Rate and discuss: Blood In The Water
 

Sorry if Seb or anyone else wanted to post this but here we go.

This songs deserves a special thread. Not only I'm interested in the overall rating, I'd like to know everything we know about it. The lyrics seem to address some kind of disillusion with the country Jon lives in. I guess there are stories from interviews some of us caught. Bring them in, please.

I will ask a few questions about some lines which I might find confusing or incomprehensible. I love digging deep into songs.

Edit
Here's the lyrics:

Blood In The Water

A storm is coming
Let me be clear
Your days are numbered
The end is near
The walls around you
Are closing in
It's too late for praying
Sinner meet sin

Once I came across your border
Now they come to take me back
I sleep with one eye open
I don't make waves, I don't leave tracks
For my daughter and my three sons
It's the only life they've known
To me it's my asylum
These stars and stripes my home

Chorus
Blood in the water
Who's jumping in?
The devil’s made his final offer
Now the sharks are circling
Blood in the water
Our fates are sealed
The devil’s greatest trick
Was just to say he wasn't real
Satan always used to love to say he wasn't real

Lies are in the forecast
The truth left with the tide
I hear your shadow sold your secrets
And he's gonna do some time
They say the noose fits like a necktie
Sir, you're gonna fit right in
With some old familiar faces
Sinner meet sin

Chorus

Solo

I'm no cable news reporter
They got nothing new to say
I'm the voice of the new order
The star of "Anarchy Today"
I'm the comments you keep reading
At the bottom of the page
I'm real power, I'm a patriot
I'm a Russian hack by trade
A Russian hack by trade

Blood in the water
Who's jumping in
The devil’s made his final offer
Now the sharks are circling
Blood in the water
Our fates are sealed
The devil’s greatest trick was just to say he wasn't real

Blood in the water
Blood in the water
Now there's blood in the water
Blood in the water

A genuinely excellent song, no caveats needed. It's not good for current BJ, it's great for BJ full stop in my opinion. Really can't wait to hear it live. Would have given it a 10 if there had been another solo at the end to really finish off the song.

I gave it a 9. It may seem to high now and it'll definitely go lower, especially in comparison with the rest of the catalogue.
However, I'm astonished by the fact Jon had such song in him today. So a big surprise after having had zero expectations before the album was released.

The song craves for a lenghty guitar (and keybords) outro, there's a moment before the end when you even expect it. So that's the one missing point in the rating. We can only hope they'll be able to pull it off live. Given that a few THINFS sings got outros, it can happen :)

P.S. Can the mods edit the poll title, there's a typo "so" instead of "do". Thanks.

Exactly what I was typing at the same moment as you :)

I think it'll be interesting to have a look at what perspective each of the verses has been written from. I'd love to be corrected by native speakers or just anyone.

The first one describes a bad situation in which his view of the world/country/society is losing. The question is why. For the everyday sins everyone makes?

I don't get the first two lines of the second verse: "Once I came across your border, now they come to take me back" in the context of the song or at least the verse. Then he describes how he's trying to make ends meet, be careful and how that is actually what his life in his country is about, he kinda accepts it, doesn't he?

The chorus plays with the idiom that once you start losing, you attract the predator/opponent even more like sharks sense blood in the water which lures them closer. I don't know why Devil and Satan are mentioned. I'm not religious but I guess that's the same entity. I like the thought that we pretend the evil is not there, that nothing can happen and that is the reason to fail.

The third verse gets more confusing for me. "I hear your shadow sold your secrets" is a nice line but I can't get my mind straight what it's supposed to mean. I only guess it means that you convict yourself of something bad unintentionally (like what you post on social media, or your browser history? in today's world) so even though you didn't do anything bad as such, you'll pay for it anyway.

The last verse (or is it a bridge?) takes the ironical approach to show what moves with people's minds and opinions today by taking the role, quite angrily I'd say.

So the "I" throughout the songs is not always the same.

I'm really curious about what others have to say.

great song i just wished the guitars would be a little more heavier

Superb song 10/10. I have been playing this song all weekend.

Good song which could have been great with a Sambora solo.

That said, the guitar work is very nice throughout (lovely Knopfler feel to the beginning). Think it’s Shanks’ solo, would have liked to have heard Phil having a go.

