Bon Jovi – Bed Of Roses
About The Song
“Bed of Roses” is a song by American rock band Bon Jovi, first appearing on their fifth studio album, Keep the Faith (1992), then released as a single on January 11, 1993. Jon Bon Jovi wrote the song in a hotel room while suffering from a hangover and the lyrics reflect his feelings at the time. The song contains drawn out guitar riffs and soft piano playing, along with emotive and high vocals by Jon Bon Jovi.
The song’s power ballad style made it a worldwide hit, and it demonstrated the band’s new, more mature sound after their success as a glam metal band in the 1980s. The single reached No. 10 on the US Billboard Hot 100, No. 2 on the Canadian RPM Top Singles chart, No. 13 on the UK Singles Chart, and No. 10 on the German Singles Chart.
Jon Bon Jovi started writing this in a hotel room in Los Angeles. He had the hotel bring a piano that they used for weddings to his room.
This is a personal song that Jon feels exposes a lot of the problems he was experiencing at the time.
The first verse reflects what Jon was feeling when he was trying to write this. He was badly hung over from the night before, but had a piano in his hotel room and was determined to write something.
In the line, “While my mistress she calls me to stand in her spotlight again,” the “mistress” is the music industry and the live stage. The “spotlight” is the media. He calls music his “mistress” to show that it’s a thrill, but something that perhaps isn’t going to do him any good.
Bon Jovi didn’t play the original electric version from 2003 to 2008. The This Left Feels Right version was played on the Have A Nice Day tour and the first part of the Lost Highway tour. The original “Bed of Roses” made its comeback on May 20, 2008 in Abu Dhabi.
As I dream about movies
They won’t make of me when I’m dead
The above lyric was inspired by watching the movie The Doors, with Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison. Jon Bon Jovi explained to The Guardian: “That movie was great, and I left the movie really invigorated – we kicked up hell that night, driving the wrong way down one way streets… I woke up the next day thinking about the impact of it, and that line came from it.”
