While searching for some more information, I came across this site that has all the text from the box set booklet. If anyone's interested. At first, I thought it was something new, but it seems it isn't...

http://bonjovi2005.free.fr/comm_box.php

Though it for example explicitly states that Why Aren't You Dead has been demoed for KTF (and states the reason why it's not been included), as well as that Miss 4th Of July is from the Grey Summer period (he even mentions it by name, does it stem from that?) Sorry if it's been posted/confirmed for those songs by now, I'm too lazy to read all the pages again right now ;-)

Another interesting site. Doesn't add anything/much new, but interesting supposed track list for the original New Jersey/Sons Of Beaches (OT, I know, and probably fake).

https://destroyerofharmony.com/2014/...-songs-part-2/

It also says that Wedding Day was written for TD, but then we already knew that...

Thanks for posting... these are pretty much Jons quotes from the DVD...

Outlaws and Why Aren't You Dead are the two biggest mysteries

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

Maybe I'm thinking of the Always and Saturday Night recordings... I think I mixed this up once before too

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

I remember that reason for Why Aren't You Dead and I assume it might be from the KTF sessions. Maybe Jon wasn't fit enough when they recorded it and hence he screamed more on some parts. The Radio Saved My Life Tonight was obviously recorded when he had a pretty bad cold and it didn't stop him. So some vocal fluctuations need to be considered.
The only other explanation I'd have is that they revisited the song for a possible inclusion on Crossroad (since it reflected in some way Bad Name/Bad Medicine with its "tongue-in-cheek" lyrics), but decided against it in the end since they weren't heading in that direction anymore.

Miss 4th of July is THE grey summer song for me, so it definitely was written in 1991. I'm just questioning whether only the vocals were re-recorded later or whether the entire band reworked the song at some point. That again leads me to the question how the song may have originally sounded in 1992.

I love outlaws of love. Reckon it's a KTF era demo. If true how did that not get on??? Top track

Just gave Why Aren't You Dead another listen. At first, I thought that the vocals may also have been re-recorded, but there are parts where it definitely sounds like the Jon from 92-96 singing, more like 94/95, but that's hard to tell. So it's either the KTF demo (with probably some instrument tracks added/polished) or they indeed re-visited the song for Crossroad/Open All Night and it's a recording from that time frame.

Miss 4th Of July sounds way too polished for me, so I guess that's been re-recorded (at least for the most part). And the vocals sound like early 2000, though that could be misleading, since some parts also would've sounded the same in the late 80s, some in the 90s, but there are some parts that to me suggest 2001-2003. Guess we'll never know ;-)

I changed the title so it will be easier to search for in the future....

If Miss 4th of July was revisited it probably was revisited in the era of the Box Set as it was a very last minute addition. If I recall Obie asked Donna, does she still kick around these parts?, to ask us if it's a song we'd heard of. Had the vocals been messed with around Crush times, I just don't see it being as much as a last minute find. That and with how many songs they brought to the table in 1998/1999, bringing back a song from that era doesn't seem as likely. Though they might have done that exact thing with Ordinary People so I don't know.

I get back to this thread because there's something I was thinking about the last couple of days concerning You Can Sleep While I Dream.

Obie's box set tracklist lists it as a Crush demo and we do as well.
But to me it never suited that era. The sound of the song is just too different.
I'd rather put it somewhere between 1993 - 1995 and after strumming around a bit on my acoustic guitar I finally got some indication for my theory.

When writing for the albums Jon (and Richie) always had the habit to use either the exact same or slightly changed chord progressions more than once.
Examples (off the top of my head, there's probably way more):

In these Arms chorus - E B C#m A
The Radio Saved My Life Tonight verse - E B C#m A

Just Older (almost the whole song)- G Bm A
Hush (bridge) - Bm A G

Have A Nice Day chorus - Bm G D A
Bells Of Freedom verse - Bm G D A

Here's my point:
You Can Sleep While I Dream - bridge C#m A E G#m A F#m B / chorus E A F#m A E
Someday I'll Be Saturday Night - bridge C#m A E G#m A F#m / chorus E A E B A B E C#m B A E A
The Fire Inside - verse E5 A5 and B5 A5 at the end / chorus E A C#m A E B
For non-musicians this might look wild but what I'm saying is that you can actually play all three songs with the same chords.
So I think they were written all at the same period of time. With Saturday Night and Fire Inside we know for sure and I think You Can Sleep While I Dream is another one of that batch.

Another indication: the band also used to use the same kind of vocal fillers:
New Jersey - nananana --> Born To Be My Baby, Judgement Day, Growing Up The Hard Way, Love Hurts

Crossroad/These Days - heyhey --> Someday I'll Be Saturday Night, Prostitute, Something To Believe In

Destination Anywhere - shalala --> Queen Of New Orleans, Midnight In Chelsea, Little City

Lost Highway - again heyhey --> Lost Highway, We Got It Going On, I Love This Town

So the heyheys in You Can Sleep While I Dream match the ones of the These Days era much better.

And my final point why I right from the beginning put that song rather into the 93-95 era than 1999: Musically it fits songs like The End, When She Comes or Open All Night much better than the Crush or Sex Sells songs.
The These Days/Open All Night outtakes all got a specific sound that never appeared in Bon Jovi land before or after. The End or When She Comes or even Open All Night a such weird Bon Jovi songs soundwise - and so is You Can Sleep While I Dream.

What are your thoughts on that one?