Bon Jovi - Livin' On A Prayer (cover)

This song is especially dear to me.

Everyone loves this song. Everyone loves Bon Jovi. You, too. No, nobody cares that you were not even alive in the late 80's or early 90's. You love this song. You love Bon Jovi. Period.

Again a lot of memories.

I loved Bon Jovi. They were the first rock/metal band that seriously grew into a "favorite" status. I even had their album New Jersey back then, on original vinyl, my father brought it to me from Yugoslavia.

Yugoslavia was an interesting country in many ways. One of these was the fact that even though it was a Communist country, still you could buy there "western" things, such as good quality, branded clothes, sport shoes (Puma, Adidas), alcohol, and yes, you could find there albums and singles from performers that were banned here. Crossing the border was still an adventure though, because our border police officers knew well why we were going so enthusiastically to our southern Slavic neighbors - of course to buy things we weren't supposed to buy. Like, at all. 

But when you live in an authoritarian regime, sooner or later you learn to trick the system. In this case the key was a bottle of good quality Yugoslavian liquor. Those were so great back in the 80's that they were often referred as gifts, and if someone got a gift like that (e.g. the famous "Cezar" liquor made from sour cherry), it was a great honor. And if you had a nice bottle of Cezar when you crossed the border coming home from Yugoslavia, and you just put it on the table of the border police officer at the customs, the officer just waved with his hand that you can go, no need to open your suitcases. 

(I remember stories about my country's customs officers at the Yugoslavian border already having numerous different southern Slavic spirit drinks standing on his table in a row, and it wasn't even the evening of that day... Yes, dear Reader, back then it was normal.)

Getting "Slippery When Wet" was another adventure. It was the usual "borrowing a copied cassette from a classmate and copy that" story. Additionally there was absolutely no information written on the cassette's label, it was just "Bon Jovi". No album title, nor song titles. Additionally the first two songs were missing from the tape, "Let It Rock" and "You Give Love a Bad Name", it actually started right with "Livin' On a Prayer". 

I remember that moment I heard "Livin' On a Prayer" first. That legendary keyboard intro, the slight percussions and the massive bass line. (At that time I didn't even know it was the bass, I could only feel that it hit my groints right there.) And then the entire song, the theme, the lyrics, the solo...

...did I mention the bass line? By the wicked, amazing, kick-ass Hungarian bassist Alec John Szűcs Such (RIP)? 

Yes, he was Hungarian and he was proud of it. He had been to Hungary a few times searching for his relatives, I'm just not sure if he could ever find them. 

This song is in fact not a complex song musically. Just everything is there and everything hits. The drums, the keyboards, the guitars, the vocals, the BASS, the lyrics, all these together. I think, this "all these together" is the actual key for it.

This cover by Cygnus Rock Band was also one that I listened to a slight worry at the very first time. Just like with their KISS-remake, "The Gods Gave Rock And Roll To You."

That cover is also one of my favorites, and the original song has got another wicked Hungarian bassist(-singer), Gene Simmons himself! 

Partly because "Livin' On a Prayer" was, still is and will be a part of my life, a song I listened to from the copied copy of a crackling vinyl, not knowing the song title, not knowing the album title, only knowing that this song sweeps me away every time. And partly because I thought to myself that this song is just perfect as it is, with the keyboards, the massive bass, the great solo and Jon Bon Jovi's very powerful singing. It can't really be covered (even though many bands tried and try), because it's so energetic and so flawless.

Then Cygnus Rock Band came and said "O RLY?".

Have I mentioned how I absolutely LOVE when they do this to me?... 💓

I especially love how they removed those tiny touchings of the chimes at the very beginning from the original, leaving space for the keyboard.

I'm not sure if they stripped the original song from something else, too, or it was just Reny making it sound a bit more simple or it was some studio magic, but the keyboard on one hand sounds more clean than the original, yet more powerful. And that way the bass and the percussions get much more emphasis.

Generally it sounds much more raw, and it's not just by the guitar but by the drums as well. Ruxx adds a nice amount of extra percussions to the song that definitely heats it up and gives it a much more "metal" sound than the original has. I love the fact how the keyboards also got more emphasis, still with this clear and sharp sound.

Deneb sings the verses and again it was a huge surprise for me. Everyone knows Jon Bon Jovi's voice and performance, his vocals are very distinctive, very characteristic while his performance is charismatic and full of emotions. 

Deneb took a deep breath and said "challenge accepted".

It hits me right on the heart even today, after listening to this cover I don't know how many times how he is singing. You can tangibly feel all the emotions of this song, the desperation, the hope, the struggle, the determination, Deneb interprets them all intensely. 

The entire atmosphere of the song fits for his mellow voice - or he took the song and transformed it somehow to fit for his rich baritone (see also: magic /n./) instead of Jon's harsh, rock-ish, much higher pitched vocals. Whichever of these happened, it gave a brand new, wonderful flavor to the song.

I especially love his legatos!

Ruxx joins him for the bridge and takes it over for the choruses. He seemingly enjoys letting his powerful rock/blues voice flow and this again gives another flavor to the original track.

When you think a song is perfect in itself and it's no use to cover it in any way, two Colombian rockers just appear out of the blue and they gave a new taste and scent to it. And they don't do anything special, no super extra studio tricks, remixes or never-used-before instruments. No. 

They are just singing.

And the result is more than unique and beautiful. 💓

Blu is as perfect and as professional as he can be. While Ruxx, Deneb and Reny are all adding something extra to the song, he just keeps playing with his usual elegance, shaking even the solo out of his pinky finger. (a saying in my mother tongue about total professionalism and/or experience) I remember, when I first heard this song I wrote to a comment section "the guitarist is a legend. He really deserves some prize. All these solos"

On one hand I agree with myself. Blu is a legend. On the other hand I would complete this comment saying that all other members deserve a prize for this. 

(of course not just for this cover, but there's not enough space ever around the internet to be able to write each and every single fact they deserve a prize for - let's say, their entire existence covers it)