It’s My Life!

This photo by Miyagawa is available at <a ref=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bon_Jovi_O2_Arena.JPG">under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ph/"> Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0 

Today’s topic is the song “It’s My Life” by Bon Jovi.

This song became a hit across several countries in the world. Surprisingly, it only reached # 33 in the U.S. Still, this song is special because it was a song made by a 1980s band yet it became popular in the year 2000. This means that it connected Bon Jovi with a different, younger audience.

Now, let’s talk about the lyrics that make this song great…

Right at the beginning, Bon Jovi warns that the song isn’t going to be just one of the many gentle love songs that fill our ears. He sings the words:

This ain’t a song for the brokenhearted

This song is rich in images of the American concept of freedom and happiness:

My heart is like an open highway

- And -

Luck ain’t even lucky, you gotta make your own breaks

* "make your own breaks" means to grab good opportunity. Like to make your own destiny.

It also celebrates individuality:

I ain’t gonna be just a face in the crowd

You’re gonna hear my voice when I shout it out loud

And it mentions one eternal classic:

Like Frankie said, “I did it my way”

* Frankie is the nickname of Frank Sinatra, a singer in the 1940s credited for popularizing the most covered song in history “My Way.”

Bon Jovi’s “It’s My Life” also talks about endurance in the face of troubles:

Tomorrow’s getting harder, make no mistake

Most of the words of the song do this: “stood their ground,” “never backed down,” “stand tall,” “don’t bend,” “don’t break,” etc.

Finally, in the thunderous words of the chorus, there’s the unbreakable spirit ringing in protest against the “rules and expectations” of society:

                           It’s my life

                           It’s now or never

                           I ain’t gonna live forever

                           I just wanna live while I’m alive

Indeed, as the artist Bon Jovi himself said:

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.

P.S. Here's the exciting music video from Bon Jovi VEVO on Youtube. Enjoy: