Bon Jovi – “Lay Your Hands On Me” – 45 Single

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic

On my Summer vacation back in June, I found over 20 singles with the picture sleeve. I’ve been through a bunch of them so far and now we are tackling the Bon Jovi singles that I found. There were 5 Singles found and we kicked it off with the following:

Now it is time for the final single and it is also from ‘New Jersey’ with “Lay Your Hands On Me”. The opening track of the album and the fourth single which only went to #7 on the Billboard Charts and the band’s fourth Top 10 in a row for this album. The song was written by Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora and was inspired by a guitar riff by Richie rather than from a song title like they did a lot of the times.

My copy of the single is a standard U.S. version with the B-Side being a live version of “Runaway” which is cool. Glad to finally have a non-album track as the B-Side. “Lay Your Hands On me” is the album version and not a single or radio edit. But what is cool is the sleeve for the single. When you flip to the B-Side of the cover, the picture is up side down. And as you see above, it makes a full shot of Jon Bon Jovi playing a guitar. Kinda cool.

A-SIDE:

The A-Side, “Lay Your Hands on Me” was actually written while they were in the studio and never did a real demo of the track. The song was crafted as a song that could open a live show and in this case, even an album. The opening drum sound was inspired by Peter Gabriel’s ‘So’ Tour where he used a lot of African drum sound. The song is a shout to everyone that despite their grand success from ‘Slippery When Wet’, they were still just boys from New Jersey and very accessible.

Musically, the drum beat builds up, there are keyboard sounds mixed in with guitar fills and bass parts. Jon comes in and sings softly, the “Lay your hands on me” line and then the song explodes in to a grand arena rock track that screams, Here we are ready to rock you all night. And that is what they would do. It almost has a gospel, church feel to the song (especially with the song title). So much so that Dolly Parton covered it for a Gospel album she did many years back.

B-SIDE:

The B-Side is a live version of the song “Runaway” from their debut album. The song was recorded in Paris at Le Zenith on November 20, 1988. Cool they used a song from the current tour and being this was the fourth single, they had time to do that. The live version doesn’t seem to be touched up as it is pretty rough and Jon doesn’t alway hit every note so this is a warts and all version which is what I want. I don’t want a polished up studio live version, give me the real thing as if I was there in the audience.

And that is the end of the Bon Jovi single run from what I found in the shop this past Summer. Now, we will continue with the singles and start showing off all the rest of the ones I have in my collection. Who knows what band or single we will get. I will just start pulling them out randomly and writing about them. See you next week.

33 thoughts on “Bon Jovi – “Lay Your Hands On Me” – 45 Single”

  1. I’ve got the Cassette Single of this and I agree it was cool to get a live track from the current tour. The band is on fire.

    I watched Sambora live in 2014 after he broke away from Jovi and he rocked this version live. He started with the organ sounding keys and it felt gospel like and then he cranked in to the normal song.

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  6. Oddly enough they waited until the next – fifth and final – single ‘Living In Sin’ for a non-album or previously released track as the b-side to emerge with ‘Love is War’

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    1. I like warts and all live recordings. Two of the times I saw them live, when they played”Runaway” Dave Bryan would play the opening piano notes and then put his hands to his ears for a crowd response. They obviously don’t do that here.

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  9. It’s an excellent album opener. The guitar riff is among Richie’s best. I agree, if I get a live version of anything, I want it untouched. Those singles are all really nice finds.

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  10. Cool 45 Sir.
    LYHOM was the Jersey opener and I still remember Jon popping up from underneath the stage like a pop tart coming out of a toaster. lol
    Great friggin show and tour to have seen. The show I saw in Winnipeg they played just songs from Slippery and NJ. Ignored the first two albums as well as the current single at the time which was Living In Sin…

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  11. been collection BJ albums special editions, the ones with live tracks stuck to the end. Just got the Circle. It has 4 live tracks.

    Listening to Queen Live Magic.

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  12. repeating myself here…get 2020!! Still love it.

    Those special editions with bonus live tracks only run up to the Circle.
    Not sure what other versions and bonus tracks there are with japanese and itunes etc.

    Anyways it’s good to hear u haven’t given up on BJ!

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