#19 - I Could Make a Living Out of Loving You

Artist: Bon Jovi
Album: Crush
Other Versions: None
Era: early 00's "hard pop"

Lyrics

I love the guitar in this song. I actually like all the instrumentation - it's kind of "crunchy", and I can't think of a single instance where I haven't liked a "crunchy" Bon Jovi song. But I especially love the guitar, and this is coming from someone who usually doesn't like guitar all that much. Sambora will make a convert of me yet.

The whole tone of the song is really poundy, which works really well with the light, cute lyrics. Jon's voice is edgy, and he manages to make cute and fun work with driving and poundy. Something about his voice just glosses over the contradiction in the two styles, they've done it a couple other times.

There's four songs I really like on Crush (It's My Life, One Wild Night, Neurotica, and this one), and it's not a coincidence they have some strong similarities. When 2000 hit, Bon Jovi went kind of soft. Which is weird for me to say, considering how much I love their ballads, but the ballads on Crush and Bounce are lacking the intensity that is what I like about their earlier ballads. They're called power ballads for a reason. The four songs I mentioned are more reminiscent of the Bon Jovi with a strong backbone of the 80s and 90s, and that's probably why I like them. It's a shame half the songs I like on this album are bonus tracks.

I really like the part in this song where it's "tough jobs / rough jobs / say where and when" where it's just Jon and Richie and the drum. That says a lot about the strength of this part of the song, since David's my favorite and he has no part in it at all and yet I still love it.

My Rating: 8/10

Edited 3/25/06: Added lyrics