Meat Loaf – Not A Dry Eye In The House

About The Song

“Not a Dry Eye in the House” is a song composed and written by Diane Warren, recorded by Meat Loaf, and released on January 15, 1996, as the second single from his seventh studio album Welcome to the Neighborhood on Virgin Records. The song reached No. 7 on the UK Singles Chart, marking Meat Loaf’s last top-10 hit there until “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” in 2006. It also charted in the U.S., though it was the last single to do so during Meat Loaf’s lifetime before his death in January 2022.

The recording took place in various studios, with production handled by Ron Nevison. The session featured a full orchestral arrangement, including strings and a choir, alongside Meat Loaf’s powerful vocals. The song’s structure builds from a gentle piano intro to a dramatic crescendo, showcasing a theatrical style typical of Meat Loaf’s work. The track runs 5:09 on the album, with the single version slightly edited for radio play. Welcome to the Neighborhood, released in 1995, achieved platinum status in both the United States and the United Kingdom, following the success of Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell.

The lyrics depict a heartbroken narrator reflecting on a lost love, using theatrical imagery with lines like “Not a dry eye in the house / After love’s curtain comes down.” The song includes a narrative of memories, such as “Midnight wind blowin’ through your hair,” and a sense of finality with “The last act is over.” The music video, directed by Howard Greenhalgh, premiered in 1996, showing Meat Loaf overlooking an old theater stage, with flashbacks of a departing lover portrayed as an old movie starlet, emphasizing the song’s emotional weight.

The album Welcome to the Neighborhood is structured as a concept album, with songs ordered to tell a relationship story across its track listing. Other singles from the album included “I’d Lie for You (And That’s the Truth)” and “Runnin’ for the Red Light (I Gotta Life),” which reached No. 2 and No. 21 on the UK charts, respectively. “Not a Dry Eye in the House” was part of a promotional campaign that included live performances, with a notable appearance on Top of the Pops in 1996.

The song was released in multiple formats, including CD and vinyl, with B-sides like a live version of “I’d Lie for You (And That’s the Truth)” recorded at the Beacon Theater in New York in October 1995. The track’s production involved a 14-piece band for live renditions, reflecting its complex arrangement. It was also included on various compilations, such as The Very Best of Meat Loaf, released in 1998.

Video

Lyric

Not a dry eye in the house
After love’s curtain comes down
Listen and you’ll hear the sound
Hear the sound of a heart breaking

I can still see you standing there
Midnight wind blowin’ through your hair
Remember kisses sweet in the salty air
When love was forever

Turn the page and we fade to blue
The scene has changed, now I’m without you
Well you just walked away when the act was through
And the dream was over

It was almost like a movie
The way you said goodbye
You must have spent a lot of time
Rehearsing each and every line

Now there’s not a dry eye in the house
After love’s curtain comes down
Listen and you’ll hear the sound
Hear the sound of a heart breaking, breaking
Not a smile left on my face
The ending’s just too sad to take
And there’s not a dry eye
Not a dry eye in the house

The greatest story was you and me
We had it all, we had everything
But now the story’s done, it’s just history
The last act is over

Your every line had the sweetest sound
Your every touch turned my world around
But then the light came up and my world crashed down
End of show, it’s over

It was almost like a movie
Those nights we touched the stars
Time stood still for you and I
Now it’s sad enough to make you cry

Now there’s not a dry eye in the house
After love’s curtain comes down
Listen and you’ll hear the sound
Hear the sound of a heart breaking, breaking
Not a smile left on my face
The ending’s just too sad to take
And there’s not a dry eye
Not a dry eye in the house

Act one, the story’s just begun
Act two, I fell in love with you
Act three, knew it was meant to be
Act four, you don’t love me no more

Not a dry eye in the house
After love’s curtain comes down
Listen and you’ll hear the sound
Hear the sound of a heart breaking, breaking
Not a smile left on my face
The ending’s just too sad to take
And there’s not a dry eye
Not a dry eye in the house