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#28 Never Say Goodbye
| life lessons in Bon Jovi songs

Welcome back, Jovi friends!
Life lessons in Bon Jovi songs continues with Never Say Goodbye.

It is the 9th song of the album Slippery When Wet (1986), and the second to last track.
It is also the very first real Bon Jovi ballad.

If you’re not familiar with the song – or simply long to be taken back to 1986 in this TIME CAPSULE OF A SONG! – you can listen here, to the official video.

In this video:

1. Welcome to another episode 00:00
Of Life lessons in Bon Jovi songs.
And why this song is such a watershed moment, in the Bon Jovi repertoire.
And a bit of an 80s time capsule 🤗

2. The 1987 Prom Song 01:34
And why it was such a darn On Point one! 😅
NB In the video I date it as “1986’s Prom song” but even with my non-existent experience with proms, I’m almost a 100% sure I should have said 1987.

3. Never released as a single?! 03:20
Or was it?
Why there is so much confusion about so many of the songs on this album, whether they were or were not released as singles.
And why they deliberately capped this mega successful album after only the third single, Wanted Dead or Alive.
Their heartfelt Swan Song.

4. Famous for these reasons 07:36
With this song never having been a single, why did it became a fan favorite?
Well!
Because this baby was the living, breathing, exhausted HEART of the show from 1986 to 1988!
It was what Jon Bon Jovi sang AFTER he FLEW over the audience, all the way to back of the venue.
All alone, an exhausted rock star, isolated, on a plateau.
For some of us, and by some of us I mean me, this pinnacle of rock star symbolism would become impossible to top.

5. the 3 different live VERSIONS 09:40

Over the course of 9 years Never Say Goodbye would be sung in three different ways.

The 1987 version: In the back of the room
https://youtu.be/p9FrdyS_RJs?si=jvxTMKCmkVuUsCfX
Vancouver

1990: the double guitar acoustic version, together with Richie Sambora
https://youtu.be/WKW6rPT6aNg?si=2s9tqFjhyrPHQqsi
Rock in Rio

1995: The Even-The-Critics-Loved-Bon Jovi Era, of musical perfection:
https://youtu.be/GTc7UR7P0bQ?si=-nbkpMovwl7uGHJJ
Jakarta

6. The 3 Groups in fanbase 12:04
Every version of Never Say Goodbye has its own fanbase!
With a special story about how Bon Jovi won over even the hardest critic. Forever.

7. How the song was created 17:17
Jon has gone on record saying Never Say Goodbye was inspired by Bruce Springsteen/ Southside Johnny’s song Hearts of Stone.
But with a demo sung by Richie Sambora, and the claim he actually wrote it about Jon and Dorothea, it is hard to get to the truth about who did what.
What we do know is that this song would never have been on the album. had it not been for the Pizza Parlor Jury!

8. The Life Lessons here 19:24
Don’t knock the power of the Pizza Parlor Jury!
And sometimes it takes 9 years before something has reached its full potential.
And even then?
Someone, somewhere, will prefer the raw 1987 Jon-is-exhausted version 😅

Next stop:
Wild In The Streets!

~Suzanne Beenackers
🇳🇱 Tikkie
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