Category: My Sunday Song

My Sunday Song – “Bed of Roses” by Bon Jovi

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For My Sunday Song # 196, “Bed of Roses” off the 1992 album ‘Keep the Faith’ by Bon Jovi is our song of discussion.  The song was released as a single in January 1993 and quickly became another hit for Jon and the gang as it reached #5 on the Billboard Top 40 chart.  In a time where grunge was taking over the world, Bon Jovi still managed to throw out hits while others fell by the wayside.

There is one thing Bon Jovi does well and that is a ballad.  Jon Bon Jovi wrote this one and man does he have a way with words in this one.  What a story he weaves.  While sitting in a hotel room, he made the hotel bring up a piano to his room and he sat, still hungover and wrote this beauty.  He even talks about the struggles in writing it in the first couple lines…

Sitting here wasted and wounded at this old piano,
Trying hard to capture the moment this morning I don’t know
‘Cause a bottle of vodka’s still lodged in my head,
And some blonde gave me nightmares.
I think that she’s still in my bed.

The song is a sad love song to his wife.  Jon lived the rock & roll lifestyle and he was not that faithful to his wife, but by this time in his career,  he knew that she was the one he loved.  This song was a letter to her that he is sorry for what he has done and that she is really the one for him.  He wishes he could be with her lying in a bed of roses while he sits lonely in that hotel room on a bed of nails. It is quite lovely.  And some of the lines he wrote in this were beautiful painted pictures…

With an ironclad fist I wake up and French-kiss the morning

and I loved the line…

While my mistress—she calls me
To stand in her spotlight again.

That mistress is the record company and the music business that keeps wanting him to pop out hit after hit and he is longing to be home with her.  It is such great story telling.

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My Sunday Song – “Something to Believe In” by Bon Jovi

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For My Sunday Song #195, we are diving in to the fantastic song “Something to Believe” off the band’s 1995 underrated album ‘These Days’.  This song was never a single and probably one of the best deep cuts they have on any record.  It really spoke to me and to this day, it means a lot.

The song has been considered anti-religious with lines like “I lost all faith in my God, in his religion too”, but the song is really about fighting back and finding that one thing to hold on to and reach for and to believe in.  I know for me, I have struggled a lot in this world.  There were times I had lost my faith and I still struggle with my belief in religion.  Not with God or Jesus, but organized religion. I see the damage it has caused through the centuries, the charlatans out there wanting your money and our the first ones to sin.  The holier-than-thou Church goers that think cast the first stone and our cheating on their spouses.  The churches that hide the child molesting priest.  I could go on and on and talk about the hypocrisy of it all.   But I won’t.  You get where I am coming from.

So how do you find that one thing to believe in?  I don’t know, but dig deep and it just happens.  I believe in my wife and kids.  My brothers and sisters and those that have always been there. I believe in Jesus and God…BUT…in my own way.  As Jon states, “in a world that gives you nothing, we need something to believe in”.  And with what has going on in the world these last couple months, I think this song holds even more meaning.  Hang in there!  We will get through it and come out the other side even better as we always do.

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My Sunday Song – “Bounce” by Bon Jovi

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For My Sunday Song #194, I am picking the 2002 song “Bounce” from the album of the same name.  The song was actually released as the fourth single on June 15, 2003 and only reached #39 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Track chart.  The song was written by Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora and Billy Falcon.

The song is the typical feel good, inspirational track that Bon Jovi started writing after their big return to the scene with their smash hit “It’s My Life” off their 2000 album.  They would repeat that formula over and over ad nauseum.  So, the song isn’t actually one of their best and really nothing special…so why did I pick it.  Actually, it is for the memory it creates.  It isn’t because it was dedicated to the New England Patriot’s head coach Bill Belichick, which it was.  It is filled with lots of sports analogies so I guess it makes sense.

The memory is from when my girls were really young like 5 and 2 years old. They loved this song with all its energy and the whole “bounce chorus”.  It would come on in the car and we would all sing along especially with that catchy chorus.  They would sing as loud as they could on the Bounce lyrics in the chorus.  It was so much fun. They might not remember those moments, but I will never forget.

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My Sunday Song – “Edge of a Broken Heart” by Bon Jovi

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For My Sunday Song #193, we are going back in time and checking out “Edge of a Broken Heart”.  A song written for the ‘Slippery When Wet’ album, but didn’t make it.  It is my favorite song to never make a Bon Jovi studio album.  It did wind up on the movie soundtrack to the horrible movie ‘The Disorderlies’ starring the rap group The Fat Boys. The song was never officially released as a single, but did reach #38 on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay songs.  The song did wind up on two Bon Jovi albums, the Special Edition version of ‘Crossroads’ and the box set of ‘100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can’t Be Wrong’.

