Category: albums

Someday I’ll Be Saturday Night | new series: The Box Set

Published on by Suzanne BeenackersLeave a comment

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.

video: Just like the previous song on the Box Set, Someday I’ll Be Saturday Night, might have gotten its most phenomenal speech in Osaka, Japan.
Check at the 4 minute marker.

click the photo for a live version (video) of Someday I’ll Be Saturday Night, recorded in Argentina

“I’m feeling like a Monday,
But someday I’ll be Saturday night.”

I have to admit I had never really listened in depth to this song, until I encountered the “I’ll be Saturday night” demo at #4 of disc one of The Box Set.

Someday I ll Be Saturday Night was released on the 1994 “best of” album, Cross Road.
An album I didn’t own, until recently.

I had also heard the song almost every time I listened to a 1995 concert to make a video for my YouTube channel.
And yet;
I didn’t really “get” Someday I’ll Be Saturday Night until I started what I would qualify as “hoarding”, different versions of the song.
Ultimately I decided on limiting it to ten years.

You can find the playlist I created here:
Bon Jovi Someday I ll Be Saturday Night 1994 – 2004

That will also give you my channel, to subscribe for my upcoming 1995-1996 Bon Jovi reviews.

The Box Set’s demo of I’ll Be Saturday Night had been the first version of a song that would be performed live, over and over and over again.
Thematically it was comparable to Livin’ On A Prayer, meaning pushing through adversity and believing in a better future.
But it was way, way more subtle
Which might also explain why I “managed to miss it” as an absolute gem, in particular in the live legacy of Bon Jovi. 

At the 3,5 to 4 minute marker of these live songs, Jon Bon Jovi improvises. Sometimes “just” going through all the days of the week, and how hard they are.
But sometimes, like in the above audio I included of Osaka, it was a straight up motivational speech.

It’s so unreal to think that live version in Osaka was recorded twenty years ago, and here I am in 2020.
It’s a Thursday night.
I just taught an online yoga class to friends, which I had not done in a very long time. By accident, I streamed it from one of my public pages.

Now it wasn’t nude yoga or anything, but during the class I had been very conscious of my body, and of what I will just call the “weirdness” of yoga;
Something you usually do not have to deal with, until you start including “puppy pose” in your classes in the park, or into your YouTube videos.

Or until you find out you accidentally streamed a private yoga class on your public page.

Those are the moments when Jon’s words in Osaka, really hit home.

At 4 minutes 33 seconds, in speaking voice:

“I feel like that sometimes.
It’s true.
But when I do, I say;
“Self?”

The beat picks up, Jon’s voice strengthens;

“You gotta just dust yourself off.”

And I say:
“Self;
You gotta put on the gloves, jump in the ring and go in there for one more fight.”

And I say:
“Self, we ain’t gonna back down this time! 
Ain’t nobody is gonna come and throw the towel in this time! 
Ain’t nobody is gonna tell me they’re gonna save my ass this time!

NO!!”

And then the chorus comes in.
And this time the words really hit home, and there is no way you’re gonna ever forget it again!

“HEY! 
MAN!
I’M ALIVE! 

I m taking each day and night at a time.

Yes I’m down
But I know I ll get by.

Hey, hey, hey, hey!
Man, I m gonna live my life.
I’m gonna pick up all the pieces of what’s left of my pride
I’m feeling like a Monday but -“

Someday I’ll be Saturday night.

~Suzanne
Rock Star Writer
.

new: BOX SET SERIES

Someday I’ll Be Saturday Night
is the fourth post in
The Box Set Series

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You can find the subscription button on this page, probably somewhere on the right.

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Bon Jovi concert reviews 1995-1996 Suzanne Beenackers YouTube

Playlist box set:

Taking it Back (and Tokyo Road) & The Radio Saved My Life Tonight | new series: The Box Set

Published on by Suzanne BeenackersLeave a comment

“Japan always seems to be getting the best shows.
As if the deal was sealed, by that enthusiastic response on that very first world tour.”

video: The Radio Saved My Life Tonight, performed in Osaka (Japan!) with a speech at 3 minutes 10 seconds, about how Jon Bon Jovi (then still without band) started his career.

