tablespoon. You're right. Work has to show her sauce again. One third cup ketchup. One teaspoon of work has to show her. Or five milliliters I think it said on it.

[00:27:31] Five milliliters if you're metric. And we're mixing that up. So there we go. That looks like a simple, which I'm thinking is going to be the topping. Like a glaze. Alright, here we go. Ah, the meatloaf has come out. We're skipping ahead 30 minutes.

[00:27:49] Some good safety there with the pot holder. It does not look too different. But that's because the foil was on it. With the foil on you're not going to get that crispy top.

[00:28:02] But I bet once you have this glaze on and it goes in the oven, again perhaps. It's going to get that bonus shine and sheen and crispiness looking. It's going to be delicious.

[00:28:14] And all the ketchup work has to show her mixture has gone on top of the meatloaf. It looks a little rustic. Yeah. It's spread. It's the back of a spoon. It's adequate. Now what's the next step? I'm going to put the meatloaf on the top.

[00:28:34] I'm going to put the meatloaf on the bottom. I'm going to put the meatloaf on the top. I'm going to put the meatloaf on the bottom. Now what's going to happen? I'm guessing oven again. We'll see. It's going... Oh, you're right. Back in the oven.

[00:28:53] Let's see if we can get some of the details. It looks like 375. For an additional 15 minutes. And I think we're done. It looks like it's done. Well, it doesn't look much different than when we put it in the oven. It looks like it's been cooked.

[00:29:11] It looks like it's been cooked. It looks like it's been cooked. So there we go. We're done. We're out of the oven and we're going to serve it up. Look at that nice and... Oh my. Steamy. There we go. I think we're complete.

[00:29:31] It's not a very difficult recipe. Let's take a look. We'll see if we can see. The final result. There it is. A nice slice of vegan meatloaf. Beautiful. They're saying people should substitute a couple meals a week with vegetarian food instead of eating meat.

[00:29:58] So this might be a good thing for people to make. So this might be a good thing for people to make. Yeah. And that was it. The next thing for me following that video was a Chaka Khan tiny desk concert. That looked pretty good.

[00:30:14] Let's check that out while we're eating a piece of meatloaf. I think I had a Jake Gyllenhaal SNL skit. Even better. Alright, let's take a break. Sarah, we're going to go try a piece of the vegan meatloaf and we'll be back and let the folks at home know

[00:30:35] how it came out. Alright. Alright, we're back and Sarah, we've been tasting the vegan meatloaf and wow, you know, I must say it's not too bad. It's great. It's got a nice texture to it. I would say that it's probably good to eat it while warm because it

[00:31:04] tasted pretty good. What do you think? Yeah, I really was, I don't want to say I was surprised but I think it was pretty delicious. You know, it's not an exact substitute for meatloaf but it stands on its own, I would say.

[00:31:24] Yeah, and it's, you know, I'll tell you one thing. I think a real good thing about this recipe is that the addition of the ketchup, I know that might be somewhat controversial. You alluded to that earlier but the fact that this particular meatloaf has ketchup within

[00:31:43] and on top, to me I'll tell you it just made all the difference because it was basically, you know, this meatloaf is a good vehicle for ketchup and who doesn't love ketchup? I love ketchup so, you know, I love this meatloaf. So yeah,

[00:31:57] I mean, I would say if you are a ketchup person that this is the perfect vegan meatloaf for you. Yeah, and if, like say you are a Grey Poupon person, then you might want to substitute Grey Poupon for the ketchup, right? Is that possible? I don't know.

[00:32:13] That might be one way to go. It might be interesting. Yeah. Anyway. I mean, I don't know if this is an endorsement necessarily but, you know, I'm always looking for good ways to get a lot of protein and a lot of fiber and

[00:32:32] so it gets a thumbs up in my book, nutritionally at least. Yeah, and it's got good simple ingredients and there you go. Okay, well thanks for that Sarah, thanks for your input and we'll wrap up this recipe portion of the show and we'll be

[00:32:48] right back here at the Two Cat Kitchen. We're back at the Two Cat Kitchen. It's time for another musical number. The Cocoa Notes have put together another cover of a song by The Cure. What's up with The Cure songs? This is the third episode

[00:33:04] in a row that features one of their songs. Well, we're trying to increase our Doth and 80s fan demographic and so, you know, come for the Doth music stay for the folk and bluegrass. Oh, okay. And actually, who doesn't love The Cure? Can't get

[00:33:24] any better than that. I think everybody does. Yeah. Alright. It's The Cocoa Notes with Just Like Heaven.

