Wikipedia

Livin' on a Prayer

This is thelatest accepted revision,reviewedon4 December 2024.
For the Family Guy episode, seeLivin' on a Prayer (Family Guy).

"Livin' on a Prayer"is a song by the American rock bandBon Jovifrom their third studio album,Slippery When Wet.Written byJon Bon Jovi,Richie SamboraandDesmond Child,the single, released in late 1986, performed strongly on both rock and pop radio and its music video was givenheavy rotationatMTV,giving the band their first song to reach No. 1 on theBillboardMainstream Rockchart and their second consecutive No. 1BillboardHot 100hit.[7]

"Livin' on a Prayer"
SinglebyBon Jovi
from the albumSlippery When Wet
B-side"Wild in the Streets"
ReleasedOctober 1986
Recorded1986
Genre
Length4:11
LabelMercury
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Bruce Fairbairn
Bon Jovisingles chronology
"You Give Love a Bad Name"
(1986) 		"Livin' on a Prayer"
(1986) 		"Wanted Dead or Alive"
(1987)
Music video
"Livin' on a Prayer"onYouTube

Regarded as the band'ssignature song,"Livin' on a Prayer" has topped fan-voted lists and re-charted around the world decades after its release. In 2013, the song was certified triple platinum for over 3 million digital downloads and has since sold over 13 million worldwide, making it one of thebest selling singles of all time.

Composition

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Sheet music for the song shows akeyofE minor.Thetempois "moderate rock" at 122beats per minuteincommon time.The keymodulatestoG minorfor the finalchorus.[8]

Song history

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Jon Bon Jovi did not like the original recording of this song, which is present as ahidden trackon100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong.Lead guitarist Richie Sambora, however, convinced him the song was good, and they reworked it with a new bassline (recorded byHugh McDonalduncredited[9][10][11]), different drum fills and the use of atalk boxto include it onSlippery When Wet.The song spent two weeks at number one on theMainstream Rock Trackschart, from January 31 to February 14, 1987, and four weeks at number one on theBillboardHot 100, from February 14 to March 14. It also hit number four on theUK Singles Chart.

The album version of the song, timed around 4:10, fades out at the end. However, the music video gameGuitar Hero World Tourfeatures the song's original studio ending, where the band revisit the intro riff and end with a talk box solo; this version ends at 4:53. The original ending is also playable on the similar video gameRock Band 2,though edited in this case (thereby eliminating the talk box solo at the end). The version included on the 2005DualDiscedition ofSlippery When Wethas an extended version of the original ending, with a different talk box solo playing over the riff (possibly taken from an outtake of the song); this version, which fades out at the end like the standard version of the song, ends at 5:06.

After theSeptember 11, 2001 attacks– in whichNew Jerseywas the second-hardest hit state after New York, suffering hundreds of casualties among bothWTCworkers andfirst responders– the band performed an acoustic version of this song for New York. Bon Jovi performed a similar version as part of the specialAmerica: A Tribute to Heroes.

In 2022,Mike Reno,vocalist of the bandLoverboy,revealed toLoudwirehe is certain the backing vocals he recorded for this song are used.[12]

Reception and legacy

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Billboardsaid that "metal muscle meets gritty reality in a tough, clanging rocker."[13]Cash Boxsaid that "Solid chorus and ringing guitar highlight Jon Bon Jovi’s gutsy singing."[14]

In 2006, online voters rated "Livin' on a Prayer" No. 1 onVH1's list of The 100 Greatest Songs of the '80s. More recently, in New Zealand, "Livin' on a Prayer" was No. 1 on theC4music channel's showU Choose 40,on the 80's Icons list. It was also No. 1 on the "Sing-a-long Classics List". After Bon Jovi performed in New Zealand on January 28, 2008, while on theirLost Highway Tour,the song re-entered the official New ZealandRIANZsingles chart at number 24, over twenty years after the initial release.[15]

Australian music TV channelMAXplaced the song at No. 18 on their 2008 countdown "Rock Songs: Top 100". In 2009, the song returned to the charts in the UK, notably hitting the number-one spot on theUK Rock Chart.