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.

Today I’m doing two songs.
Song number 3, Taking It Back.
And the second song on the first disc, a song they played many times on the tour that followed the Box Set release;

THE RADIO SAVED MY LIFE TONIGHT

What is immediately apparent listening to this second song on disc one of The Box Set, is that the song is a finished, polished recording.
It was obviously not dropped until the very final stages of Keep the Faith (1992)

It’s one of Bon Jovi’s lighter songs, less heavy on the guitar and drums, and that always makes it a tough cookie when it comes to winning my love.
This song is no exception.

But nevertheless:
If you were in a position as a band, that you could drop catchy songs like this for your record?

Even I understand the level you were playing at.
The very highest.

TAKING IT BACK

What do you get if you mix AC/DC with Bon Jovi?
Taking It Back
One of the many amazing 90s songs that were released in 2004,
on the box set 100.000.000 Bon Jovi Fans Can’t Be Wrong.

But the song that closest resembles “Taking it back” is one of their own.
On the album 7800 Fahrenheit (1985) there is the song “Tokyo Road”.

Tokyo Road studio version (official)
or
Tokyo Road played live in Japan 1985, including introduction of band

7800 Fahrenheit was the album right before their biggie Slippery When Wet (1986).
It “should have” been the big break for the band and then wasn’t.
And the reason expectations were so high, is related to Tokyo Road.

The first self-titled Bon Jovi album, Bon Jovi-Bon Jovi (1984) had not brought them “world fame” but nevertheless;
It had done exceptionally well.
Not just in sales, but the band had also toured the world.
Just check this site which still contains a list of all the continents and places the then relatively unknown band from New Jersey toured with just one album under their belt;
http://www.bonjovi-archives.com/01_BonJovi/Live.html

Especially in Japan, Bon Jovi had been hugely popular.
They had been kind of shook by the attention, but (of course) also flattered.

Japan 1985

With a debut album like that, expectations for their second album were high.
Ultimately their second album wasn’t the big breakthrough they all had been expecting based upon (among other things) their popularity in Japan.
But Tokyo Road on that second album 7800 Fahrenheit, was a reminder of how far they were on their way.
They had already toured the world!

And seven years later “Take me Baaaack, baaaacck, back; Tokyo Road!”
would echo in the song called “Taking it Back” (1992/ Box Set 2004)
A song about which Jon Bon Jovi said;
“We knew that we had to take control of our own destiny and songs like ‘Taking It Back’ were sung from the point of view of that chip’s back on my shoulder and I’m ready to launch into phase two of the band’s career.”

With regard to the topic (one night stand from Tokyo Road versus the fighter’s mentality of Taking It Back) the two songs Tokyo Road (Take me back) from the Fahrenheit album, and Taking It Back, the unreleased song from 1992, might seem worlds apart.
But they are brothers in arms.
Both were written at a time when Bon Jovi wanted to prove they belonged at the top.
And both songs were ultimately largely forgotten.

And yet: Their presence had been prophetic.

Bon Jovi kept coming back to Japan, every world tour.
And from what I think I see – Japan always seems to be getting the best shows.
As if the deal was sealed, by that enthusiastic response on that very first world tour.

And Bon Jovi did raise the bar with their Keep The Faith album;
They did take back, what was rightfully theirs.

The place at the top.

~Suzanne
Rock Star Writer
.

new: BOX SET SERIES

Taking it Back (and Tokyo Road) & The Radio Saved My Life Tonight
is the third post in
The Box Set Series

Subscribe to the blog, to get these posts in your mailbox.
You can find the subscription button on this page, probably somewhere on the right.

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my personal Twitter account

Reboot/ New videos expected at Suzanne Beenackers YouTube

Playlist box set:

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

Published on by Suzanne BeenackersLeave a comment

“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

Subscribe to the blog, to get these posts in your mailbox.
You can find the subscription button on this page, probably somewhere on the right.

