anonymous January 1st, 2006 05:48PM  
I think when he says "I won't do that," if you listen to the very end of the song when the girl is singing she says "sooner or later youll be screwing around" then he says "I won't do that...no I won't do that..." So I think the big picture is he won't hurt her.

chip068 March 15th, 2006 06:27AM  
This song is about two people involved in an affair, the one party is saying to the other that they would do anything but leave their partner. This is a selfish person who would rather accept the comfort zone of their life and turn true love away.

anonymous April 17th, 2007 09:06AM  
I think he is saying he will never cheat on her. He talks about how he would do anything for "love" or in this case he means "sex" and that he would never cheat on this woman whom he is in a monogamous relationships.

anonymous August 25th, 2007 03:07PM  
I think "I won’t do that" has at least 3 different meanings depending on the line of the song.

He will not cheat her.
He will not kill (her man). (Maybe)
He will never forget his promises.

I think the song is basically about a man who is in love with a married woman.
He's friend of her and he would do everything for her ("I would do anything for love").
I think she has been cheated ("I’ll never forget the way you feel right now") (see later)
and he claims he would never do this ("but I won’t do that").
He did not know he could feel like that ("Maybe I’m crazy, but it’s crazy and it’s true")
He says he would even "take the vow and seal a pact" (with the devil) to make her love him.

I'm not sure maybe he wants to say she should come with him or he tries to have sex with her when he says
"I’ll never forgive myself if we don’t go all the way tonight".

"Some nights I just lose it all when I watch you dance and the thunder rolls" may refer to "The thunder rolls" by Garth Brooks.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thunder_Rolls .
So that would proof the cheating theory.
In "The thunder rolls" the woman kills her huspend, so "I won’t do that" would mean he would not kill her man for love.

"But I’ll never stop dreaming of you every night of my life, no way"
He will always love her, but he can not get with her, because he is only dreaming.

She asks what he would do, so one can see she is unhappy with her life.
("godforsaken town", "less cold", "colorize my life", "black and white")

The "emerald city" could reference to wizard of oz but I rather think it's about the situation she wants to overcome.
Look here what a emerald is said to be: http://www.sobrietystones.com/resources/GemBook/Stones/meanings_gemstones_emerald.htm

So "grains of sand" is all that is left of her life.

Then she claims he will "forget everything" and he will "move on" to another woman.
"I won’t do that!". (He will never forget his promises.)

She says she knows what she's talking about and his promises will "turn to dust"
and he will (just like her man) "be screwing around"
"I won’t do that!". (He will not cheat her.)

anonymous March 30th, 2008 11:57PM  
by Alisyn Camerota

So here’s what Meatloaf told me the song means: he said that there’s a line that comes before every “but I won’t do that” that refers to what he won’t do.

For instance in the first stanza it’s “I’ll never forget the way you feel right now,” in the second one it’s “I’ll never forgive myself” and on and on. Before each chorus, there’s a different thing that he would never do. When you read it, you’ll see what he means. As I asked him, “So it’s a riddle, wrapped in an enigma?”

“Yes,” he said. And he, of course, always enjoyed the suspicion that it had something to do with sex.

anonymous July 17th, 2008 05:37PM  
He is DEFINITELY talking about anal.

anonymous August 28th, 2008 11:11PM  
In every verse he states what the "that" is

-I'll never lie to you and that's a fact.

-But I'll never forget the way you feel right now

-But I'll never forgive myself if we don't go all the way - Tonight

-But I'll never do it better than I do it with you

etc etc

Then during the woman's part he is responding to the things she has to say.

anonymous December 30th, 2008 04:01PM  
I heard it means he won't wait for her.

anonymous June 30th, 2009 07:11PM  
He won't marry her duh!

anonymous July 10th, 2009 07:00PM  
I feel that this song could be about his mother and the line "i would do anything for love but i wont do that" could be refering to how he wont ever forget his mother who died before he became a big star and the reason he carries a red scarf all the time is to remember his mother.

XMusicXisXlifeX December 13th, 2009 08:00PM  
I am a HUGE Meat Loaf fan. As Meat Loaf said himself, on his VH1 Storytellers CD, the "that" changes in every verse and simply means whatever was said before it in the verse.

That means:

1)"But I'll never forget the way you feel right now
Oh no, no way
And I would do anything for love
But I won't do that."

2) "But I'll never forgive myself
If we don't go all the way tonight!
I would do anything for love
Oh, I would do anything for love
I would do anything for love
But I won't do that
No, I won't do that."

3)"But I'll never do it better than I do it with you
So long, so long
And I would do anything for love
Oh, I would do anything for love
I would do anything for love
But I won't do that
No, no, no, I won't do that."

4) "But I'll never stop dreaming of you
Every night of my life, no way
And I would do anything for love
Oh, I would do anything for love
I would do anything for love
But I won't do that
No, I won't do that."

It's all right there in the lyrics! Hope this helped:)

MeatLoaf4ever!