Never Say Goodbye

This Ain't A Love Song is my favorite Bon Jovi ballad.

Well, I was born in '93, so the release dates of the song didn't make a difference on me. The first time I listened to This Ain't A Love Song I fell in love with it, I don't know why, but it's my all time favourite Bon Jovi ballad ever.

Never Say Goodbye is my top Bon Jovi ballad. Maybe I'd feel differently if it was played as often as IBTFY, but it brings back great high school memories and it's a true rarity to hear live nowadays.

Richie co-wrote it, but it's my understanding the whole song was written to Jon's wife, his girlfriend at the time. So yes, the questions, as well as the rest of the lyrics, are directed to her.

Are you sure it's the song you don't like, and not any youthful memories that may be attached to it? The song IS about memories, after all!

What I observed about Jon's songwriting is, he writes about anything and then converts it into a more fitting theme, meaning..... In Bed Of Roses, the blond that gave him nightmares who is still in his bed is his Vintage Blonde Stratocaster Guitar" of the time, emphasizing he was up all night with the guitar trying to write on it.

In the line, "While my mistress she calls me to stand in her spotlight again," the "mistress" is the music industry and the live stage. The "spotlight" is the media. He calls music his "mistress" to show that it's a thrill, but something that perhaps isn't going to do him any good.

Surprised to see this thread dug up again. I have good memories attached to the song. That's why I have a love/hate relationship with it. I love how I loved it when I was a teenager, but my tastes have definitely outgrown it. I got so sick of it on Bon Jovi radio that I wanted to scream whenever it came on. My point is still that if they released it today, it would probably garner the disdain of something like Live Before You Die. If it was on What About Now, it would be thoroughly hated.

For me the best version is the acoustic B-Side to "I'll Sleep when..." I always find myself going back to the live B-sides from KTF and TD. To me, they are the best.

I remember some time ago, I saw a commercial about making mexican queso dip with Velveeta and some salsa brand. Finally got around to trying it at a friend of mine's house, I was hungry I looked through her kitchen asked her it I could make that and I did. It was delicious. It looked sort of like this:

Figures...

I agree 100% with you. When I first heard it I was 15 and thought the lyrics were poetry. Now I want to take a shower whenever I hear the song. The lyrics are as bad as anything Bon Jovi have written in the last 13 years (including Live Before You Die).

The only reason I can forgive Bon Jovi for this and I won't forgive them for the crap of the last 13 years is that they were very young when they wrote this. Being 23 and writing "Remember when we lost the keys and you lost more than that in my back seat" is more acceptable than a fella in his late 30s writing "Thank you for loving me, for being my eyes when I couldn't see, for parting my lips when I couldn't breathe" or "The sweat on this old collar, that's my phd."

Save the World, Thank You For Loving Me, You Had Me From Hello, All About Loving You, Complicated, Live Before You Die etc. are far more unforgivable for that reason.

But, taking each song in isolation and on it's own merits, you're 100% right.