Rock Star Writer on Facebook
my personal Twitter account

Reboot/ New videos expected at Suzanne Beenackers YouTube

Playlist box set:

Let’s Make It Baby | new series: The Box Set

Published on by Suzanne BeenackersLeave a comment
“Jon Bon Jovi’s growling, grunting voice is so incredibly sexy
it will have Jim Morrison cheering from the heavens”
 
.
Today I started listening (doing yoga) to my long awaited Bon Jovi box set:
100.000.000 Bon Jovi Fans Can’t Be Wrong
A collection of songs, most dated to the nineties, which resulted in a 5 disc set:
4 audio, and 1 dvd with background material..

There’s also a Japanese version, which has a fifth audio cd, with amazing songs on it.
Among which
“Let’s Make It Baby”
That could easily count as the most sexy Bon Jovi song ever written.
Fortunately “Let’s Make It Baby” was not just released on the rare 5th disc of a Japanese Box Set, but also (in two versions) on the Deluxe edition of New Jersey album and on a European Special Edition bonus disc of These Days.
.
I m not really sure which one it is (the New Jersey version or the These Days version) but I think that the person who created this seductive Jon Bon Jovi collage, thought that was beyond the point.
And it probably was.

Video: 

Don’t forget to put on your audio, because Let’s Make It Baby is an incredibly strong Bon Jovi song!

And Jon Bon Jovi’s growling, grunting voice is so sexy it will have Jim Morrison cheering from the heavens.
.
“We’ll get the sheets all wet.
Baby, make you feel naughty.
Turn down the lights
I m going down slowly.”
.
Or as one comment said:
“I ain’t a smoker, but I need a cigarette after listening to this here song! DAMN!”
.
In theory writing an entire paragraph about a cd you re not going to cover is a bit long,
but I hope you agree there’s no such thing as talking too much about Let’s Make It Baby.
The song ranked #1 at a previous post here on this blog:
5 Unexpectedly sexual Bon Jovi songs. And how they saved me from the Dark Side
.
By the way, the song The End, is also on this mysterious 5th disc.
That song was not included on other sets, but famous YouTube channel hAnD90 did use it for a video, so we do have a beautiful video of (promise to shut about it after this) a song we’re not going to do:
Bon Jovi – The End (by hAnD90)
.
The footage hAnD90 used is from the dvd Live From London, a project that I started last week, on this blog.
.
So this Box Set series is going to be a series about the 4 remaining audio discs, and whatever it is that brings up.
.
Today I listened to the first cd, and the first song is called.
“Why aren’t you dead?”
A surprisingly upbeat song, for such a grim title.
 .
But I ll tell you the rest tomorrow.
.
~Suzanne
Rock Star Writer
.

new: BOX SET SERIES

Let’s Make It Baby
is the introduction to
The Box Set Series

Subscribe to the blog, to get these posts in your mailbox.
You can find the subscription button on this page, probably somewhere on the right.

Rock Star Writer on Facebook
my personal Twitter account

Reboot/ New videos expected at Suzanne Beenackers YouTube

Playlist box set:

In Praise of The Circle: We Weren’t Born To Follow

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Highlighting one, two or even three songs from The Circle is torture – because they’re all so good! But I ll put Superman Tonight on top of this post. And Bullet at the bottom. Full album The Circle here.

