The Bon Jovi Lyric Jon Bon Jovi Hated: “It’s a Sick Little Twisted Lyric”

Once you release a song into the wild, for better or worse, you’re no longer in control of how listeners might interpret it, as proven by the overwhelmingly misunderstood Bon Jovi lyric that frontman and songwriter Jon Bon Jovi always hated, calling it “sick” and “twisted.”

Ironically, the lyric came from one of Bon Jovi’s best-selling singles of all time, which many fans have considered to be a romantic, enduring song about love. But if you were to ask the man who wrote it, he’d have a much different take on the track.

Jon Bon Jovi Hated The Lyrics Of This Smash Hit

Jon Bon Jovi wrote “Always” for the 1993 film Romeo Is Bleeding, but he reneged on the song after watching an unimpressive film screening. “We demoed it for a movie that I had written it for and thought, ‘Yeah, that’s not very good,’” Bon Jovi recalled in a 2024 interview with People. “Put it on the shelf, and an A&R guy, who was a friend of ours, was listening to some of those lost songs. He said, ‘You know, this is a monster hit.’ He was right.”

But if the film’s lackluster delivery bothered Bon Jovi initially, the audiences’ reception of the track was even worse. Given its multi-million sales record, it’s clear that rock fans worldwide connected with the song. And given the lyrics’ romantic connotation, it’s easy to understand why. I will love you baby, always, and I’ll be there forever and a day, always, he sings in the chorus. I’ll be there ‘til the stars don’t shine, ‘til the heavens burst, and the words don’t rhyme.’

A seemingly lovestruck song at face value, Bon Jovi later denounced the lyrics he wrote in the early 1990s. “It’s a sick little twisted lyric,” he said (via Given To Rock). “So many people feel it’s so romantic and so wonderful, but truthfully, this guy is practically a stalker. He’s a sick human being. It was completely against anything that I have ever done, as a writer, bandleader, or as a producer. “Always” was the biggest thing we’ve ever written.”

“Always” Wasn’t The Only Hit Bon Jovi Was Unimpressed By

Eight years before Bon Jovi would release “Always” to tremendous critical acclaim, frontman and namesake Jon Bon Jovi had similar trepidations about a song that would later become the band’s signature hit: “Livin’ On A Prayer.” In his 2024 People interview, Bon Jovi said, “It wasn’t that I didn’t want to record it, but I wasn’t all that impressed on the day that we wrote it.”

In a 2021 interview with The Irish Times, the rockstar said, “That song, God bless it. My God, who knew? Not us, I can assure you. It was created on a day when none of us had any ideas. We just had a conversation, and it came out of that. I remember walking out of the room with Richie [Sambora], and I said, ‘Eh, it’s okay. Maybe we should just put it on a movie soundtrack.’ Richie looked at me and said, ‘You’re an idiot. It’s really good.’”

The unlikely evolution of “Livin’ On A Prayer,” much like “Always,” is a testament to the benefits of a songwriter having people in their corner to say, “No, this is a hit song, actually.” And even if Jon Bon Jovi wasn’t crazy about his “Always” lyricism, those No. 1 chart positions and multi-million sales numbers likely soothed any embarrassment he felt about the “stalker” song.

Photo by Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock