#34 - Little Bit of Soul

Artist: Bon Jovi
Album: Keep the Faith
Other Versions: None
Era: 90s "moody rock"

Lyrics

I love love love the beat of this song. I like how it starts out with just that drum beat, and kind of slowly builds with the guitar, then organ, then in with the vocals, then it all picks up as the verse goes on. Another example of some really excellent drumming - the beat is consistent, but it doesn't feel rigid, it feels like the song can kind of break out and go other places. And it makes me dance.

The whole tone of the song works really really well. It might be one of the best jobs they've done making everything just work together and fit really nicely, without being formulaic.

I think the lack of generic-ness comes from the way Jon sings this one. It sounds a lot like he is just going off the top of his head - there's a spontaneity there that adds a lot of life. It's the mix of spontaneity and the consistent pounding drumbeat that makes this something unique.

I love it when they put the kind of revivalist church organ - that high-pitched kind of fluttery organ - in songs. It's a fun sound but it also adds a lot of weight to the song because of the kind of churchiness of it. It's like taking some meaningless fluff music and managing to slap some meaning on it without losing the fluffiness. That's hard, but David's piano work in this song does it really really well.

The lyrics to this are good - it's that "optimism" thing they do, plus a "power of music" thing. And I love when Jon says "here we go", which usually indicates something crazy huge is about to happen, and then instead of the song getting jacked up a couple notches, he just tightens up the rhymes and sings a bit faster. It makes you pay a little more attention. And Jon's voice is superb.

This is a song I would love to see live that I doubt I ever will. It's got a good enough tempo to get the place going, without being too much. It'd fit in well between a couple of fast hard rockers.

My Rating: 9/10

Edited 3/25/06: Added lyrics