Category: songs

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#35 Game of the Heart
| life lessons in Bon Jovi songs

Welcome back, Jovi friends!
Life lessons in Bon Jovi songs continues with Game of the Heart.

This is the sixth “outtake”;
A song that was never included on the album.

Game of the Heart was written for Bon Jovi’s third album Slippery When Wet (1986).

Unfamiliar with the song?
🎶🎧 listen here to Game of the Heart

In this video:

1. Welcome to another episode 00:00
Of Life lessons in Bon Jovi songs.

Quick warning that in the next video, we’ll need to break the chronological pattern!
Because I found a rare outtake from the previous Bon Jovi album, called “Too Fast To Live Too Young To Die”. So the next Life lesson in Bon Jovi songs, will about a song that’s one year older.

You can find all these rare songs (outtakes) on this chronological playlist:
Rolling List of Bon Jovi Outtakes

2. Game of the Heart 01:46
Was written for their 1986 breakthrough album Slippery When Wet.

If you were a song in 1986, you had 3 chances of ending up on an album:
1- On Slippery When Wet
Which this song didn’t, making it one of many OUTTAKES.
2- On the 4-disc box set 100.000.000 Bon Jovi Fans Can’t Be Wrong (2004)
But this one was also not released there, making it extremely rare.
or
3- Being included in a very rare bootleg compilation called “We Are Not Unused”
You can listen to this excellent “album” here:
Bon Jovi – We Are Not Unused | 17 Completely Unreleased Tracks | Demos 1986/1992

Game of the Heart was included in that bootleg compilation.

3. Two YouTubers chipping in 04:54
Outtakes are notoriously poor documented, but I did find 2 YouTubers who made uploads that are worth mentioning.

In 2020, FighterBJ made a combination of Game of the Heart and a Social Disease demo with alternative lyrics :
Bon Jovi – Game Of The Heart / Social Disease | Studio Demos

And in 2021 Jesper provided a great addition, adding another layer of electric guitar to the original recording!
Game of the Heart – Bon Jovi (Guitar cover by Jesper)

I have given both of these videos a spot on the Rolling List of Bon Jovi outtakes.
Rolling List of Bon Jovi Outtakes

4. Striking gold 06:52
There I was, ploughing through the few things I could find on this song hoping to get inspired and coming up with nothing.
Until I studied the lyrics, and OMG!

This is a song about what has got to be one of my favorite topics to talk about!
Even though it’s lofty, abstract, and I have NO CLUE how to express or go about this.
So let’s go!
😅
Illustrated with Jon Bon Jovi as a yellow highlighter and the femme in this story is a hot pink stress ball.

Next stop, the 7th outtake;
Too Fast To Live, Too Young To Die!

.

~Suzanne Beenackers
🇳🇱 Tikkie
☕️ Buy me a coffee
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THIS SERIES
All videos, of Life lessons in Bon Jovi songs (playlist):
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiGoDE3C06SeCKg4jvR2EoVHBOfXzHm_R

SOURCES for this series:

1. OUTTAKES
Handmade list with rare Bon Jovi songs
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiGoDE3C06SfkAr0Ll4wz-GlGnZJNZDYh
Rolling List of Hidden Bon Jovi Gems 1985 – current day

2. RANKED
My favorite Bon Jovi article and indispensable for this series:
https://ultimateclassicrock.com/bon-jovi-songs-ranked/
By Tony Kuzminski.
List also covers any outtakes from the 2004 box set.

3. QUOTES
https://twostorytown.com/slippery-when-wet-quotes
full page of quotes EVERYTHING anybody ever said about the 3rd Bon Jovi album:

4. BJ TOURS
https://bjtours.jimdofree.com/the-albums/1986-slippery-when-wet/

—
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#34 Deep Cuts the Night
| life lessons in Bon Jovi songs

Welcome back, Jovi friends!
Life lessons in Bon Jovi songs continues with Deep Cuts the Night.

This is the fifth “outtake”;
A song that was never included on the album.

Deep Cuts the Night was written for Bon Jovi’s third album Slippery When Wet (1986), and recorded at Little Mountain Sound Studios in Vancouver.

Unfamiliar with the song?
🎶🎧 listen here to Deep Cuts the Night

In this video:

1. Welcome to another episode 00:00
Of Life lessons in Bon Jovi songs.
Deep Cuts the Night was never released on the album it was written for, making it one of many OUTTAKES.
But this one was also not released on the 2004 box set either, making it extremely rare.

