#57 - You Can Sleep While I Dream

Artist: Bon Jovi
Album: 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong (Disc 2)
Other Versions: None
Era: I'm a bit at a loss for this one. It's too un-80s for Bon Jovi through New Jersey, it's too upbeat for Keep the Faith and These Days, and I don't think it quite fits in with Crush or Bounce. My best guess is Crush or Bounce, I think.

Update: mcfly the commenter tells me it's an outtake from Crush. Which means I guessed right originally. Booyeah!

Lyrics

I've had this stuck in my head all day so I have to write about it. That's how it works.

I like this song but I don't love it, and I don't have a real concrete reason for either. Actually, I know why I don't love it - the cliches. Especially "Some people see things as they are/and ask why/I dream things that never were/take my shot/and say 'why not?'". It just makes me cringe. Cliche in small doses = okay. Blatant over-cliche-ing(now that's an awkward amalgam of words) = cringeworthy.

I like the chorus, though. I like the "hey hey hey" almost as much as I usually like "whoa oh oh", and I love singing along to the attitude-y "get out of my way".

I like how upbeat this is. It just makes me cheerful to listen to it. The intro is really happy and sets the tone well, and I like how light and airy the instrumentals are through the song. Jon's voice gets a little overly intense for the instrumentation sometimes, but overall this song is just...light. Not light like "your station for light rock" light, but bubbly cheerful happy light.

I don't love the computery effects on Jon's voice near the end, except I love "good morning, here's your wake up caaaaaaaaaaaall".

Other things I love:
- "I'll be there to shake your hand/so meet me on that mountain top". Actually, the whole second verse is really stellar songwriting, very optimistic and I like the symbolism. Really, really, really nice work.

- the way the instrumentation builds near the chorus but still stays airy

- the drumming in the chorus. I don't notice it much elsewhere, but I absolutely love the way it underscores everything in the chorus

My Rating: 9/10

Ok, folks, it's poll time. Tomorrow I'll write about a Richie solo song, but which? Reply to this post with which of the following you'd like to see me write about (seriously, vote. I have no idea which I'll do if no one votes :P )

• Rosie
• Harlem Rain
• Long Way Around
• Church of Desire

You can vote pretty much any time right up until I start writing the entry, at which point it's fairly set in stone. If this goes well I'll keep doing the poll thing. If no one (or just one or two people) responds I'll probably try it one or two more times and then give up. Good deal?