Songfacts®:

• Ellen Foley sang with Meat Loaf in the '70s, most famously on "Paradise by the Dashboard Light." She released three solo albums from 1979-1983, then stopped to focus on acting. She started working with the songwriter-producer Paul Foglino in 2008, which led to their partnership on more Foley solo albums. "This Won't Last Forever" is a track they co-wrote that appears on her 2021 album Fighting Words. In a Songfacts interview with Foley, she said: "The song is really about endurance and surviving your mistakes."
• Foley embedded an Easter egg in the lyrics:
  
  I remember death or glory
  It was mostly purgatory
  
  This is a reference to the Clash song "Death Or Glory," which appears on their 1979 album London Calling. Foley dated Mick Jones of The Clash and sang on their track "Hitsville UK." The Clash returned the favor, serving as her backing band on her 1981 album Spirit Of St. Louis.