Not being included in the 2004 box set also means this song is NOT included in this article:
https://ultimateclassicrock.com/bon-jovi-songs-ranked/
(as opposed to the other 359)

But this song WAS brought to the studio in Vancouver, so it was actually recorded properly!
Which is great.

The rarest of rarest outtakes, are the songs which stayed in the basement, where the first demos were recorded.
The “basement tapes”.

So this one is still pretty high up!

2. Deep Cuts the Night 04:45
Since I didn’t have much sources to go on, I started looking around. There was only one source, specifically mentioning this song.
YouTube channel Rock Remastered, made a remaster of the song in 2021, and mentions in the description box:
“It can remind us of “The Hardest Part Is The Night” or “I’d Die For You””
Which was the only mention of this song I could find.

3. A Forgotten Bootleg (from 1995-ish?) 06:36
I found a wonderful collection of songs, still available on cd as well as on YouTube, with numerous outtakes from the first 5 album (so that’s up to 1992)
In chronological order!
That’s pretty impressive, since this is pre-internet and knowledge about material like this was rare.

And the funniest thing is the title of this album:
“We are not unused”

You can listen to it here:
Bon Jovi – We Are Not Unused | 17 Completely Unreleased Tracks | Demos 1986/1992

The description box there, gives all songs, including where they originated.

4. We Are Not Unused 09:52
This rare 20th century outtake-album has a cute title.
Since the songs are now indeed finally “used”, for an album.

5. Double Meaning of Deep Cuts (the Night) 10:40
The song refers to the loneliness of the night, cutting into you. But takes on a second meaning because “Deep cuts” is also a noun:
It means an outtake!
A rare song.
Googling Deep Cuts (the night) and Bon Jovi, will turn up with pages and list about all kinds of rare Bon Jovi songs. All kinds of deep cuts.

6. The Lesson in this Bon Jovi song 12:45
I’m leaving the honor to the title of that rare album, “We are not unused”.
It’s so brilliant, I can see tattoos happening for us there.

And I may need to update the Rolling List of Bon Jovi Outtakes with new songs from this rare album.

Next stop, the sixth outtake song:
Game of the Heart!

.
~Suzanne Beenackers
🇳🇱 Tikkie
☕️ Buy me a coffee
🌎 Paypal

THIS SERIES
All videos, of Life lessons in Bon Jovi songs (playlist):
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiGoDE3C06SeCKg4jvR2EoVHBOfXzHm_R

SOURCES for this series:

1. OUTTAKES
Handmade list with rare Bon Jovi songs
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiGoDE3C06SfkAr0Ll4wz-GlGnZJNZDYh
Rolling List of Hidden Bon Jovi Gems 1985 – current day

2. RANKED
My favorite Bon Jovi article and indispensable for this series:
https://ultimateclassicrock.com/bon-jovi-songs-ranked/
By Tony Kuzminski.
List also covers any outtakes from the 2004 box set.

3. QUOTES
https://twostorytown.com/slippery-when-wet-quotes
full page of quotes EVERYTHING anybody ever said about the 3rd Bon Jovi album:

4. BJ TOURS
https://bjtours.jimdofree.com/the-albums/1986-slippery-when-wet/

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#33 Out of Bounds
| life lessons in Bon Jovi songs

Welcome back, Jovi friends!
Life lessons in Bon Jovi songs continues with Out of Bounds.

This is the fourth “outtake”;
A song that was never included on the album.

Out of Bounds was written around the same time as Bon Jovi’s third album Slippery When Wet (1986).

UNMENTIONED IN THE VIDEO:
The song was not written for their own record, but for a movie Out of Bounds (1986), but was never used there.

Unfamiliar with the song?
🎶🎧 listen here to Out of Bounds

Out of Bounds wasn’t officially released until 2004, on the box set 100.000.000 Bon Jovi fans can’t be wrong. 

In this video:

1. Welcome to another episode 00:00
Of Life lessons in Bon Jovi songs.
Out of Bounds was never released on the album it was written for, making it one of many OUTTAKES.
But it was released almost two decades later on the box set “100.000.000 Bon Jovi Fans Can’t Be Wrong”, which contains 4 cd’s and one dvd

2. As (not) talked about on the DVD 01:08
Like many other outtakes released on the Box Set “100.000.000 Bon Jovi Fans Can’t Be Wrong”, Out of Bounds was one of the songs “discussed” in the complementary documentary, the 5th disc in the box.
However, it is not really talked about and instead Jon skips to telling a very interesting story about the title of the Slippery When Wet album
(you can find it in the documentary at the 42:14 marker)

Which led me to also tackle this song with a different story about the album title and cover.