[00:34:22] Show me, show me how you do that trick The one that makes me scream she said The one that makes me laugh she said And threw her arms around my neck Show me how you do it And I promise you I promise that I'll run away with you

[00:34:42] I'll run away with you I'll run away with you Spitting on that dizzy edge Kissed her face and kissed her head Dreamed of all the different ways I had to make her glow Why are you so far away? She said Why won't you ever know

[00:35:19] That I'm in love with you That I'm in love with you You Soft and lonely You Lost and lonely You Strangers angels dancing in the deepest oceans Twisting in the water You're just like a dream Just like a dream Daylight licked me into shape

[00:36:10] I must have been asleep for days And moving lips to the sky And moving lips to breathe her name I opened up my eyes And found myself alone Alone, alone Above a raging sea But stole the only girl I loved Drowned her deep inside of me You

[00:36:35] Soft and lonely You Lost and lonely You Just like heaven We're back at the Two Cat Kitchen. Next up, it's magical moments in musical history with Chi Chi Picanese. Let me guess. She'll be talking about Meatloaf. Meatloaf the artist that is. Let's hope so. Magic moments

[00:37:13] in music history Magic memories Made for you and me Do you remember The way things used to be Magic moments in history With Chi Chi Picanese I'm here with Chi Chi Picanese, resident expert in pop music history here at the Two Cat Kitchen.

[00:37:50] What do you have for us today? Today we're taking a look at a truly iconic figure in the history of pop music, one of the best-selling music artists in history. Oh, you mean Tiny Tim? Not exactly. This legendary singer and actor

[00:38:04] appeared in a number of films and television shows and is remembered for his virtuosic voice and theatrical live shows. He even appeared in the original Broadway version of The Rocky Horror Show and later in the Broadway musical Hair. We're talking about Meatloaf. Wow, Meatloaf.

[00:38:23] I must admit, he's one artist I don't remember a lot about. Not surprising. If you grew up listening to American pop music in the 70s and 80s, while he was certainly popular in the U.S. and sold millions of records here, his real notoriety came in the UK

[00:38:39] and Europe where his songs and albums consistently topped the pop charts. Interesting. You know, when I think of Meatloaf, I think of epic rock songs and ballads with high-energy performances. How did you get to his background in theater?

[00:38:53] Actually, a lot of the credit has to go to Jim Steinman, a composer and lyricist who wrote a lot of Meatloaf's hit songs including those on the legendary album Bad Out of Hell. It was their first collaboration and one of the best-selling rock albums of all time.

[00:39:07] I see. Oh, it's all starting to make sense now. So he was a popular figure in England? Well, not originally. He performed in the UK with several bands that achieved limited success and eventually became a fan favorite. After accepting the invitation from Lenin

[00:39:24] to join the band, he faced initial criticism from irate fans who were upset at the change in personnel. Following his appearance at the Cavern Club the following day, Pete Best fans, upset by his firing, held vigils outside his house and at the club.

[00:39:40] During his first recording session with the band, producer George Martin went so far as to bring in a studio drummer. Not exactly a vote of confidence. But by November of 1962, he had been accepted by the fans who were now calling for him to sing. He even began receiving

[00:39:56] an amount of fan mail equal to that of the others which helped secure his position with the band. Wait a minute, Chi Chi. Are we still talking about Meatloaf? It sounds like you're describing their early musical exploits of Ringo. No, their early careers didn't really overlap.

[00:40:10] Meatloaf was popular in England in the late 18th century. But the band was not as popular in England in the late 70s and 80s. And by that time, Ringo was well into his solo career. In 1980 he released Stop and Smell the Roses featuring songs produced by several

[00:40:29] popular artists including Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ronnie Wood and Steven Stills. The album's lead single the Harrison composed, Rack My Brain reached number 38 in the US charts, but failed to chart in the UK. OK, Chi Chi. Well, getting back to Meatloaf. How did he get his nickname?