Dear Jon,
.
Did you even listen to The Circle, before recording your video?
Now hold on – this posts ends super happy. And there’s sex in here. Well kind of, all I could muster anyways.
But did you even listen to the beautiful and dare I say brilliant and MUCH NEEDED positive and uplifting lyrics of this 2009 album?
Or did you just browse through the song titles, and assumed you were done with your “own” (I will get back to this possessive adjective) work and didn’t need to listen to it?
.
I think every creator, every artist who has ever walked the face of this earth understands where you were, in which place, if you really felt like that, Jon.
A dark place.
Which is why I think that if anyone got it into their heads to berate you for not fully backing yourself – the way you usually do – they cannot be creators themselves.
.
They do not understand the burden of being a creative, and the process in itself being somewhere between the euphoria of the best night with a stranger (see! I m working with you here, trying to spice things up!) you ever had;
And a roller coaster ride on a track that is about to be demolished because it is past its due date;
Perhaps a bit too dangerous.
A tad too thrilling for your liking.
.
But you survived and your feet are planted firmly on the ground, you can shake it off.
And whether the adventure was the night with the blonde (can we make her blonde? We make her Michelle Pfeiffer) or the roller coaster ride;
You can turn it into a good story to tell your friends.
.
However, what would happen if you’d be eye to eye with Michelle, surrounded by other green room invitees who knew that back then the two of you….?
Or if you had to vouch for your time together, in front of a camera?
Stammer and feeling uncomfortable I reckon, nah?
.
What would happen if your friends would surprise you that the roller coaster had not been taken down, and the new owner of the land will allow you to go in one more time, before it is demolished?
That you can relive your adventure from 2009, which you apparently appreciated so much, because you keep telling people about it?
Not an appealing thought to go back in.
.
I m currently listening to the Circle, on my headphones. It’s about the 9th time since you posted your video to Instagram. I m a Twitter user myself – but you being active on Instagram is still the only appeal the medium has ever got to me.
The only alluring aspect of it is you being there.
But I m holding the line so far.
You predominantly on Insta, me on Twitter. But listening to The Circle adds to the wish to see more of you on my social media: What a brilliant album. Just like the previous 8 times I listened to it these past few days;
Not only can I not find anything wrong with it, with zero songs I want to skip, but it’s filled with magnificent songs!
And so many guitars, it’s so rock!
.
I genuinely love this album, Jon. And if nothing else your video has established that me and who knows how many other fans are giving The Circle the relistening it deserves. And I m betting they’re coming to the same conclusion:
The Circle is a strong, rounded album.
Period!
.
But, there is a way more important reason than the high quality of this album why your video was “off”. 
Because you don’t get to be the critic of your own work, Jon.
You may be the one receiving the idea, you may be writing, singing, producing, or even get to be the promoter of your own work, if you’re hellbent to do so.
But the critic?
No.
.
 I personally believe nobody should be criticizing anybody:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.”
A quote from Roosevelt.
But if you disagree, if you believe criticism does have a place in this world, it is still not the creator of the work who gets to criticize his own work.
And the reason is very simple:
Because it is the work of God.
.
More than the people who do not create, or have the unholy profession of being a critic, or the ones who focus on joining the dots type of growth, or have the extremely valuable yet not that spectacular task of cleaning, nurturing, care taking;
The artist is none of those things.

He is usually not even particularly good at them either.
.
Maybe the fact that you are good serving your community in a more direct manner, has made you more judgmental to your art.
Maybe that’s why it hurts (or you think it hurts) seeing your work again.
But I m here to say on repeat:
You are not a critic, let alone you’d be the critic of your own work.
You are a builder and a care taker; And as such of tremendous value to your family and the community at large, but you are first and foremost something else:
An artist.
.
And the creative process is a different one. Different to placing one brick on top of another. Different to mapping out, planning, even (technically) different to having a vision of where you want to go with your art.
.
Builder Jon built the Bon Jovi empire.
But artist Jon?
Oh….. artist Jon did everything else.

But he did not do it alone.
But to know with whom he was, we have to go back to the meaning of creativity.
Creativity comes from creation. And raise your hand if you know who The Big Creator is? 
Yes, Jon? 
*      * 
That is, of course, the correct answer.
The answer is God.
.
An artist creates, and that places him on the same plane as God. Creativity is by design, a divine practice. It’s the reason why it feels so much better to be creating something, than to just try to find meaning in the ways of The Lord.
Once you start joining the process of creation, things acquire meaning and fall into place.
Because you’re no longer here, you’re “there”.
You can feel The Power of the big creator flowing through you, and in conjunction you create a song, a 3 hour rock show, or an extremely good album.
And then the sun comes up.
The cart comes to a halt.
The woman smiles at you, and it’s like a wordless goodbye that makes you sad.
.
But it is done.
And it was worth it.
.
For a brief period you were not just relieved from normal life;
You were one with God.
.
And it is exactly for this reason why we don’t get to be the critics of our own work. Because it was never our work, Jon.
It was God’s.
He flows through us, like he flows through all creators.
And we’re just the messenger, like all the messengers before us, and all the messengers after.
To criticize what we have created is to criticize God.
That’s why it feels so horrible to do it… and makes us feel so miserable.
.
Creation is never something you did for a certain outcome.
It’s not even something you can look back on and say “It took 7 days”, because any limitation, any label is preposterous.
It took as long as it took.
And it was done when it was done.
And the only reason to do it, is because the idea was hovering you, tempting you, whispering sweet promises in your ear at moments when you were supposed to be doing something worldly and extremely useful.
“Come on Jon…. I know you want to.”
“Just a few minutes.”
“I promise I ….. I promise….. I -“
.
And one night, one wild ride, one 1500 word blog post or one amazing album later, your feet hit the floor and you’re like:
“I really should not have done that.”
.
Oh but you should have, Jon.
It’s why you’re here.
.

