It's My Life (Bon Jovi song)
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| "It's My Life" | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
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| Single by Bon Jovi | ||
| from the album Crush | ||
| Released | May 23, 2000 | |
| Format | CD single | |
| Recorded | c. 2000 | |
| Genre | Hard rock Album-oriented rock |
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| Length | 4:11 | |
| Label | Island | |
| Writer(s) | Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, and Max Martin | |
| Producer(s) | Max Martin | |
| Chart positions | ||
| Bon Jovi singles chronology | ||
| "Lie to Me" (1995) | "It's My Life" (2000) | "Thank You For Loving Me" (2000) |
"It's My Life" is Bon Jovi's first single off of the album Crush. Their first single in five years, "It's My Life" was released on May 23, 2000. It was written by Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, Jay Orpin and Max Martin.
"It's My Life" became the most successful Bon Jovi single, hitting #1 across many countries and most importantly, becoming a symbol of band's longevity as they prevailed through many different changes in the mainstream rock scene with admirable success. It was credited with reviving their career after they came off a five year break, during which they each pursued individual solo careers. It was also credited with introducing the veteran band to an entirely new, younger audience.
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[edit] Chart success
"It's My Life" charted at #3 in the United Kingdom, #5 in Australia and #13 in Canada. The song was also immensely popular in Germany, where Bon Jovi already had a huge fan base. [1]
In the United States, the song hit a number of charts. It reached #33 on The Billboard Hot 100, #16 on the Top 40 Tracks, #14 on the Top 40 Mainstream, and #11 on the Adult Top 40.
[edit] Awards
Won:
- "Video Of The Year" at the VH-1 My Music Awards"
- Song has been chosen as one of the greatest song of the year at the "ASCAP Pop Music Awards"
Nominated:
- "Best Rock Song" at the "Grammy Awards"
- "Best Song" at the "European Music Awards"
[edit] "I did it 'My Way'"
"It's My Life" is notable for its bombastic line referencing Frank Sinatra himself: "My heart is like an open highway / Like Frankie said / I did it 'My Way'". Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora apparently had an argument over those lines:
- "I had just come home from making U-571 and I said 'Sinatra made 16 movies and toured 'til he was 80. This is my role model.' He said, 'You can't write that damn lyric. Nobody cares about Frank Sinatra but you.' And I wrote it anyway." — Jon Bon Jovi [2]
The song "My Way" was written by singer/songwriter Paul Anka. Anka covers "It's My Life" on his 2005 album Rock Swings. In the cover version, Anka made one subtle but important change in the lyrics: "Frank said, He did it my way." In other words, "Frank did it Paul's way."
The line became, for many, an anthem of self-reliance.
- "When I was writing 'It's My Life,' I thought I was writing very self-indulgently about my own life and where I was in it. I didn't realize that the phrase 'It's my life' would be taken as being about everyone--by teenagers, by older guys, mechanics, whatever. 'It's my life, and I'm taking control.' Everyone kind of feels that way from time to time." [3]
The song has many classic Bon Jovi features, such as Sambora's use of the talk box, and a line in the second verse "Like Tommy and Gina, who never backed down" refers to Tommy and Gina, a fictional working class couple that Bon Jovi and Sambora first wrote about in the 1986 classic "Livin' On A Prayer," a song that also used a talk box.
[edit] Music Video
Wayne Isham directed this music video. Will Estes as Tommy and Shiri Appleby as Gina are the 2 main characters. At the beginning, Tommy is watching a video of the concert on his computer. Gina calls and during the whole video, Tommy is running to the Bon Jovi concert to meet up with her. We see him running through the streets of Los Angeles trying to get there. He is getting chased by dogs, running a marathon, and posing for pictures and jacknifing a truck. The video was inspired by the movie Run Lola Run[1]
[edit] External Links
- Jon Bon Jovi recalls "It's My Life"
- Bon Jovi lyrics to "It's My Life"
- Bon Jovi popularity soars in Germany
- Songfacts "It's My Life" entry
[edit] References
- ^ Alex Gernandt: Bon Jovi, 2. edition, Goldmann, München 2001, ISBN 3442428513, p 261
