{"id":709291,"date":"2026-06-17T09:53:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T09:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/709291\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T09:53:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T09:53:11","slug":"why-we-almost-lived-in-a-world-without-bon-jovis-livin-on-a-prayer-at-least-as-we-know-it-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/709291\/","title":{"rendered":"Why We Almost Lived in a World Without Bon Jovi\u2019s \u201cLivin\u2019 on a Prayer\u201d\u2014at Least as We Know It Today"},"content":{"rendered":"

The chorus to Bon Jovi<\/a>\u2018s \u201cLivin\u2019 On A Prayer\u201d is one of the most beloved rock moments ever. It is the primo example of what arena rock can do; the unifying power it can hold. But, according to songwriter Desmond Child, we almost didn\u2019t get this version of the song. It was almost a completely different listening experience.<\/p>\n

[RELATED: Jon Bon Jovi Took a \u201cTime Machine\u201d Into Stevie Nicks\u2019 Past to Write This Song for Her]<\/a><\/p>\n

How \u201cLivin\u2019 On A Prayer\u201d Was Almost Completely Different<\/p>\n

Child has penned many classic rock songs. Arguably, he\u2019s the most prolific rock songwriter of all time, earning over 80 Top 40 tracks. \u201cLivin\u2019 On A Prayer\u201d is one of his best, though, becoming a generation-defying hit that brings listeners of all ages together. If you\u2019ve ever been in a room while this song was playing, you know just how infectious the chorus is.<\/p>\n

According to Child, the Bon Jovi frontman had the original idea for this iconic track.<\/p>\n

\u201cJon came in saying, \u2018I want to write a song about a struggling working-class couple,\u2019\u201d Child once said<\/a>. \u201cAnd later on, he said that he had friends of his that had married in high school, Bonnie and Joe, who had a very difficult time, so that\u2019s what was on his mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

This eventually evolved into a story about a fictional couple who faced financial difficulties but didn\u2019t let them get in the way of their love. \u201cShe says, \u2018We\u2019ve gotta hold on to what we\u2019ve got \/ It doesn\u2019t make a difference if we make it or not,\u2019\u201d the lyrics read.<\/p>\n

Though Child laid out the basic structure of the song, getting Bon Jovi on board was a tough ask, surprisingly. The pre-chorus was originally the chorus, meaning we would have never gotten the \u201cWhoa, we\u2019re halfway there\u2026\u201d line, and that would\u2019ve been a rock calamity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe \u2018We\u2019ve gotta hold on\u2019 was the first chorus,\u201d Child continued. \u201cAnd Jon was happy with that, and I said, \u2018No, no, no, that\u2019s just the B section. Let\u2019s write the chorus now.\u201d<\/p>\n

This song\u2019s troubles didn\u2019t end at the chorus debate. The original version of the song was a piano ballad. Clearly, that changed, but Bon Jovi struggled to see this song as the anthem it became.<\/p>\n

\u201cJon still thought that, because I\u2019d written it on the piano, it was piano-driven,\u201d he added. \u201cAnd he was a guitar band and all that \u2013 he thought, \u2018this isn\u2019t gonna work.\u2019 But Richie [Sambora] and I knew what we had, and at another writing session we got on our hands and knees, literally, and begged him to at least try it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eventually, they convinced the frontman, and this song became what it was supposed to be. Revisit the version of \u201cLivin\u2019 On A Prayer\u201d that has been stuck in our heads for decades on end, above.<\/p>\n

(Photo by Paul Natkin\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The chorus to Bon Jovi\u2018s \u201cLivin\u2019 On A Prayer\u201d is one of the most beloved rock moments ever.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":709292,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[73810,88,216,2156],"class_list":["post-709291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-bon-jovi","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-rock-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=709291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709291\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/709292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=709291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=709291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=709291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}