| "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Side A of 1978 US 7-inch single | ||||
| Single byMeat Loaf | ||||
| from the albumBat Out of Hell | ||||
| B-side | "For Crying Out Loud" | |||
| Released | March 1978 (US)[1]
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| Genre | Soft rock | |||
| Length | 5:27 (LP version) 4:46 (radio edit) 3:58 (7" version) | |||
| Label | Epic | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Jim Steinman | |||
| Producer(s) | Todd Rundgren | |||
| Meat Loaf singles chronology | ||||
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| Music video | ||||
| Video onYouTube | ||||
"Two Out of Three Ain't Bad" is apower ballad[3] performed by the American musicianMeat Loaf. It is a track off his 1977 albumBat Out of Hell, written byJim Steinman. It spent 23 weeks on theBillboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 11,[4] and earned a million-sellingGold single from theRIAA,[5] eventually being certified platinum. It remains his second-highest-charting hit in the US, behind "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" (1993), and stands as one of his career signature tunes.
It was the final song written for the album. In a 2003 interview for theVH1Ultimate Albums series, songwriterJim Steinman recalled:
I rememberMimi Kennedy [a cast member of Jim's then-current musicalRhinegold] telling me, she said, you know, when I was probably complaining why no one liked my stuff and couldn't get a deal, she says, 'Well Steiny, your stuff is so complicated. Can't you write something simple?' And while she was saying that the oldies station was on the radio and it was playing that oldElvis song, 'I Want You, I Need,' whatever it was. 'I Want You, I Need You, I Love You', you know. I just started singing my own song but it was 'I Want You, I Need You, I Love You.' She said, 'Why don't you write something simple like that, "I want you, I need you, I love you"?' I said, 'Well I'll try.' I don't try to make them complicated. I remember going home and I tried so hard but the best I could do was: 'I want you, I need you but there ain't no way I'm ever gonna love you, don't be sad, 'cause two out of three ain't bad'. So it was still a twist but it was my closest to a simple song, and one Elvis could have done.[6]
The backing band is basicallyUtopia (band), of which Todd Rundgren, Roger Powell, Kasim Sulton and John "Willie" Wilcox were all members.
A music video[7] was shot for the single and received significant airplay on television video programs of the period, four years beforeMTV's debut.
Two mixes were created for the song. In the album mix, timed around 5:27, one can hear prominentMoog synthesizer embellishments by session keyboardistRoger Powell. The single mix, timed just under 4:00, downmixes the synthesizer considerably, in place of a much warmer and predominant string arrangement byKenneth Ascher. This mix also edits out and removes the first lyrical bridge of the song which includes the line, "There ain't noCoupe de Ville hiding at the bottom of aCracker Jack box", and does some overlapping, splicing and editing to seamlessly merge back into the second part of the lyrical bridge, starting with, "I can't lie, I can't tell you that I'm something I'm not". An additional edit in the last verse removes the lines, "And though I know I'll never get her out of my heart, she never loved me back, Ooh I know, well I remember how she left me on a stormy night, oh she kissed me and got out of our bed". Last, a song fade-out beginning in the middle of the ending chorus' second refrain is also featured, hence removing the full-circle lyrics of "Baby we can talk all night, but that ain't getting us nowhere", that both started and ended the song, in its full album-mix version.
The Japanese release changes the title of the song to use a percentage, translating it as "66% is good enough".[8]
Cash Box said that the "vocals are emotionally rendered" and the "lyric is interesting."[9]Record World called it a "rambling but appealing single."[10]
Weekly charts[edit]
| Year-end charts[edit]
Certifications[edit]
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| Chart (1998) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canada Country Tracks (RPM)[30] | 20 |