~Suzanne 

Rock Star Writer 

These blog posts will go out randomly, as topics reveal themselves.
You can find the subscription button on this page, probably somewhere on the right.

Rock Star Writer on Facebook*
my personal Twitter account

Reboot/ New videos expected at Suzanne Beenackers YouTube

* sadly enough all referrals/ links to the Rock Star “Yoga” page on Facebook (url), have become invalid. I intend to start curating this blog, and update the links.

Full album The Circle here.

Shenanigans, fun and my favorite Bon Jovi songs per album – part 1

Published on by Suzanne BeenackersLeave a comment
click for video – Times Square 5 September 2002

One of the things I ve been meaning to do, is give every Bon Jovi album a proper and extensive review.
You know, like serious folks!
Except of course, that will never happen.
So I just started at What About Now (2013) and am working my way back.
In tweets!
I m not going to url-link them all to the original tweet, but if you want to follow this topic
Here’s my profile on Twitter

So here’s Part 1  of this quite enjoyable endeavor;

There were a few more tweets, in the original thread.
But these were the Big Five 😉

*Detail Alert*
In case you want to know exactly how I ll go from here:
Next up album Crush (2000), then all the way back through the 90s, the 80s ending with 1984 Bon Jovi- Bon Jovi
And after that the two most recent albums, Burning Bridges (2015) and This house Is Not For Sale (2016).
*End of Detail Alert*

See you soon!
And rock on!

~Suzanne

Update 

In June 2020, I renamed this site from Rock Star Yoga to Rock Star Writer.
I ll update all blogposts (there are 46) and will get my fingers into the YouTube channel soon, including retrieving content I had to take down in January because of technicalities.

New videos expected too, at Suzanne Beenackers YouTube

About this blog

These blog posts will go out randomly, as topics reveal themselves.
You can find the subscription button on this page, probably somewhere on the right.

Rock Star Writer on Facebook*
my personal Twitter account

* sadly enough all referrals/ links to the Rock Star “Yoga” page on Facebook (url), have become invalid. I intend to start curating this blog, and update the links.

