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.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk