Source: MSNBC

NEW YORK - Jon Bon Jovi is laughing, really laughing.

The lead singer has just found out that the Bon Jovi fan Web site has put up www.smirkwatch.com, a place for fans to show off their sometimes off-the-wall uses of the not-so-happy smiley face that adorns their new album, “Have A Nice Day.” And Bon Jovi can’t get over the fact that somebody has tattooed their arm with the album cover.

AP: Are you surprised fans would go to this length?

Bon Jovi: I knew that when we created the logo this is what it could be. This is bigger than the album cover. I think it says a lot. It’s not the Kool-Aid man and it ain’t a smiley face. He’s got a definite 2005 attitude. He’s a little more knowledgeable than the yellow smiley face of the ’70s that was about peace, love and let’s have fun.

AP: So is ’Have A Nice Day’ a kiss-off song?

Bon Jovi: It’s a social commentary, that’s for sure. If you take ’Have A Nice Day’ for its literal translation, you would think it was a cheery, wonderful, insert-happy-music-here song. I think it’s a little wry, a little more ironic.

AP: How so?

Bon Jovi: The song was inspired by the polarization that I witnessed in our country last fall with what was happening with the election and the war. I couldn’t believe I was witnessing what was happening in this country. There was a serious dividing line that was breaking up friendships, and having brothers fighting with brothers and spouses fighting with spouses. But in what I was witnessing, I realized you couldn’t be a sore loser and you couldn’t be a sore winner. From Nov. 3 on, we need to come together as a country. Forget about being red and blue. It was about being purple. Everybody has to make a series of compromises in order to move on. Ultimately, I was trying to write a record of inclusion. My ’Have A Nice Day’ was to say don’t judge me. ...It just says I’m simply going to live my life.



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Related URL: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9699007/

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