[00:40:51] That's an interesting story. His mom was a school teacher and sang in a gospel quartet. His father was an entrepreneur and was the one responsible for the name. Meatloaf himself explained the name in a 2015 interview with Verity Edwards for The Australian. I was born bright red

[00:41:09] and stayed that way for days. My father said in his best southern accent My son looks like nine pounds of ground chuck. He talked them into putting the name Meat on my crib and it stuck. I was born Marvin but in 1984 I legally changed it to Michael.

[00:41:26] Only my wife calls me that. Meat's not really that weird. Think of Frank or Chuck or Stu. He was born Marvin Lee and while in school he became known as ML for his initials which then morphed into Meatloaf. Interesting. You know I heard he did some

[00:41:44] singing before he came out with his hit album collaborations with Steinman? Oh yes. He was signed in the early 70s by the Motown label. He recorded an album with the singer Sean Murphy aka Stoney titled Stoney and Meatloaf. It included a bunch of tunes selected

[00:42:02] by the Motown production team including the single What You See Is What You Get which reached number 71 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Meatloaf and Stoney toured briefly with Jake Wade and the Soul Searchers opening for Richie Havens The Who, Bob Seeger, and Alice Cooper among others.

[00:42:23] Pretty impressive. How long did he tour with Jake Wade? Not very long. He left Motown soon after the label replaced his and Stoney's vocals from the one song on the album he liked Who Is the Leader of the People with new vocals by Edwin Starr.

[00:42:39] Oh wow. The guy who sang War. Yes and also Agent Double O Soul. So Meatloaf and Steinman were arguably best known for their Bad Out of Hell albums but I understand they didn't have much success initially getting a record label to pick up the projects.

[00:42:57] Meatloaf and Steinman started working on Bad Out of Hell in 1972 but it was at the end of 1974 before they worked on it in earnest. At that time, Meatloaf decided to leave theater and concentrate exclusively on music. Once the songs for the album were completed

[00:43:14] they spent time seeking a record deal but their approaches were rejected by a number of labels because their songs didn't fit any specific recognized music industry style. There was a famous quote allegedly attributed to the legendary producer Clive Davis claiming that actors don't make records

[00:43:34] and challenging Steinman's writing abilities is a knowledge of rock music. Quote, Do you know how to write a song? Do you know anything about writing? If you're going to write for records it goes like this A B C B C C I don't know what you're doing

[00:43:50] You're doing A D F G B D C You don't know how to write a song end quote. Pretty harsh words but he does have a point the songs are pretty much through composed certainly not the formulaic stuff pop music producers were looking for

[00:44:07] at the time. Perhaps they were ahead of their time The album initially received mixed reviews but eventually the critics came around. The overwhelming consensus was that they had created a popular masterpiece a rich, sustained and overflowing work of collaborative genius. It became the catalyst for an explosion of

[00:44:29] massive enthusiasm for album formatted rock that would revolutionize both the aesthetics and the economics of the record business in ways that far outstripped the earlier pop explosions triggered by the Elvis phenomenon of 1956 and the Beatlemania phenomenon of 1963 From 1963 to 1967 they increasingly broke with the established rock

[00:44:53] and pop conventions. Adding to the sophistication of the compositions was the application of modal mixture, wider chord palettes and extended form. One of the hallmarks was their use of the flattened subtonic chord. Although it was already a staple of rock and roll music they further developed and popularized

[00:45:11] the chords function in popular music Another is their subversion of pop standard AABA form Few artists wrote songs with bridge sections until the group's breakthrough after which the practice became ubiquitous I hate to interrupt but I think we may be straying back into the Ringo Beatles realm again

[00:45:33] Sounds like you're talking about the Sgt. Pepper album. Well you know The Beatles served as the archetypal rock band in contrast to the vocal and harmony groups that came before them In the US alone thousands of bands sought to imitate the Beatles, some even adopting

[00:45:49] English sounding names to capitalize on their success Oh yes, okay that's great but getting back to Meat Loaf Paradise by The Dashboard Light was a perfect example of Steinman's songwriting and Meat Loaf's performance style It's considered to be among the greatest rock duets of all time

[00:46:07] It was one of the songs specifically written for the album Bad Out of Hell, which also included songs that originated from Steinman's Peter Pan based rock musical Neverland. Ellen Foley who was cast as Wendy in early performances of Neverland sang the duet with Meat Loaf on the