7/10

In this case, I actually wouldn't. Not a fan of Shanks in general, but for this kind of song, I don't think Phil's approach and style of playing would'be helped the tune at all. That's also Jon's vision I guess since he said this year that Shanks's style is closer to Richie's and this song is kind of in the vein of what classic Bon Jovi was.

I agree. The same with Story Of Love.

On the other hand, Phil can serve the song when played live. I love the way he plays Always for example. So maybe he 'd be able to come up with something suitable here. In terms of creating it from scratch in the studio, I agree it wouldn't fit.


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All we’ve really heard on two albums with Phil is two flashy solos (BAT and BD). I’m not his biggest fan, but he’s a very accomplished guitarist and should be given the chance to be the solo player instead of Shanks, who is mediocre at best. Similar to Richie? Maybe the post 2000 watered down Richie Samboring as Phil once called him.

Shanks’ best was on Burning Bridges, Phil should Have taken over and should be putting a lot more into Bon Jovi.

True but Shanks had to fight like hell to get BD to sound like it did. To say "all we've heard from" isn't really accurate, it's more "All that sounds closer to the style he plays". I hear him throughout the new album and here and there on THINFS but he's doing what he's paid to do, serve the song and be in the background.

I absolutely agree about Jon's assessment about Shanks's style of bluesier playing at times. When he's not trying to replicate U2, Pink Floyd and The Killers, a song like Fingerprints is pretty much in Richie's wheelhouse.

Just to amuse myself I'm going to reply without reading the other posts first and make the prediction that nobody will agree with me. The love for this song is unreal :p

So, let's start by saying that I'm still unable to rate this song. I'm usually very good at this, because unlike many fans (*wink*wink*) who rate an album as the best one since TD with every subsequent release, I know my limitations and I know when I'm going to get tired of a song pretty easily, when it will grow on me and well, that when I hate a song it will stay in that status forever, and I'm almost never wrong. BITW is a weird one, I guess because it's part of a weird album but also because my brain is saying YES! and NOPE at the same time and I just don't know.

The song is 80% greatness. The intro is truly beautiful (I wonder if the Dire Straits vibe is a cheeky reference or just a weird coincidence, my older kid *pins proud parent badge on* said that it reminded her of Another Brick in The Wall, so who knows), the first verse starts off good then deflates a bit and veers into cheesy/heavy-handed territory, then the chorus kicks in and OMFG THIS IS PURE PERFECTION. The music, the lyrics, the delivery, I JUST WANT TO LIVE IN THIS MOMENT FOREVER.
The second verse is good stuff too, not mindblowing but pretty strong, then again the chorus WHICH I ****ING LOVE IN CASE YOU DIDN'T GET IT THE FIRST TIME and then... the solo, which I don't mind but it tries too hard to be Dry County and Phil is not Richie (I'm assuming that's Mr. X playing) and he shouldn't even try. Phil is good at fun songs and 80s sound when it comes to his contribution to Jovi songs but that should be it. I know it's not Phil's fault, Jon wrote this song to be pretty much a bookend to DC, lyrically, thematically and musically so the solo had to be in the same vein, but it doesn't wow me. It's not bad, it's just... not Richie and I just don't want to be reminded of Richie, which this solo does. Minus points.

And then the bridge ruins the song. I'm not going to go into detail because I've already rambled enough about this particular part of the song, but it's just such a ****ing shame that the song had to end on a whimper. The lyrics in the bridge just take me out of it completely, like coming off the best high and crashing into reality hard. More minus points.

In any case, I'd give it a 7-8 as my initial verdict, if only because the chorus deserves 10000 at least. Maybe my final verdict will be an 8 because it made me realize that I didn't make a mistake in marrying my husband when he recognized DC thirty seconds into the song and was even able to hum it a little bit to prove he knew what song he was referring too (hubby only knows the big hits and I certainly don't force him to listen to BJ) and that made me very proud of him. I'm kidding of course about the marrying part, but I thought it was very cute and made me go awww for a second so plus points for that.

Edit: Of course y'all love it, wasn't expecting any less. I stand corrected about the solo though... where did the info come from? I thought Phil was the lead guitarist in all songs except for the Fingerprints copycat solo, isn't he?

I really like that you wanted to hear what other people thought about the lyrics instead of just asking about the song.

