What is the one thing Meatloaf won't do for love?

Meat Loaf says that the question, 'What is 'that'?' is one of the most popular questions he is asked.

Each verse mentions two things that the man would do for love, followed by one thing that he will not do. The title phrase repetition reasserts that he 'won't do that.' Each mention of 'that' is a reference to the particular promise that he made earlier in the same verse. The four things he says he will never do are:

'forget the way you feel right now'
'forgive myself if we don't go all the way tonight'
'do it better than I do it with you'
'stop dreaming of you every night of my life'

At the song's conclusion, the woman predicts two things that he will do: 'You'll see that it's time to move on', and 'You'll be screwing around.' To both of these, the male emphatically responds, 'I won't do that!'

In his 1998 VH1 Storytellers special, Meat Loaf even explained it on stage using a blackboard and a pointing stick. In a 1993 promotional interview, Steinman states that the definition of 'that' is fully revealed in the song in each of the several verses in which it is mentioned. This sense would have been more clear if the lyric had been 'and I won't do that' instead of 'but I won't do that.' It is the use of 'but' instead of 'and' that leads to the ambiguity.