Livin' On A Prayer

by

Bon Jovi

Album: Slippery When Wet      Released: 1986

US Chart: 1     UK Chart: 4

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The follow up to Bon Jovi's #1 hit "You Give Love A Bad Name," this song tells the story of Tommy and Gina, two kids working to make it on their own despite constant hardships. It struck a chord with America's youth, especially the ones from New Jersey. The characters in the song relate to the working class fans Bon Jovi played to. "Tommy" works on the docks, while "Gina" works in a diner.

Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora wrote this with help from Desmond Child, a prolific songwriter who was brought in by the record company to give them a more commercial sound. Child has also written hits for Kiss, Aerosmith, Michael Bolton, and Ricky Martin.
The characters of Tommy and Gina were based upon a real life situation Desmond encountered in the late '70s with his then girlfriend, Maria Vidal, who he was living with. According to the notes in his Desmond Child & Rouge: Runners In The Night album, Desmond was a New York taxi cab driver and Maria was a waitress in a diner. (thanks, Gavin Radcliffe - Colchester, United Kingdom)

Derek Shulman, who was the lead singer and multi-instrumentalist in the band Gentle Giant, signed Bon Jovi to Mercury Records. In our 2009 interview with Derek, he said: "Slippery When Wet was a really well-constructed pop album. When it was done, I knew in my gut that it was gonna be this big. Because it was the right time, the right place, the right artist. And I had learned some of the business side from being in the business that long, and also having a musical background, I knew that this was gonna be that big. And in fact I also put them together with a co-writer called Desmond Child, who could write great choruses. Here's me looking at Desmond Child and I'm thinking, Man, I wish I would have had choruses like they could write." (Check out the full Gentle Giant interview with Derek and his brother Ray Shulman)

Jon Bon Jovi wanted to leave this off the Slippery When Wet album, thinking it wasn't good enough. According to Jon, a meeting with a group of teenagers changed his mind and it was added to the album.

Sambora used a talkbox on this, which gave it a very distinctive sound. A talkbox is an electronic device that allows a guitar player to make distorted sounds with his mouth. Peter Frampton is famous for using one on his 1976 album Frampton Comes Alive, but the technique lost popularity a few years later. When Bon Jovi released this, it was the first time many young people heard a song featuring a talkbox. Peter Frampton builds all of Richie Sambora's talkboxes for him.
Jon Bon Jovi told Q magazine December 2009 about the difficulties of using a talkbox: "You know that thing is not very easy to play. Basically everything gets fed through a one-inch tube that goes in your mouth. Then you try to sing through it into a live mic. I tried it once. It will damn near take your face off. Your eyeballs are being dislodged from their sockets, man."

The album was going to be called "Wanted Dead Or Alive" (another song on the album) and show the band on the cover dressed as cowboys. After doing the photo shoot in a mine shaft, the band decided they were taking it too seriously, changed the title to "Slippery When Wet," and found a Jersey girl with big boobs to wear a wet T-shirt for the cover. When parents' groups protested the cover, they changed it to a wet trash bag with the title written on it.

This opens with a 14 second synthesizer note.

In a 2007 interview with Time magazine, Jon Bon Jovi was asked what song showed "The Real You." His response: "I think if there was only one, it would be a tough choice between 'Livin' On A Prayer' and 'Wanted Dead Or Alive.' Maybe because the themes of 'Wanted' are a little more universal, it makes 'Prayer' that much more unique. There is nothing that you can say is derivative about the song. It is its own entity." He went on to say: "I think I find more strength in faith than I do in organized religion. 'Livin' On A Prayer' is most certainly nondenominational."

In the 2000 Bon Jovi song "It's My Life," the 2 characters from this are mentioned in the line "This is for the ones who stood their ground, for Tommy and Gina who never backed down." Sambora used a talkbox on that song as well.

Bon Jovi played a slow version of this September 21, 2001 as part of the "Tribute To Heroes" telethon to benefit victims of the terrorist attacks on the US. Almost 60 million people watched the show, which included performances by U2, Sting, Billy Joel, Mariah Carey, and Neil Young. Celebrities answering phones included Selma Hayek, Jack Nicholson, and Brad Pitt. The slow version was also performed at the "Concert For New York" to honor the rescue workers at The World Trade Center.