3. The Cowboy Era That Never Really Was 02:22
Both the album title story Jon tells on the dvd, as well as my story on the album title, are rooted in the fact that for the longest time, they went with a cowboy theme!
They had gone through lengths growing beards, purchasing cowboy-appropriate clothing, and had even invested in a professional photoshoot.

But the whole cowboy theme was thrown out of the window, only to return briefly, for the single Wanted Dead or Alive.

4. Another “detour” 07:00
The last minute cover-change!
After already “losing” a considerable amount of time on the cowboy theme, AND with a whole shipment of first pressings already shipped to Japan;
They changed it again.

The album cover was cancelled, within a day the photographer and Jon Bon Jovi came up with an alternative;
And we got the Slippery When Wet album as we know it today.

5. The lesson in this story 08:25
Work is never lost!
By throwing themselves headfirst into the theme they would ultimately abandon;
And by taking their first cover design all the way into print, and shipping out the records to Japan;
Bon Jovi had gained so much momentum, that they could now make their final cover in minutes!

Go with what inspires you.
It will give you the momentum to make adjustments, even at the very last minute.

Next stop, the fifth outtake song:
Deep Cuts The Night!

.
~Suzanne Beenackers
🇳🇱 Tikkie
☕️ Buy me a coffee
🌎 Paypal

THIS SERIES
All videos, of Life lessons in Bon Jovi songs (playlist):
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiGoDE3C06SeCKg4jvR2EoVHBOfXzHm_R

SOURCES for this series:

1. OUTTAKES
Handmade list with rare Bon Jovi songs
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiGoDE3C06SfkAr0Ll4wz-GlGnZJNZDYh
Rolling List of Hidden Bon Jovi Gems 1985 – current day

2. RANKED
My favorite Bon Jovi article and indispensable for this series:
https://ultimateclassicrock.com/bon-jovi-songs-ranked/
By Tony Kuzminski.
List also covers any outtakes from the 2004 box set.

3. QUOTES
https://twostorytown.com/slippery-when-wet-quotes
full page of quotes EVERYTHING anybody ever said about the 3rd Bon Jovi album:

4. BJ TOURS
https://bjtours.jimdofree.com/the-albums/1986-slippery-when-wet/

—
You can follow all content on:
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new story on YouTube:
click here to see it->
https://youtu.be/V9cLGvrc0yk

#32 Edge Of A Broken Heart
| life lessons in Bon Jovi songs

Welcome back, Jovi friends!
Life lessons in Bon Jovi songs continues with Edge of a Broken Heart.

This is the third “outtake”;
A song that was never included on the album.

Edge of a Broken Heart was written for Bon Jovi’s third album Slippery When Wet (1986).

Not familiar?
🎶🎧 listen here to Edge of a Broken Heart

Edge of a Broken Heart wasn’t officially released until 2004, on the box set 100.000.000 Bon Jovi fans can’t be wrong. 

In this video:

1. Welcome to another episode 00:00
Of Life lessons in Bon Jovi songs.
This channel has been quiet, as I was figuring out how to keep creating content.
But I now have everything sorted, and we’re back!

2. What’s an outtake? 01:44
A song that was never released on a regular studio album.
But very often, as was the case with Edge of a Broken Heart, they were released in a different way.
The most common ways for outtakes to be released in on a B-side or on Bon Jovi’s 2004 box set.

3. Edge of a Broken Heart 02:45
Written for their biggie, Slippery When Wet (1986) Edge of a Broken Heart was not released until 1994, as a B-side to Always.
And on special edition(s) of their 1994 Best of album Cross Road.
But it is best known from the 2004 4-cd-box set “100.000.000 Bon Jovi fans can’t be wrong”

The song was also already given to the movie Disorderlies in the 80s.

4. Top 3 Best Bon Jovi songs ever 05:10
The most notable thing about this song, is that it was put at number 3 in the juggernaut piece “All Bon Jovi songs ranked” by Tony Kuzminski
Number 3!
For a song that is not even on a real album, and in an article that meticulously lists out all 359 songs.

Tony gives a voice to many fans for whom Edge of a Broken Heart is “the song that got away”.

5. The Underdog Position 07:27
What is notable about this song, is that it is so clearly written from the viewpoint of a man who lost his woman, who is not a Don Juan, or maybe he was but now he was discarded.

It is here where there is a fork in the fanbase road;
Because my take on Edge of a Broken Heart is that men will like it, and women will not.

6. My personal take on this song 08:42
There are two reasons I don’t like this song.

The first reason is neutral and simple;
I simply don’t like pop.
And Edge of a Broken Heart is a pop song and not a rock song.