[00:46:25] recording. The three of them all had worked together on the National Lampoon Road Tour where Foley and Meat Loaf had a history of performing over the top musical comedy sketches together That makes sense If you watch a video of the two

[00:46:39] of them doing the song, you can tell they work together. It's definitely a high energy performance Actually those videos probably feature Carla DeVito, an actress and singer who assumed live performance responsibilities when Foley was cast on the opportunity to tour in support of the album

[00:46:57] Still a great performance What was the inspiration for the song? Steinman had stated that he wanted to write the ultimate car sex song in which everything goes horribly wrong in the end The song opens with a male and female character reminiscing about days

[00:47:13] as a young high school couple on a date After a bunch of shenanigans the concluding section takes us back to the present with both characters expressing how each can no longer stand each other Sounds about right Teenage dream turned nightmare What's up with the baseball section?

[00:47:31] Meat Loaf was a big fan of Phil Rizzuto and the section was written specifically for him using phrases he would actually say while announcing. It was recorded by Rizzuto with Steinman and producer Todd Rundgren at the Hit Factory in New York in 1976 You know, Chi Chi

[00:47:49] The Cocoa Notes put together a cover version of the song complete with the baseball section Now that we know a little bit of background on the song let's check it out And all the kids at school They were wishing they were me that night

[00:48:28] And now our bodies are rolled so close and tight Never felt so good, never felt so right And we're glowing like the metal on the edge of a knife Glowing like the metal on the edge of a knife Come on, hold on tight Come on, hold on tight

[00:48:52] Oh, it's cold and lonely Oh, it's cold and lonely In the deep dark night I can see paradise By the dashboard light Ain't no doubt about it We were doubly blessed Cause we were barely seventeen And we were barely dressed Ain't no doubt about it

[00:49:21] Baby, got to go and shout it Ain't no doubt about it We were doubly blessed Cause we were barely seventeen And we were barely dressed Baby, don't you hear my heart You got it on the radio I went so long for you Come along, have some fun

[00:49:50] And I got to let you know No, you're never gonna regret it So open up your eyes I got a big surprise It'll feel alright Well, I want to make a motor run And now our bodies are rolled so close and tight

[00:50:10] Never felt so good, never felt so right And we're glowing like the metal on the edge of a knife Glowing like the metal on the edge of a knife Come on, hold on tight Come on, hold on tight Though it's cold and lonely In the deep dark night

[00:50:36] I can see paradise By the dashboard light Though it's cold and lonely In the deep dark night In the deep dark night Paradise By the dashboard light You got to do what you can And let more than eight you do the rest Ain't no doubt about it

[00:51:10] We were doubly blessed Cause we were barely seventeen We were barely dressed We're gonna go all the way tonight We're gonna go all the way tonight, tonight We're gonna go all the way tonight We're gonna go all the way tonight We're gonna go all the way tonight, tonight

[00:51:32] Ok, here we go We got a real pressure cooker going on here Two down, nobody on, no score, bottom of the ninth There's the windup, and there it is A line shot up the middle He's rounding first, really turning it on now.

[00:51:45] He's not letting up at all, he's gonna try for second. The ball is bobbled out in the center and here comes the throw and what a throw! He's gonna slide in headfirst. Here he comes, he's out, no wait, safe! Safe at second base.

[00:51:57] This kid really makes things happen out there. Batter steps up to the plate, here's the pitch, he's going! And what a jump he's got! He's trying for third, here's the throw! It's in the dirt, safe for third! Holy cow, stolen base!

[00:52:09] He's taking a pretty big lead out there, almost steering him to try and pick him off. The pitcher glances over, winds up, and it's bunted! Bunted down the third baseline. The suicide squeeze is on. Here he comes, squeeze play. It's gonna be close, here's the throw!

[00:52:22] Here's the play at the plate! Holy cow, I think he's gonna make it! Stop right there! Love me, will you love me forever? Do you need me? Will you never leave me? Will you make me so happy for the rest of my life? Will you take me away?

[00:52:43] Will you make me a wife? Do you love me? Will you love me forever? Do you need me? Will you never leave me? Will you make me so happy for the rest of my life? Will you take me away? Will you make me a wife?