Bon Jovi performed this, along with "It's My Life," at the closing ceremonies of the 2002 winter Olympics.

On VH1's The Greatest Songs of the '80s special, this was voted the best song of the decade. (thanks, Dawson - Draper, UT)

In March 2008 this returned to the UK charts at #70, thanks to its use by Gareth Gates on the celebrity Ice Skating show Dancing On Ice. Despite the interest stirred up by the use of this track by Gates, the routine resulted in his elimination.

In an interview with The Guardian November 5, 2009, Jon Bon Jovi was asked whether the Tommy character was a strike-breaker. He replied: "No. He just lost his job – it wasn't that he crossed the [picket] line. The industry left the town and he didn't get the job back. It was a fictional character. The inspiration was a young couple who got pregnant and gave up everything they had, but that didn't read right, so we changed the story."

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Comments:

i love this song, along with a lot of other kids in my school. i even memorized all the lyrics to the song.
- samantha, mohegan lake, NY

I am not a Bon Jovi fan at all but this song kicks ass!!
- Jim, Long Beach, CA

slash does not use a talkbox. he uses a wah pedal, which a sh*t ton of other guitarists use. i know i know slash is a good guitarist but just because he was in guiutar hero does not make him god. there are many better guitarists out there stop trying to make every classic rock artist relate to slash, please.
- Jim, Ralston, NE

Jon has a niece and nephew in new jersey named Tommy and Gina, so he used those names for the song
- Jesus, alabama, DC

Hey, just saying Slash does NOT use a talkbox... he uses Wah, its a pedal, definately not a talkbox though "/
- Cody, Lawton, OK

GNR's SLASH uses talk boxes all the time
- Blane, Pocola, OK

BON JOVI sucks only good song is Wanted Dead Or Alive
- Blane, Pocola, OK

Who doesn't try to imitate the talkbox guitar at the beginning? You're lying if you deny it. ;D
- Dale, Santa Fe, NM

Greatest hair metal song ever.
- Michael, Morris County, NJ

This song is great to and listen to. This song has some meaning to life, and the way we really relate to life. This is one of his best songs to date.
- Nicola, London, England

this song is Def Leppard's #1 favourite rock song
- Calum, Edinburgh, Scotland

Best rock song ever written by the best band ever. I even teach my 5th graders how to sing this song.
- FER, Pacifica, CA

also before they called the album slippery when wet they wanted to call it guns and roses because Jon saw a picture of a barband (and they had a suitcase with the title guns and roses on it}in the newspaper. But that band became very succesfull(guns and roses)in a short time after that and then they came up wiht the title slippery when wet. Jon said this fact on the dvd 100.00.000 bon jovi fans can't be wrong
- bjorn, amsterdam, Netherlands

nice song..thats interesting that the cover is a trash bag, lol it looks good..i guess
- Amy, Dallas, TX

In an interview with JBJ(2004), he actually says that they were going to title Slippery When Wet, Guns and Roses. But what with the "guns n roses" name already made popular by the band, they opted for Slippery instead.
- Nikki, Melbourne, Australia

Bowling For Soup mentioned Tommy and Gina in their song "Punk Rock 101." The line is "Like Tommy And Gina, They're Living On A Prayer."
- Rob, Castaic, CA

Tommy and Gina were given another mention in "99 In The Shade" on New Jersey a couple of years later.
- Daryn, East London, South Africa

I love this song and i think this is the ultimate insparational song that sends out the message to hang on in there despite the difficulties that you are facing hence the line "it doesn't make a difference if we make or not" the song is pretty straightforward and does't reqiure a lot of pondering about what the lyrics mean- and that's a good thing. A lot of people can relate to this song and it sends out a message of hope that was very suited after sep 11
- julia, london, England

Actually the girl with big boobs was left off the cover because Jon didnt like the pink border that matched the girls nails. He didnt think they would be taken seriously with a pink border. I believe Japan was the only country to receive the big boob booklet. Jon had little time to come up with a new cover or they were going to be sent out and thats when he found a black trash bag and sprayed it with water and wrote Slippery when Wet on it. This was from VH1s #1 albums or something like that
- Nicalee, Oklahoma City, OK

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