Lay Your Hands on Me

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“Lay Your Hands on Me”
“Lay Your Hands on Me” cover
Single by Bon Jovi
from the album New Jersey
Released 1989
Format CD Single
Recorded 1988
Genre Hard rock[1]
Length 6:00
Label Mercury Records
Writer(s) Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora
Producer Bruce Fairbairn
Bon Jovi singles chronology
"I'll Be There for You"
(1989)
"Lay Your Hands on Me"
(1989)
"Living in Sin"
(1989)

"Lay Your Hands on Me" is a song written by Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora and recorded by the American rock band Bon Jovi. It was released in 1989 as the fourth single from the band's 1988 album New Jersey. It peaked at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the band's fourth single from New Jersey to chart in the Top 10.

Lay Your Hands on Me

30 second sample from Lay Your Hands on Me by Bon Jovi
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Contents

[edit] Song Structure

The song runs 6 minutes, with a long intro focused on the drum beats of Tico Torres and keyboard playing of David Bryan as well as the chants of the crowd: "hey!", before going into a hard rock song, filled with loud guitar riffs by Richie Sambora and the husky delivery of lyrics by Jon Bon Jovi. By Jon's own admission, this is one of the few Bon Jovi songs that was written from a guitar riff (Jon Bon Jovi's usual style is to begin writing a song with the title). It was written in the studio while they were recording the New Jersey album.

[edit] Video

The video for this song was culled from performances at the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, WA and the Memorial Coliseum in Portland, OR during The Jersey Syndicate Tour. It was also released to home video on New Jersey: The Videos and Cross Road: The Videos.

[edit] In Concert

For live performances through the 80s and 90s, Sambora would use a double neck guitar with one neck tuned to Drop D and the other tuned to Standard tuning. Examples of this can be seen in the official video clip, as well as in the Live From London DVD. During the 2000s he began using a single-necked guitar, as can be seen in The Crush Tour DVD.

[edit] 'This Left Feels Right' version

"Lay Your Hands on Me" was re-recorded for 2003's This Left Feels Right album. The new version is in a laid-back acoustic style, featuring Sambora playing the Mandocello as the primary instrument. This version was performed at several concerts on the Have a Nice Day Tour.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Allmusic - New Jersey - Review. William Ruhlmann. Allmusic. Retrieved on 2008-04-07.
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