The song is the typical 80’s hard rock song.  Full of synths, drums, guitar and even Bon Jovi’s use of the voice box. This was back in a time when the band still wrote great songs that told a story you wanted to hear.  It is about a man who is in love with someone, but she is with someone else.  He is standing on the outside of her life waiting to catch her when she is dumped by the guy she is with.  He will be there to save her.

Musically, Richie’s guitar playing is always top notch and he has such a nice tone.  He delivers a great solo and of course, that voice box is classic Bon Jovi.  Jon sounds so young and he can hit this high notes he only wishes he could still hit.  He is able to convey all the emotions needed for the wonderful story he is telling.  You feel for the guy and are rooting he will win the girl in the end.

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My Sunday Song – “We Don’t Run” By Bon Jovi

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For My Sunday Song #192, we are going to discuss the very last great Bon Jovi song to ever be written. The song is “We Don’t Run” and it is lead single from their 2015 album ‘Burning Bridges’. The album is a big F U to the band’s record label Mercury.  This was a total contract fulfillment album as the band lumped together some unfinished songs and wrote this particular one for the album.  It isn’t a terrible album, but far from their best.

The song is another in a long line of rock anthems that are meant to be uplifting and empowering which all started with song “It’s My Life” back in 2000.  The song does make you feel inspired as it is telling you to stand up for you believe in and do what you need to do to make it happen.  The song was written with John Shanks who also produced the album with Jon Bon and it also is where the album title comes.  Interesting note, this is the first album not to feature Richie Sambora…and with the exception of this song, it shows.

Musically the song is heavy on the bass and the drum which drives the beat home and is the force behind the song thanks to Hugh McDonald on bass and Tico Torres on drums. The guitar solo on this song is amazing and is handled by John Shanks who earned his chops playing with Melissa Etheridge.  Jon sings the lines in the same force as the drum beat, very powerful and perfect timing on the delivery.  The combo of the drum beat and his vocals, you get worked up and ready to fight for what you want.  On an album that was lacking a lot, this left you feeling good.

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My Sunday Song – “Runaway” by Bon Jovi

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For My Sunday Song #191, we are going to discuss the first of ten songs from Bon Jovi.  We will start it off with the first single and first song off their debut album called “Runaway”.  It was officially released in February 1984 and hit #39 on the Billboard charts. It was the first of many hits to come from this New Jersey band.

The song was written by Jon Bon Jovi and George Karak and was first recorded by Jon back in his Power Station Demo time period around 1981.  Then in 1982, he recorded it again as Jon Bon Jovi and The All Star Review.  This band included Hugh McDonald on bass…hmm…where have we heard that name before?  Oh yeah, he became the bass player for Bon Jovi in 1994 after original bass player Alec John Such left the band.  The band also had Tim Pierce on guitar, Frankie LaRocka on drums (cool name) and Roy Bittan on keyboard.  However, Mick Seeley actually wrote the keyboard intro for the song. I know Aldo Nova played a little on the album, but not sure exactly if he was on this song or not (BTW, I’m an Aldo fan so that any connection is cool to me).

If you haven’t figured it out, none of the original Bon Jovi band members are actually on this song.  And this is the version you hear on the album and the radio.  The band would be pieced together after the song started to become a hit on New Jersey radio and Jon needed a band.  And the rest is history at that point.

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My Sunday Song – “Shout at the Devil” by Motley Crue

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For My Sunday Song #190, we are ending the 10 song Motley Crue set with the band’s most controversial song “Shout at the Devil” of the album of the same name.  The song and album came out in 1983 and let me tell you, it upset a lot of people.  Not us kids at the time, but the parents.  The controversy only helped the band and the song.  The song didn’t do great on the radio, but the album went onto hit #17 on the Billboard album chart and sold over 4 million copies in the U.S. alone.

The song and album were originally going to be “Shout With The Devil”, but Tom Zutaut who signed the band to Elektra was not having it.  He was having a hard time selling the idea to the label.  The fear of satanism and the uproar it could cause was not going to fly.  However, during a drug filled evening, something freaky happened to Tom and Nikki when a knife and fork rose from the table and they stuck in the ceiling.  I am sure it was the drugs talking and probably Tommy throwing up there, but whatever. They decided that it was not Shout With the Devil, but Shout At the Devil instead as they feared that shouting with the devil was going to get Nikki killed.