As I've already wrote about the lyrics in another thread I don't want to bore anybody with more of my analysis. I think the lyrics are a mix of pretty straightforward references to Trump's run as president and some of his politics (clear reference to immigrant struggles) and more "poetic" references to the very similar themes in Dry County, hence the swimming in the water (instead of sand), the devil, etc. I think the good lyrics are superbly written to weave all the threads (the real-life references, the metaphors and the callbacks to DC) and work seamlessly. But that's my interpretation of course, to me the fact that DC was chosen as a blueprint is not a coincidence, it's as I said a callback to let the listener know that not only that world didn't improve, it got even worse (more references to the devil instead of God, the water being tainted by blood, etc).

Or it could be just political lyrics and nothing more.

Curious to hear what others have to say :)

It's unconfirmed who does the solo on what, we're as far as we are based on song credits from the booklet. Phil didn't play on Story of Love and one or two others, forget which.

Wow ! Wow ! Wow ! What a song.

The intro is beautiful, and as soon as the first chorus kicked in, I jumped from my bed yelling “YEEES”. You can actually hear Tico playing on this one !

I didn’t expect a song as good as this by today’s version of Bon Jovi.

These Days and Dry County are a 10/10 for me. I rate this a solid 9. Maybe I’d rate it a 10 if there was an outro solo. But I must say I’m impressed. Fantastic tune ! I don’t like the rest of the album, but this might be one of their best efforts post 2000.

Cheers

Eduardo


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I'm struggling a little with the lyrics in terms of which point of view it's being told from. For the first two verses, I interpret it as an illegal immigrant talking to Trump and basically saying that he'll be out of office soon and describing his background of living in the shadows and being afraid of deportation. From there, I'm not sure. For the part "They say the noose fits like a necktie Sir, you're gonna fit right in", is that maybe the devil or someone talking to Trump before he gets involved in politics? And at the end is it being told from Trump's POV and he's calling himself a "Russian hack by trade"? I think that's my best guess but it's kind of confusing, and I think the song is told from multiple perspectives.

In an interview with USA Today Jon explained some references.

«Question: What's the first song you wrote for "2020?"
Jon Bon Jovi: "Blood in the Water," and that was over two years ago. That's the one song about the current administration, and two years down the road, the story still holds up today. I can tell you the references: "Your shadow sold your secrets." Michael Cohen. "They say the noose fits like your necktie." Russian ties. "A storm is coming." Stormy Daniels or impeachment or the election.
Without taking sides, these are the facts and so I wrote it down. You know, "There's blood in the water. They're comin'. How you gonna deal with it?" I enjoyed being this narrator, this voyeur. And throughout this record, I sort of feel like that.»

I barely post anything and haven't done for a long time. For years, Bon Jovi has been off my more immediate radar and taken a backseat in favor of other music though I still keep me updated.

But this song?

I can't help it but this is what Bon Jovi is for me. No matter how I twist or turn it, this is everything I want from this band and I had no idea they had it in them to do another song like this. It fits right smack into the 90's Bon Jovi. The feeling, the heart, the bluesy guitar. It's not without fault, but almost. Not gonna nitpick, this is just great.

A strong 7 from me, definitely one of the better recent offerings but loses a couple of points as a direct copy of Dry County and not being as good obviously.

2020 has surprised me, there is more quality than I expected. The 4 previously released songs don't reflect the album overall.

10/10 for me - best Bon Jovi power ballad since "My Guitar Lies Bleeding in My Arms".

Have to disagree...

Shanks is a producer and an amateur guitarist. Fingerprints has a fantastic solo that took Shanks dozens of takes and production to put together. And sorry, he isn’t bluesy and does not play like Sambora at all.

Phil on the other hand IS a guitarist. Again, I’m not a big fan, but I would love to hear him play solos for Bon Jovi in the studio.

How do you know how many takes and production does it take Shanks to put together that solo?

Phil is the guitarist but what he creates is further from what Bon Jovi sound it. Shanks is kinda good at emulating somebody else's sound.

Shanks started out as a professional guitar player. To be honest, I was pretty let down by Phil's solo work. It's nice and flashy, sure, but memorable? Hardly so. Not only with regards to Beautiful Drug, but also as far as the THINFS stuff goes.

So glad to have an insider telling us how many takes the solo got to be done. Thanks for the info, sir

Shanks is an amateur guitarist? Ahhh no. No. Not by a long shot. If you don't like him or think he doesn't fit with the band's sound and style, more power to ya but the dude has credentials playing guitar regardless. But seriously glad you have the inside scoop on how many takes the solo took.

then you know nothing about guitars

You’re right...I used the wrong words ��. He’s a professional guitarist, but he isn’t a lead guitarist, nor a decent rhythm guitarist...he’s mediocre, any musician can tell you that, he’d probably even say it himself. I’m not taking a dig...

