Meat Loaf Goes 'On the Record'

This is a rush transcript from "On the Record ," March 21, 2008. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, HOST: We know the suspense has been absolutely killing you. We have been giving you hints throughout the entire show.

So without further ado, Meat Loaf is about to go "On the Record." He is the star of the new documentary film "Meat Loaf, in Search of Paradise." For 18 months and during his world tour, Meat Loaf had cameras documenting his every move.

• Video: Watch Greta's interview

Earlier we spoke with the Grammy winner and rock star.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VAN SUSTEREN: Meat Loaf, it's nice to see you, it's nice to have you join us.

MEAT LOAF: Greta, it is my honor and pleasure.

VAN SUSTEREN: Meat Loaf, you have been on top of the music industry for about 40 years, 50 TV movies, and now this documentary. Tell me about this documentary.

MEAT LOAF: I had this camera, Greta, follow me around everywhere I went and drive me completely insane. And he was a pesky little director, and he followed me in places he was not supposed to follow me. And I almost had other people to be the bad guy.

But the bottom line, Bruce Klein is his name, did an amazing job, and the documentary is very good, and it makes me laugh.

VAN SUSTEREN: I got a sneak peek of it, I got a copy of it. And I learned an awful lot about you and an awful lot about the industry. And this is a tough business you are in.

MEAT LOAF: It is really tough. And if you do it the way I do it, I make it that much harder. I never seem to make anything easy. It is sort of like -- I will give you an example: I refuse to go to the Lakers games because there are so many celebrities there. That is how I relate to the world.

VAN SUSTEREN: Do you ever get nervous when you go out there, these concerts, with all those people?

MEAT LOAF: When I hit the stage, I am not nervous. But every afternoon before a show, starting around 2:00, I start getting really nervous and really paranoid. And, yes, I get really nervous.

But then once I am there, I am OK.

VAN SUSTEREN: I know why you are named "Meat Loaf" because I did a little research, but a lot of the viewers who may be new fans that you are getting from your documentary, tell them the story about getting the name Meat Loaf.

MEAT LOAF: You mean when I crashed and I was raised by wolves.

No -- my dad started calling me meat when I was about nine-months-old. People say what do I call you, and I say "Call me meat because I've been called that since I was nine-months-old," and they go, what?

And I say, look, I am from Texas. That is the home of "Bubba," "Pudge," "J.R.," and "Red." So it just fits me.

VAN SUSTEREN: And how about "loaf," because that's the other part of it.

MEAT LOAF: I do not know where the "loaf" came from. Somewhere when I was 11 or 12-years-old I think. Others people that I grew up with say no, it was not until junior high. But I do not know.

VAN SUSTEREN: We recently interviewed B.B. King, and before he goes out on stage, he sits in his bus and he has the temperature up to probably 300 degrees. In your documentary you are working with a voice coach. Do you do that before every concert? How do you prepare yourself?

MEAT LOAF: First of all, I am not B.B. King. People cannot come into the room. I have humidifiers everywhere, so it is really humid and very hot. Exotic tropical plants love my dressing room.

And, yes -- I do not have the voice coach with me every night, but I have his tape, and then I have my piano player will come in, and we will sing three songs. An dif those three songs do not come out right, I go, we are holding. So I'll just keep singing until I think my voice is ready to go on.

VAN SUSTEREN: The documentary is to promote the new album "Bat our of Hell III". But I must ask you this question -- what would you do for love? Everyone wants to know that. What is the answer to that?

MEAT LOAF: Greta -- I know you do not have that much time, but, anyway, I am in the studio with Jim Steinman, and he wrote the song "I Would Do Anything for Love." And he turns to me and he says, "Meat, do you think that people will know what 'that' is?"

And I said "Jim, audiences are not stupid. People are not stupid. Of course they're going to know what 'that' is. It is obvious. It's in black-and-white."

Ok, 3 million questions later, what is "that"? Either I blew it when I sang the song, or Jim blew it when he wrote it, but it is a line before every course. I think there are seven of them. One of them is, "I will never stop dreaming you every night of my life." And so on and so on.

VAN SUSTEREN: So what is "that"?

MEAT LOAF: "That," in that particular moment, is I will never stop dreaming of you. You still didn't get it. It is me, Greta.

VAN SUSTEREN: Anyway, it is a great documentary. The album is great.

And I have always wanted to talk to someone who has been so successful is for so long. You are not a flash in the pan by any means.

MEAT LOAF: Oh, Greta, I love you for that.

VAN SUSTEREN: Thank you very much Meat Loaf.

MEAT LOAF: OK, bye.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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