In 2010, it was chosen in an online vote on the Grammy website over the group's more recent hits "Always"and"It's My Life"to be played live by the band on the52nd Grammy Awardstelecast.[16][17]

In theBillboardHot 100 50th Anniversary list, "Livin' on a Prayer" was named the 46th greatest rock song of all time.[18]After the song was released for download, the song has sold 3.4 million digital copies in the US as of November 2014.[19]Louder SoundandBillboardranked the song number four and number two, respectively, on their lists of the 10 greatest Bon Jovi songs.[20][21]

The song, including its original ending, is also playable on the music video gamesGuitar Hero World TourandRock Band 2.The song was re-worked and madeavailable to downloadon November 9, 2010, for use in theRock Band 3music gaming platform to take advantage of PRO mode which allows use of a real guitar / bass guitar, and standard MIDI-compatible electronic drum kits / keyboards in addition to up to three-part harmony or backup vocals.[22][23]

In November 2013, the song made its return to theBillboardHot 100 at number 25, due to aviral video.

In 2017,ShortList's Dave Fawbert listed the song as containing "one of the greatestkey changesin music history ".[24]

In 2021,Rolling Stoneranked the song at number 457 in their updated list of the500 Greatest Songs of All Time.[25]

Lyrics

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The song describes two characters, Tommy and Gina, a working-class couple who struggle to make ends meet. Tommy loses his job as a dockworker due to a strike while Gina works as a diner waitress. The storyline was loosely based on real-life events that Jon Bon Jovi and songwriter Desmond Child experienced in the 1970s. Before becoming successful artists and songwriters, Desmond Child and his then-girlfriend, singer-songwriterMaria Vidal,lived together. They had already begun their music careers, but worked day jobs; Child was a taxi driver in New York while Vidal worked as a waitress in a diner named "Once Upon A Stove", similar to Gina in the song. The owner, manager, and other employees of the diner nicknamed Vidal "Gina" due to her slight physical resemblance to Italian actress and photographerGina Lollobrigida.

"It deals with the way that two kids – Tommy and Gina – face life's struggles," noted Bon Jovi, "and how their love and ambitions get them through the hard times. It's working class and it's real… I wanted to incorporate the movie element, and tell a story about people I knew. So instead of doing what I did on 'Runaway', where the girl didn't have a name, I gave them names, which gave them an identity... Tommy and Gina aren't two specific people; they represent a lifestyle. "[26]Tommy and Gina are also referred to in Bon Jovi's 2000 single "It's My Life".

In a 2002 interview, Bon Jovi said that he wrote the song as a response to theReagan Era,adding, "trickle-down economicsare really inspirational to writing songs ".[27]

Music video

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The music video was filmed on September 17, 1986, at theGrand Olympic Auditoriumin Los Angeles, California and was directed byWayne Isham.[28]It starts with a silhouette of the band walking down a hall, followed by shots of the band rehearsing, filmed in black and white, then playing in front of a crowd, in color. Near the beginning of the song, Jon puts on a harness that is being attached to wires by professional stunt coordinators and stunt spotters, and during the final chorus, he soars over the crowd.

The video reached 1 billion views on YouTube (the band's second song to do so) on February 1, 2023.[29]

Alternative versions

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Bon Jovi have reworked the song several times, including an acoustic live version that served as a precursor to theMTV Unpluggedseries and a re-recorded version of the song, "Prayer '94," which appeared on U.S. versions of theirCross Roadhits collection.[30]

Personnel

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Bon Jovi

Additional musicians

Charts

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Certifications and sales

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Certifications and sales for "Livin' on a Prayer"
Region Certification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[74] 11× Platinum 770,000‡
Brazil (Pro-Música Brasil)[75] Platinum 60,000‡
Canada (Music Canada)[76] Gold 50,000^
Germany (BVMI)[77] Platinum 600,000‡
Italy (FIMI)[78] 2× Platinum 200,000‡
Japan (RIAJ)[79]
Digital single 		Platinum 250,000*
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[80] 3× Platinum 180,000‡
United Kingdom (BPI)[81] 4× Platinum 2,400,000‡
United States (RIAA)[82] Diamond 10,000,000‡

*Sales figures based on certification alone.
^Shipments figures based on certification alone.
‡Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

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In May 2013, the song was featured in a segment onThe Tonight Show with Jay Leno.In this segment, a man and his wife were at a gas station when they were suddenly offered a free tank of gas in exchange for singing a song. The husband, Will Sims II, responded by singing "Livin' on a Prayer". The video of the segment went viral,[83]prompting Jon Bon Jovi to record a video personally thanking the couple for having "so much fun" with the band's song.[84]

In 2019, Grammy Award-winning singerMichelle Williamsperformed the song on the second US series ofThe Masked Singer.[85]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^Attributed to multiple references:[1][2][3][4][5][6]

References

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