The second reason I don’t like the song is because of the lyrics.
I think it is problematic how the protagonist behaves towards a woman who has clearly given him her No.
In the first verse you still give him the benefit of the doubt, but this changes near the end when it becomes clear he has been stalking her.

I think the song is difficult for women to enjoy because we all know what it’s like when our No is ignored.

7. The first song they wrote with Desmond Child 14.00
Edge of a Broken Heart was the first song they wrote with Desmond Child with whom Bon Jovi would wrote their biggest hits.

My take is that Edge of a Broken Heart is like the first Dutch pancake:
It’s a mess, but some love it!

Next stop, the fourth outtake song:
Out of Bounds!

.
~Suzanne Beenackers
🇳🇱 Tikkie
☕️ Buy me a coffee
🌎 Paypal

THIS SERIES
All videos, of Life lessons in Bon Jovi songs (playlist):
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiGoDE3C06SeCKg4jvR2EoVHBOfXzHm_R

SOURCES for this series:

1. OUTTAKES
Handmade list with rare Bon Jovi songs
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiGoDE3C06SfkAr0Ll4wz-GlGnZJNZDYh
Rolling List of Hidden Bon Jovi Gems 1985 – current day

2. RANKED
My favorite Bon Jovi article and indispensable for this series:
https://ultimateclassicrock.com/bon-jovi-songs-ranked/
By Tony Kuzminski.
List also covers any outtakes from the 2004 box set.

3. QUOTES
https://twostorytown.com/slippery-when-wet-quotes
full page of quotes EVERYTHING anybody ever said about the 3rd Bon Jovi album:

4. BJ TOURS
https://bjtours.jimdofree.com/the-albums/1986-slippery-when-wet/

—
You can follow all content on:
Twitter, Facebook, and I am new on Instagram.

new story on YouTube:
click here to see it->
https://youtu.be/cXKpDqnCPi4

#31 Borderline
| life lessons in Bon Jovi songs

Welcome back, Jovi friends!
Life lessons in Bon Jovi songs continues with Borderline.

This is the second “outtake”;
A song that was never included on the album.

Borderline was written for Bon Jovi’s third album Slippery When Wet (1986).

You can listen here for Jon Bon Jovi’s  version.
And here for Richie Sambora’s version, which did not air until 2024.

Borderline was ultimately released in 2004, on the box set 100.000.000 Bon Jovi fans can’t be wrong. 

In this video:

1. Welcome to another episode 00:00
Of Life lessons in Bon Jovi songs.
And forget I am pitching it so dryly!
But if you do bear with me, then today we’re starting the outtakes from the third Bon Jovi album.
It’s way better than I made it sound, because this was from THE Bon Jovi album!

2. Disclaimer time! 01:00
There will be no actual life lesson…
Just could not come up with anything.
But I will be having not one, but two stories for you, tied to this rare Bon Jovi song.

3. The 2 albums this song is tied to 02:08
One is the album Borderline was supposed to be on, and the other is the album it actually appeared on. Almost two decades later.

4. Why was it dropped? 03:05
Giving you the you-have-never-heard-this-take-before story.
To my knowledge no one has mentioned this before.
But if you were born in the 70s or earlier, you might know it too, the moment you see the question in front of your eyes:
“Why would Bon Jovi not want to be tied to a song called Borderline in 1986?”

5. The Mystery of Richie’s Version 08:40
The second story with regard to this song, could benefit from someone with better detective skills than me.
But here’s my best shot 😇

6. The Rolling List 12:40
Extra mention of the list that will be build as we go, containing all the outtakes.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiGoDE3C06SfkAr0Ll4wz-GlGnZJNZDYh
Rolling List of Hidden Bon Jovi Gems 1985 – current day

7. Next up “Edge of a Broken Heart” 14:05
An outtake crowned as one of the top 10 Bon Jovi songs ever!
(https://ultimateclassicrock.com/bon-jovi-songs-ranked/)
Yet, this song might be a bit polarizing because everybody seems to agree this is one of their best songs ever.
All but one person.
( Anyone else who did not fall head over heels in love with it?)

But what I will do, is get you a proper life lesson next time!

So next stop, the third outtake:
Edge of a Broken Heart!

.
~Suzanne Beenackers
🇳🇱 Tikkie
☕️ Buy me a coffee
🌎 Paypal

– playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiGoDE3C06SfkAr0Ll4wz-GlGnZJNZDYh
Rolling List of Hidden Bon Jovi Gems 1985 – current day

SOURCES for this series:

1. RANKED
My favorite Bon Jovi article and indispensable for this series:
https://ultimateclassicrock.com/bon-jovi-songs-ranked/
By Tony Kuzminski.
List also covers any outtakes from the 2004 box set.