[00:52:56] I've got an old right, honey. Do you love me? Will you love me forever? Let me sleep on it, baby, baby, let me sleep on it. Let me sleep on it, I'll give you an answer in the morning.

[00:53:18] Let me sleep on it, baby, baby, let me sleep on it. Let me sleep on it, I'll give you an answer in the morning. Let me sleep on it, baby, baby, let me sleep on it. Let me sleep on it, I'll give you an answer in the morning.

[00:53:41] I got an old right now, do you love me? Will you love me forever, do you need me? Will you never leave me? Will you make me so happy for the rest of my life? Will you take me away and will you make me your wife?

[00:53:57] I got an old right now, go any further. Do you love me? Will you love me forever? What's it going to be, boy? Come on. I can wait all night. What's it going to be, boy? Yes or no? Said what's it going to be, boy? Yes or no?

[00:54:18] Let me sleep on it. Baby, baby, let me sleep on it. Let me sleep on it. I'll give you an answer in the morning. I got an old right now, do you love me? Will you love me forever, do you need me? Will you never leave me?

[00:54:35] Will you make me so happy for the rest of my life? Will you take me away and will you make me your wife? I got an old right now, before we go any further. Do you love me? Will you love me forever? Let me sleep on it.

[00:54:53] Will you love me forever? Let me sleep on it. Said will you love me forever? I couldn't take it any longer, Lord. I was crazy when the feeling came upon me like a child. Oh, it taught its wearer to my God

[00:55:05] and on my mother's grave that I would love you to the end of time. I swore I would love you to the end of time. So now I'm praying for the end of time. To hurry up and arrive. Because if I got to spend another minute with you,

[00:55:23] I don't think I can really survive. I'll never break my promise, I'll forget my vow. But God only knows what I can do right now. I'm praying for the end of time. It's all that I can do. Hoo, hoo. I'm praying for the end of time.

[00:55:40] So I can end my time with you. Well, it was long ago. It was far away. And it's so much better than it is today. Never felt so good. It never felt so right. And it was so nothing better on the edge of the night.

[00:55:58] It never felt so good. It never felt so right. And it was so nothing better on the edge of the night. It never felt so good. It never felt so right. Wow, that's a long song.

[00:56:14] When released as a single, it was shortened from the 8-minute and 28-second album version to 7 minutes and 55 seconds, but it was still one of the longest songs to be released uncut on one side of a 7-inch 45 RPM record.

[00:56:31] In some countries, a shorter 5-minute and 32-second edit which didn't include the baseball play-by-play section was released. The song was certainly popular in the U.S. but did very well in the Netherlands where

[00:56:44] it peaked at number 2 on the pop charts and was also a big hit in Australia. An epic rock hit, no doubt. Meatloaf went on to have a long and productive career recording and touring. He released several Bad Out of Hell sequels and several other albums featuring Steinman's compositions.

[00:57:04] He also released a number of albums featuring his own songs along with contributions from other songwriters and had a career as an actor in television and film. He was active right up to the end with plans for another album in the works at the time

[00:57:17] of his death in 2022. Truly a rock legend. I'll leave you with this interesting note. Meatloaf was a vegetarian from 1981 to 1992. This obviously caused some confusion on account of his contrasting stage name. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, he revealed that some vegetarians wouldn't

[00:57:39] speak to him because of his name. For example, Meatloaf was a big fan of Katie Lang and after attending one of her shows he asked if he could go backstage to meet her. She refused, replying, No, his name is Meatloaf.

[00:57:54] Well, he should have pointed out that he was vegetarian meatloaf, just like the recipe here on the kitchen. Thank you again ChiChi. Great stuff about Meatloaf. And unfortunately that's all we have time for today.

[00:58:09] Thanks again for joining us for this edition of Magical Moments in Music here on the Two Cat Kitchen. We'll see you next time! That's all we have time for on this episode of the Two Cat Kitchen. We hope you enjoyed our Meatloaf theme today.

[00:58:34] We'll be doing more of these types of episodes from time to time. We'd like to thank Sophia Pearson. And special thanks to Dioni Viracodi, who joined with the Cocoa Notes on vocals for today's Meatloaf cover. I'm Rick McKinney. And I'm Sarah Grady.

[00:58:52] See you next time on the Two Cat Kitchen. The culinary two cat show.