#111 - Hearts of Stone

Artist: Jon Bon Jovi/Richie Sambora/Southside Johnny/Bobby "Hella-Ass Sideburns" Bandiera
Album: None
Other Versions: Original is Springsteen
Era: N/A (performed in 2001)


Lyrics
Video

One of the things I love about Jon is how honest he is (which is part of the reason I got so mad at the David interview comment - it meant at some point in time, either now or when he was putting together the album credits, he was dishonest). So I love that this has the comments at the beginning about how they stole "Never Say Goodbye" from "Hearts of Stone". And for the record, I don't hear it so much. They both have these quietly intense verses, very emotional choruses, and they're both about how you can't get back the past. That's 90% of power ballads right there. But I really love how, in the video, when Jon says "ohhhh yeah" he smiles one of those smiles where it looks like if he opens his mouth the top half of his head will flap off.

I've never been a huge Southside Johnny fan - not because I don't like him, just because I've never bothered to check him out. And I don't even have a good reason for not checking him out. But mmm does he have a Hella good voice for this - very heartbreaking.

And Jon...oh Lord, Jon just about kills me here. He's so into it, so emotional, it's just incredible. Gets me every freaking time. The awesome thing about covers is you tend to take a lot more care with other people's work than your own - you're paying tribute, you need to show that you're covering it because you respect the song, the message, the artist. Jon's very good at that.

The last chorus, with all three of them in this absolutely KILLER harmony, that's aural death right there. I can't even function when I'm listening to it - I haven't written a single word of this during that last chorus, and I won't start. It just...God. I thought a really good Jon/Richie harmony was the holy grail of heartbreaking harmonies, but add Southside Johnny and good sweet Lord, you're dead.

I can't do justice to this one at all. I can't really put into words how exactly I feel listening to this, I can't get across that I'm sitting here crying for no real reason other than to say it. This hits me right in the gut, just twists my heart around and it hurts but in such a good, good way.

My Rating: 10/10

Sometimes, David and Richie write songs for other people. And then they sing them themselves anyway.

• This Time (David)
• We All Sleep Alone (Richie)

You might have noticed I'm doing a fair number of non-album tracks lately. It's because I have a ridiculously uneven amount of album tracks left compared to rarities and covers and such, so I'm trying to level it out a bit. I'll get back to album tracks soon enough.