Regarding the takes, anyone who is a bit studio savvy will say the same. Check out the threads on BB And Fingerprints if you want. Again, it’s a great solo, but patched together...Shanks’ best work. Just listen to Story of Love...it’s a poor (guitar) man’s Fingerprints.

It’s a waste having such a talented guitarist as Phil if you’ll only let him play one flashy solo per album. I even think Jon or John probably told him: ‘make sure you put that flashy bendy thing you did on the THINFS outro on BD’. He has no creative freedom in Bon Jovi and it’s a shame...

Even you guys are trying to make Shanks out to be the new Sambora...he just isn’t.

Phil shreds the guitar on youtube videos, but honestly, he never fit into the music Jovi, even his live work is vulgar, not remarkable. Phil could be well used if Bon Jovi wants to go for heavy riff songs, then that would be interesting.

I agree that John Shanks is a better guitarist for Bon Jovi, he has the sensibility these songs need. Also, he's a good guitarist (on a creative level), although he's not Richie unfortunately.

I don't think he'd call himself mediocre, why would he do that....?

The fact that the solo that let Phil be himself caused Jon to say "you need to rerecord" tells you everything you need to know about Phil's place in the band, style wise. Not a single person on this board is trying to make Shanks the new Sambora. No one is, not by a long shot. You're trying to prove something no one is arguing.

Saying Shanks's style is closer to Sambora than Phil's isn't saying it's better or worse or comparable.

What a 12-year-old way of thinking.

Aloha !

Well then, mr expert, I'm sure you can tell us all about why it's so spectacular?

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

I fully agree that Phil is the lead guitarist who is able to deliver the songs and solo on certain level every show. That's why he plays majority of them and even those that Shanks, who is in the live band, recorded.
And I repeat that he can serve the song if the song exists. For example Always. Not only he plays the main solo closer to the record, even the tone is closer, the outro is something I actually prefer over Richie's (talking about 2013 Richie, not 1995). When he is let loose like in KTF outro, it's cool because it's to show off, I enjoy it but it's not Bon Jovi. Actually Shanks' outro solo in KTF is a prime example that he is not able to improvise (what improvisation this is when you play it every show) and deliver a rocking solo live. He is rather a creator, well he's a producer above all. And in terms of creativity I think he is better at fitting in a certain style. Maybe it takes him various takes to record, we just don't know that's why I think it's strange to state it.
Actually Phil is mainly a session musician as well and plays on many records where he is given borders. So maybe it's him in Blood In The Water playing with certain instructions. It's just that when get creative, it sounds too different. I don't mind it in Beautiful Drug or Born Again Tomorrow but Blood In The Water is so Bon Jovi that anything different would sound inappropriate.
A few months or even a year ago I postet a song by a Czech band for which Phil provided guitars and mainly solos. When I heard it I was thinking about him actually but didn't consider it would have been possible having him on that record. It turned out so! He didn't meet the band at all, they just sent their track to a producer in the US who asked Phil to play. A similar thing happaned with one female member - he was accidentally in the studio another producer was working on her track and they both decided it needed more guitars. That's how today's recording world exists, the players don't even meet. Strange.

This is all legitimate, but when Phil was asked to solo on "We Dont Run", despite being more long, it was far worse than the short guitar solo John Shanks did on studio recording. I never thought that I preferred a shorter guitar solo to a longer one, but that's the way it is. I think Phil is not as .... awesome and inspirator as people think.

Phil X, is a shredder. His guitar playing is as emotionless as it can be.

John Petrucci is superior to Phil X, is also a shredder, but listen to his solos in Dream Theater’s The Spirit Carries On. Phil X just lacks emotion and groove.

That's actually a good example. Everything about Shanks' WDR solo works for the song. You can't say it about Phil's. I don't understand the reason to change it. If he didn't record it, play it the way it was and let loose in those extended outros like THINFS, Knockout and GBTM at the end of the tour.

Although to be fair, the boy deserves a chance. If the next album with more killer riffs, I think Phil's potential would be harnessed.

Aren't we supposed to discuss Blood In The Water in this topic?

Let's talk about Blood, what did you think of the solo?

Not here:

https://youtu.be/dY-D8vNw82A


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