2. QUOTES
https://twostorytown.com/slippery-when-wet-quotes
full page of quotes EVERYTHING anybody ever said about the 3rd Bon Jovi album:

3. BJ TOURS
https://bjtours.jimdofree.com/the-albums/1986-slippery-when-wet/

4. THE LIST
Check our full playlist with rare songs here:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiGoDE3C06SfkAr0Ll4wz-GlGnZJNZDYh&si=x3mA6MQtkafEfI9I
Rolling List of Hidden Bon Jovi Gems 1985 – current day

5. THIS SERIES
All videos, of Life lessons in Bon Jovi songs (playlist): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiGoDE3C06SeCKg4jvR2EoVHBOfXzHm_R

—
You can follow all content on:
Twitter, Facebook, and I am new on Instagram.

new story on YouTube:
click here to see it->
https://youtu.be/e5sRMU-8e6Q

#30 We Rule The Night
| life lessons in Bon Jovi songs

Welcome back, Jovi friends!
Life lessons in Bon Jovi songs continues with We Rule The Night.

This is the very first life lesson about an “outtake”;
A song that was never included on the album.

We Rule The Night was written for Bon Jovi’s second album 7800 ° Fahrenheit (1985).

It is the only unreleased song (outtake) we have, from both the first and second album.
And it is the first outtake in this series, of Life lessons in Bon Jovi songs.

If you’re not familiar with the song you can listen here.
The picture with all Bon Jovi members in golden suits is from the box set 100.000.000 Bon Jovi fans can’t be wrong (2004), on which the song was released, twenty years after the date.

In this video:

1. Welcome to another episode 00:00
Of Life lessons in Bon Jovi songs.
And after the first episode of this series?
I think this is the most important one!

2. What is an “Outtake”?! 00:30
Let me fill you in!
Because we’re talking deepest layer of fandom-stuff here.

3. New discoveries
I just found three “new” outtakes even I had never heard of.
They are demos from the Slippery When Wet album (1986).
You can find these three, together with all the others, on this playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiGoDE3C06SfkAr0Ll4wz-GlGnZJNZDYh
Rolling List of Hidden Bon Jovi Gems 1985 – current day

4. 3 LINKS 03:51
I expected to be posting this video without a proper description box.
But everything is in place now.
Here are the links I mention in this video, that are the most essential:

– playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiGoDE3C06SfkAr0Ll4wz-GlGnZJNZDYh
Rolling List of Hidden Bon Jovi Gems 1985 – current day

– Bon Jovi Tours website album page(s):
https://bjtours.jimdofree.com/the-albums/1985-7800-fahrenheit/
Their page on the 3rd album, was the one that brought me to find the super rare demos:
https://bjtours.jimdofree.com/the-albums/1986-slippery-when-wet/

– full page of quotes EVERYTHING anybody ever said about the 2nd Bon Jovi album:
https://www.twostorytown.com/7800-fahrenheit-quotes

5. We Rule The Night 06:25
Where this outtake is from, and how it was eventually brought to the public after 15 years.
The cd box set behind me, to which I am referring in the video, is called:
“100.000.000 Bon Jovi fans can’t be wrong” (2004)

6. The fourth link 08:41
My favorite Bon Jovi article and indispensable for this series:
– https://ultimateclassicrock.com/bon-jovi-songs-ranked/
By Tony Kuzminski.
List also covers any outtakes from the 2004 box set.
He writes anything between a few lines and a few paragraphs, of every Bon Jovi songs
(bar demos/ unreleased songs that did not appear on the Box Set)

7. It reminds me of…. what?! 09:28
We Rule The Night struck me as being familiar to some kind of 80s rock.
But which band was I reminded of?!
The article immediately filled in the blanks.

8. It’s not about lovers 10:30
I immediately assumed We Rule The Night would be about lovers.
Just like that Bruce Springsteen song (Because The Night Belongs To Lovers, live 1978)
But the lyrics are actually a lot darker.

9. The Shadow Twin
We Rule The Night is the unknown brother to another song;
One that did make it to the album!
The life lesson being…. (watch it!)

Check the full playlist with rare songs here:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiGoDE3C06SfkAr0Ll4wz-GlGnZJNZDYh&si=x3mA6MQtkafEfI9I
Rolling List of Hidden Bon Jovi Gems 1985 – current day

Next stop, the second outtake:
Borderline!

~Suzanne Beenackers
🇳🇱 Tikkie
☕️ Buy me a coffee
🌎 Paypal