The album opens with the a spoken track called “In the Beginning” that was so freaking evil sounding that it was the perfect segue in to the song.  The song is so heavy and bombastic that it oozes evil.  Vince sings at such high notes that only the Devil’s Dogs can hear them.  Mick Mars on guitar is nothing short of evil personified and rips through the strings like the devil’s pitchfork rips through your heart.  As I kid, I was never concerned with it being a satanic song, I thought it was cool and guess what, I didn’t turn out evil and kill a lot of people…some maybe, but not a lot!!!

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My Sunday Song – “Dr. Feelgood” by Motley Crue

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For My Sunday Song #189, we are tackling one of the band’s signature songs, “Dr. Feelgood”.  The song is the title track of the 1989 album and the band’s first album sober!!  The band had some radio success as this hit #20 on Billboard’s Hot Rock Songs and it did go to #6 on the Billboard Hot 100, but their success was really MTV and those videos.  This one was played all the time!

Being newly sober, it was funny how many songs on the album were about drugs and OD’ing, but I guess that was still all Nikki and company knew.  This song is no different. It is about drug dealers…not one drug dealer all of them as Nikki has been quoted as saying that “every good drug addict always has more than one.”  The drug dealers gave Nikki his fix and they also gave him and Motley Crue a song to be remembered.

The song comes slamming in with Tommy’s drum beat that grabs hold and pulls you right in just like a good fix will do.  Mick lays down a nasty guitar riff that is instantly recognizable.  Already the addiction to the song is in full swing.  The lyrics written by Nikki and delivered by Vince who captures the essence of the song and he sounds fantastic hitting notes he only now wishes he could still hit.  Then Mick’s guitar solo comes in slow and dirty before he shreds the strings like the needles shred your arm.  It is junky filled rush of a song.

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My Sunday Song – “Home Sweet Home” by Motley Crue

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For My Sunday Song #188, we are going to pontificate on the greatness of Motley Crue’s song “Home Sweet Home”.  How great is it you ask?  So great that it got overplayed to death and now I am sick of it.  However, that doesn’t make it any less great.  The song is off the horrible album ‘Theatre of Pain’ which was released in 1985.  The song was released as a single and did nothing on the radio. On MTV, that is a different story.

The song is a ballad and is about the band’s life on the road.  After being out on the road for 18 months touring on the album ‘Shout at the Devil’, the band couldn’t wait to get home.  When they got home, they were so bored they started getting in to a lot of trouble, but they did write this song.  It was a song the record company didn’t want to release, but the band stuck to their guns and financed the video themselves.  The video showed the band on and off stage from several concerts and the less happy life of road life.  That video blew up on MTV, but the record company didn’t promote it on the radio so it flopped there and was never officially a hit.  This song helped prove that all metal bands at the time, better have a freaking ballad on their album if they want to succeed.

The song opens with Tommy Lee on piano and like every ballad has its slow moments and those power moments that picked up the volume and tempo.  It even includes a brilliant guitar solo by Mick Mars where he shreds the crap out of that guitar.  The song then ends as it began with Tommy on the piano and then Vince humming the song before fading out.  It was so popular for the band, that the last song they ever played when the broke up as band was “Home Sweet Home”.  Now, we know that it actually won’t be the last song they played live as they are back and about to Tour…again.

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My Sunday Song – “Wild Side” by Motley Crue

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For My Sunday Song #187, we are going a little nuts with the song “The Wild Side” by Motley Crue. The song is off the band’s 1987 album ‘Girls, Girls, Girls’ which went to #2 on the Billboard charts and saw three singles including this one. It sold well over 4 million albums in the U.S. alone and saw the band reach another level of success.

The song “Wild Side” is very similar to the song we did last week, “Saints of Los Angeles”.  They both talk about their lives on the Sunset Strip and both reference the Lord’s Prayer.  “SOLA” opened with Vince speaking it and “WildSide” was inspired by a school girl who Nikki asked to recite the Lord’s Prayer and then he incorporated some of the prayer in to the lyrics like below…

“Our father
Who ain’t in heaven
Be thy name on the wild side”

The song is about the dirty side of the Strip with all the drugs, pimping, and many other abuses going on at that time in their lives.  Heck, even Nikki wrote when he was severely hooked on Heroin.

Musically, it belts at as a rocker with a mean guitar riff by Mick Mars. The pace goes from fast to slow with tempos reaching 118 beats per minute at one time.  There is actually no guitar solo in the song only many instances of Mick belting out some cool riffs and guitar parts.  Tommy pounds away and you can tell it is him on those drums. Vince sounds great and still so young.  And Nikki is always doing his thing.  There is a blues sound to the song as well and ends with sirens, breaking glass, gunfire and lots of mayhem.

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