Bon Jovi – Bed Of Roses

Music video by Bon Jovi performing Bed Of Roses. (C) 1992 The Island Def Jam Music Group

Lyrics:

[Verse 1]
Sitting here wasted and wounded
At this old piano
Trying hard to capture
The moment this morning I don’t know
Cause a bottle of Vodka
Is still lodged in my head
And some blonde gave me nightmares
I think that she’s still in my bed
As I dream about movies
They won’t make of me when I’m dead
With an ironclad fist I wake up and
French kiss the morning
While some marching band keeps
Its own beat in my head
While we’re talking
About all of the things that I long to believe
About love and the truth and
What you mean to me
And the truth is baby you’re all that I need…

[Chorus]
I want to lay you down in a bed of roses
For tonight I sleep on a bed of nails
Oh I want to be just as close as the Holy Ghost is
And lay you down on a bed of roses

[Verse 2]
Well I’m so far away
That each step that I take is on my way home
A king’s ransom in dimes I’d given each night
Just to see through this payphone
Still I run out of time
Or it’s hard to get through
Till the bird on the wire flies me back to you
I’ll just close my eyes and whisper
Baby blind love is true

[Chorus]
I want to lay you down in a bed of roses
For tonight I sleep on a bed of nails
Oh I want to be just as close as
The Holy Ghost is
And lay you down on a bed of roses

[Verse 3]
The hotel bar hangover whiskey’s gone dry
The barkeeper’s wig’s crooked
And she’s giving me the eye
I might have said yeah
But I laughed so hard I think I died

[Guitar solo]

[Verse 4]
Now as you close your eyes
Know I’ll be thinking about you
While my mistress she calls me
To stand in her spotlight again
Tonight I won’t be alone
But you know that don’t
Mean I’m not lonely
I’ve got nothing to prove
For it’s you that I’d die to defend

[Chorus]
I want to lay you down in a bed of roses
For tonight I sleep on a bed of nails
I want to be just as close as the Holy Ghost is
And lay you down on a bed of roses

I want to lay you down in a bed of roses
For tonight I sleep on a bed of nails
I want to be just as close as the Holy Ghost is
And lay you down on a bed of roses

“Bed of Roses” is a song by American rock band Bon Jovi in late January 1993, from the album Keep the Faith. Jon Bon Jovi wrote the song in a hotel room while suffering from a hangover and the lyrics reflect his feelings at the time. The song contains drawn out guitar riffs and soft piano playing, along with emotive and high vocals by Jon Bon Jovi.

The song’s power ballad style made it a worldwide hit, and it demonstrated the band’s new, more mature sound after their success as a glam metal band in the 1980s. Released as a successful single in 1993, it reached #10 on the Billboard Hot 100, #5 on the top 40 mainstream,^[2] #13 in the UK Top 40, and #10 in the German Top 100.

A Spanish version, Cama de Rosas, was also recorded.

Music video

The video for “Bed of Roses” begins with shots of Richie Sambora playing guitar high in the mountain tops, and then cuts to scenes of Jon alone in his hotel room, the band recording the song in the studio, and finally performing live on stage. Initially the video directors wanted Jon Bon Jovi to be on the mountain tops, but Jon said: “I was on top of a mountain in ‘Blaze of Glory’, send them” (Richie Sambora and David Bryan, who is seen playing the piano at the mountain top).

The live portions were filmed at Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, on December 31, 1992 as part of a special 1993’s New Year’s Eve concert. In order to get the liveliest and largest crowd there for the video, the band made arrangements to have no floor seating, and to have one price, general admission tickets.

Track listing

International release

1. “Bed of Roses”
2. “Lay Your Hands on Me (Live)”
3. “Tokyo Road (Live)”
4. “I’ll Be There for You (Live)”

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1993–94)	Peak position
Australia (ARIA)[3]	10
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[4]	23
France (SNEP)[5]	49
Germany (Official German Charts)[6]	10
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[7]	9
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[8]	13
Spain (Los 40 Principales)	1
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[9]	27
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[10]	9
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[11]	13
US Billboard Hot 100[12]	10
US Mainstream Top 40 (Billboard)[13]	5

Year-end charts

Chart (1993)	Position
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[14]	18
US Billboard Hot 100[15]	57

Legacy

“Bed of Roses” became a staple on Bon Jovi setlists for years to come, and was featured on the band’s Cross Road greatest hits album, and in acoustic style on This Left Feels Right. A live performance can be viewed on the Crush Tour DVD. A version with lyrics in Spanish was also recorded, entitled “Cama De Rosas”.

The song was also recorded by the hard rock band Hinder as a bonus track of the Wal-Mart re-release of their debut album, Extreme Behavior. Toše Proeski covered this song during his concerts and on his posthumous 2011 album S ljubavlju od Toseta. American country singer Cassadee Pope covered this song during her 2014 concert tour.

 

 

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