Why Bounce may have been Bon Jovi’s best album

Published on by Suzanne BeenackersLeave a comment
First off, here is the Bounce album on YouTube.
Press Play to get a punch in the gut!
.
See, feels good right??!
.
It was one of the things that had been in the back of my head for a while, giving me little “What about?” reminders every once in a while.
What about Bounce?
Why did you buy that album?
Was it a coincidence?
.
The zeros were Bon Jovi’s most productive decade.
Not only did they produce 5 studio albums, Bounce (2002) being one of them:
They also toured extensively, and had countless Bonus projects going on.
The 4-5 disc box 100.000.00 Bon Jovi fans was released.
Their One Wild Night live cd.
This Left Feels Right, an album with alternative versions to their songs.
And said 5 studio albums Crush, Bounce, It’s my life, Lost Highway and The Circle.
And that’s just what I know by heart, since getting back on the Bon Jovi wagon.
In the decade itself, I wasn’t a fan.
It was as if we lived in alternative universes.
With the exception of one album:
Bounce.
.
With Bounce not being particularly memorable, as far as the general opinion goes, and none of its songs being played at any of their recent concerts:
Had it then been mere chance this record had come in my possession? 
.
Interesting question.
But not exactly an urgent one, and it was dropped the moment it arose.
One day.
Maybe.
If I feel like it.  
.
Yesterday I listened to Bounce and it hit me right in the gut.
There really are no words to describe what it DID to me – something I only knew from another vastly underappreciated record This House is Not For Sale:
It filled my heart with joy, my gut with rage, my life with a strong forward moving force that NO MATTER WHAT- 
We were not going to back down!
.
Don’t get me wrong: I immediately noticed Bounce having weaker moments. And even repetitive elements (just like This House is Not for Sale!) that you could criticize or question. And I decided to spend some more time with the record, and its history.
What had happened?
What was its context?
.
And I stumbled upon The Forgotten History Of The In All Probability Best Bon Jovi Record Ever Made.
.
Think August of year X.
Bon Jovi had just ended their One Wild Night Tour, and was going to take it easy, musically. There were no plans to go into the studio anytime soon.
Now think September 11.
The world was shook, and a wave of despair came over us. New Jersey, being close to New York, was heavily hurt.And the band Bon Jovi, known for its anthems and its message of hope, leaped to the rescue, to the frontier, and after their first months of charity work were over, they had many stories to tell.
.
 “That was my brother lost in the rubble, That was my sister lost in the crush”
.
Bounce, Bon Jovi’s 2002 almost forgotten album was the stab in the gut we had all felt in 2001, but they took it and put it to music.
.
It was no coincidence that for two plus decades, Bounce was the only Bon Jovi release that immediately made it into my collection.
.
And into my heart.
.
.

~Suzanne

Update 

In June 2020, I renamed this site from Rock Star Yoga to Rock Star Writer.
I ll update all blogposts (there are 46) and will get my fingers into the YouTube channel soon, including retrieving content I had to take down in January because of technicalities.

New videos expected too, at Suzanne Beenackers YouTube

About this blog

These blog posts will go out randomly, as topics reveal themselves.
You can find the subscription button on this page, probably somewhere on the right.

Rock Star Writer on Facebook*
my personal Twitter account

* sadly enough all referrals/ links to the Rock Star “Yoga” page on Facebook (url), have become invalid. I intend to start curating this blog, and update the links.

(These arms are) Open all night

Published on by Suzanne BeenackersLeave a comment
I can confirm these arms are always open for cuddling, licking, fetching, scratching, biting, playing catch, hide and seek. Because I am her love child. ~Flipje

“This title, Open all night, we’ve used about five times.
We finally did a song on the Bounce record, called Open all night. Great title, we never could get it right.”
Jon Bon Jovi, 32 min 28 sec 

So apparently there were five songs called Open All Night.
But even if you go with the three that were released, you’d have trouble distinguishing them.

The only mainstream version of Open all night is, like Jon said, on the album Bounce.

The Box Set, 100,000,000 Bon Jovi fans can’t be wrong, is for the fans and has two other versions: Open all night and These arms are open all night.

Three different songs, but they’re all ballads which makes them similar.
And although the title of the song on Bounce is “Open all night”;
Those lyrics say These arms are open all night.
Adding to the confusion about which song is which.

All-in-all Bon Jovi is open all night, usually with the arms included.
And it’s something that inspires them.

And lap sitting you have to tell them lap sitting too lap sitting is great it’s not just about the arms it’s also about the lap sitting because I am her love child ~Zaza

I’ve listened to all three songs, and here is what I found.

For clarity’s sake, I m going to assume the protagonist of these songs is male, and preferably Jon Bon Jovi, unless he specifically says that he is Jones and he drives a dented red Chevrolet then we go with that.
And we’ll assume the other person is a woman.

So here’s the three different songs:

1. Open all night
at 100,000,000 Bon Jovi fans can’t be wrong
live version Atlantic City 2004

Is about a girlfriend who has left to make it in the world and her boyfriend waiting at the bar, telling her not to worry.
Open all night refers to the boyfriend being open all night, meaning waiting for her.

