Why Aren’t You Dead? | new series: The Box Set

“If you don’t have Bon Jovi there with you in the room, and want to build a party?
My suggestion is you just bring out the big guns and press play on;
“Why Aren’t You Dead” 

video: The only Bon Jovi concert that included songs from the box set. “Why Aren’t You Dead” opens the show.

In 2004 Bon Jovi created a 4-cd (1 dvd) box set with unreleased work.
In this series I discuss all of the 50 songs.
“Why Aren’t You Dead” is the first track, and it opens the concert they gave with a selection of the songs:

Jump on the table and sing along!

Jon Bon Jovi says about “Why Aren’t You Dead” which had originally been written for Keep the Faith:
“It (the song) wasn’t where we were going, it was more about where we had been, and for that reason alone it didn’t make the record.

We had grown out of this stage of writing those kind of fun clichés and moved on.”
Makes sense! 
And an upbeat song that makes you want to dance on the tables, and that contains the words “six feet under” “dead” “bed”?
We DO know that Bon Jovi song!
And we know it VERY well because it is one of the highlights of a Bon Jovi show TO THIS VERY DAY!
That song is “Sleep when I’m Dead”.
.
But do you know the catch?
Sleep when I’m Dead is from that very same album, Keep the Faith!
It was written around the same time as Why Aren’t You Dead.
.
Two similar songs;
One, Sleep When I’m Dead, which made it to the Keep the Faith record, became a single, a huge hit, and ultimately got played at nearly every show for decades to come.
One, Why Aren’t You Dead, which didn’t make it to the record until the box set came out in 2004, and which got played once.
In Atlantic City 2004.
What was the difference?
.
I think to this day the choice remains arbitrary;
On one hand, yes Jon is right.
Why Aren’t You Dead is a straight up rock song, and they had been rocking for years.

Sleep When I m Dead is more bluesy I think. I feel my knowledge of music falls short to accurately name it, but I can see why – from an originality perspective, Sleep When I’m Dead got in and Why Aren’t You Dead didn’t.
.
But do you know what strikes me, if I listen to the single (non-live) version of Sleep When I m Dead, versus the single/song Why Aren’t You Dead?
Why Aren’t You Dead ROCKS.
It moves.
It breathes.
It’s ALIVE!
.
Whereas Sleep When I’m Dead?
I’m not feeling it Jon.
It becomes clear to me, that it is the band Bon Jovi that MAKES Sleep When I’m Dead come alive, on stage.
They’re the ones breathing life into it, at that very moment!
And they do it well.
Very well.
.
When played live the twin song to Why Aren’t You Dead, which is Sleep When I m Dead, comes alive!
It might be the strongest live song they have ever written…

I don’t know a song that would be more of a party anthem, than Sleep When I’m Dead, performed live. Richie dials up on the guitars, Tico beats the shit out of them drums and Jon Bon Jovi just pushes and pushes and pushes until we are dancing on the bar, covered in beer and loving it!

Just see for yourself, in this magnificent  Sleep When I’m Dead, LIVE video!

But if you don’t have Bon Jovi there with you in the room, and want to build a party?
My suggestion is you just bring out the big guns and press play on;
“Why Aren’t You Dead”
.
~Suzanne
Rock Star Writer
.

new: BOX SET SERIES

Why Aren’t You Dead?
is the second in
The Box Set Series

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Reboot/ New videos expected at Suzanne Beenackers YouTube

Playlist box set:

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