#87 - Fields of Fire

Artist: Bon Jovi
Album: These Days Bonus CD
Other Versions: demo-ed for Keep the Faith
Era: 90s "moody rock"

Lyrics

It is one of the great Bon Jovi-related injustices that this wasn't ever actually on an album, right up there with them not playing any of the first two albums live and Jon's solo stuff getting lumped in with group stuff. When I first heard this I thought it was a Crush demo, and it would have gone really well on Crush, I think. Would have blown away the "mystery" songs. This kicks the ass of maybe 80% of the box set stuff, too.

Good God DAMN I love the strings. Mm. Such a delicious intro. It's something different but it's familiar - and not in the crappy "this is generic" way, but the "they took this unusual element and made it their own" way.

This is such a fun song to dance around to. Everything but the strings and drums aside, it's so dancey. Take out the vocals and you'd have no idea this was a song about a dying relationship. And as much as I love it when they match the instrumentals perfectly to what the song is about, it's really cool when they take two very different songs and mesh them together into this really awesome unified composition.

Jon's voice is so cool here. He's so casual, but not like "I don't actually care about this", more just this casuality that clicks well with the danciness of the song while still conveying the emotion of the lyrics. Jon's voice is the unifier. Especially at "if someone gives me back my SOUL" (No one took the Soul, they're still yours, dear. I would totally kidnap Tony Graziani and Todd France if I got the chance, though).

Mmmmmmmmm this chorus. I love it, love it, love it, love it, LOVE IT. Imagery and anthemic-ness and devotion and just mhm. It's a beauty. This is a chorus I can sing the Hell out of. Lyrically, this is a "a hundred steps above average" song with a "a million steps above average" chorus.

When I wrote about "Tumblin' Dice", I said:

I want to marry this song. Well, not marry it because if this song were a guy it would be a terrible husband. I want to mess around with it for a while until my biological clock hits and I kick it to the curb for something more stable and permanent.

Well, this is that more stable permanent song. I would TOTALLY marry "Fields of Fire" if it were legal and possible. And if I didn't plan to marry Tico first.

(Is she joking? No way is she that delusional. Right?)

My Rating: 10/10

Self-Titled goodness:

• Roulette
• Breakout