2. These arms are open all night
at 100,000,000 Bon Jovi fans can’t be wrong
live version Borgota 2004

Is about a man who introduces himself as “Jones” and informs us he has a dented red Chevrolet, and gives a woman he met at the bar a detailed description how to get to his house.
Now if Jon Bon Jovi would try pick me up with this:
“These arms are open all night
If you need someone to talk to
A hand to hold onto and if it feels right
These arms are open all night”
That would be a Hell YES! if ever there was any.
I would feel completely seen, wanted, desired, and although I m not a night person at all, I would make an exception.
However.
This song explicitly identifies him as not being JBJ, but as “Jones”.
And I m actually surprised Jones sees the headlights of the woman behind him following him, because he confesses (out loud?):
“God only knows how long it’s been that I been this lonely”
Would not make me feel wanted at all….

For each their own I guess, but I m more than just a warm body and the shorter the encounter is gonna be, the more I want to feel that this man will do anything to be with me, because he desires me just so much it’s driving him mad.
Which brings me to:

3. Open all night, main version, Bounce
album recording

There is a reason this is the one that made it to the main studio album.
It starts with a verse where Jon – Jon’s back! I like him MUCH better than somebody who introduces himself with a surname Jones – shares with us that he saw us coming from a mile away and noticed our poor little heart was bruised black and blue.

Then we get a verse where he tells us that he too, has been hurt. He knows how it feels. And that the last thing we need is another pickup line, so he’s not going to do that.
Wait.
Maybe I should just quote this. Here are those verses:

“I saw you coming from a mile away
Trying to hide behind that pretty face
Bet my last dollar baby you been bruised
Poor little heart all black ‘n’ blue

Last thing you need’s another pickup line
You must have heard them all a thousand times
God only knows what you been through
Believe me I been broken too

It aches, it breaks, it takes your breath away
I’ve been around that block a time or two”
…
Okay, if there is a woman now, considering to NOT immediately go with Jon, she’s lying.
We just got picked up in 2,5 verse.
Bring in the chorus:
“Baby, I don’t want to fall in love with you
I try, try, try but I can’t get around the truth
Please don’t say my name, give this heart a break
I don’t want to make the same mistake but it’s too late
I’ll leave on the light
These arms are open all night”
Song number 3 wins. Jon gets the girl.
This is such a no-brainer that I feel like an idiot even going through the rest of the song, but I will do so, as a sign of song-appreciation.

So we had Jon buttering us up with perfect verses and bringing it home with the best pickup chorus in the history of rock music and then we have:
(Take it away Jon)
“I got your taste in the back of my mouth
I want to reach in and pull it out
And I’d be lying if I didn’t say
When you’re this close I’m afraid
Of the way I’ll feel if I touch your hair
The way I’ll miss you when you’re not there
And that I’ll see you when I close my eyes
It’s too late, I’ve crossed that line“
Not only did Jon have us at “Baby, I don’t want to fall in love with you”
He now burns the very last of our entire defense system to the ground,
by admitting he too has fallen hard for us.
That he didn’t want to fall in love, he wasn’t looking for it, he wasn’t needy or lonely, and yet it happened anyway.
*soft sigh*
Isn’t life beautiful?

Are we now not all dreaming of being swept off our feet by someone we don’t want to fall in love with, but we just can’t help ourselves?

In another documentary, Jon speaks about his mixed feelings of singing ballads in front of a live audience. The interviewer tells him that the crowd was completely quiet the other night, when Jon sang his version of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah.
Jon answers:
“There is a ballad called Open all Night, on Bounce, that I love for that reason.
But it gets the polite applause at the end, because it’s not that..”
*makes energetic hand gestures*
(18 min 30 sec)

After this analysis of the lyrics of Open all Night on Bounce, I don’t believe Jon. I don’t believe anyone would not get it, if Jon sang this live.
That was not a “polite” applause.
That was “God that hurt please play a rock anthem to make it go away.” – applause.

It was a crowd with arms that were not just open for Jon;
They would have given them both to have him in it.

~Suzanne
Rock Star Writer


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Bon Jovi concert reviews 1995-1996 Suzanne Beenackers YouTube

These arms are open all night (Live)
version on 100,000,000 Bon Jovi fans can’t be wrong: