It's My Life (Bon Jovi song)

"It's My Life" is song by American rock band Bon Jovi. It was released on May 23, 2000 as the lead single from their seventh studio album, Crush (2000). The song was written and produced by Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, and Max Martin, and co-produced by Luke Ebbin.

"It's My Life"
Single by Bon Jovi
from the album Crush
ReleasedMay 23, 2000
FormatCD single
Recorded1999
Genre
Length3:44
LabelIsland
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
Bon Jovi singles chronology
"Real Life"
(1999)		 "It's My Life"
(2000)		 "Say It Isn't So"
(2000)
Audio sample
It's My Life
  • file
  • help
Alternative cover
Music video
"It’s My Life" on YouTube

The song peaked at number one in Austria, Flemish Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Switzerland while charting within the top 10 across several other countries and peaking at number 33 on the US Billboard Hot 100. It also appeared in Mitsubishi Motors promotional videos from 2001 until 2004.

Background

The song has many classic Bon Jovi features, such as Sambora's use of the talk box, and a line in the second verse "For Tommy and Gina, who never backed down" refers to Tommy and Gina, a fictional working class couple that Bon Jovi and Sambora first wrote about in their 1986 hit "Livin' on a Prayer".

"It's My Life" is also notable for its line referencing fellow New Jerseyan Frank Sinatra: "My heart is like an open highway / Like Frankie said / I did it 'My Way'." Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora apparently had a disagreement over those lines, with Bon Jovi recalling:[2]

I had just come home from making U-571 and I said "Sinatra made 16 movies and toured till he was 80. This is my role model." He [Sambora] said, "You can't write that damn lyric. Nobody cares about Frank Sinatra but you." And I wrote it anyway.

In Paul Anka's cover of the song for his 2005 album Rock Swings, he sings the second line as "Frankie said he did it my way", since Anka wrote "My Way".

Response from fans

"Nobody had anticipated the song 'It's My Life'," noted Jon Bon Jovi in 2007. "Except us. We knew we had a hit."[3] The song became an anthem that appealed to many fans. As Bon Jovi later stated:[4] "I thought I was writing very self-indulgently about my own life and where I was in it. I didn't realize that the phrase 'It's My Life' would be taken as being about everyone – by teenagers, by older guys, mechanics, whatever. 'It's my life, and I'm taking control.' Everyone kind of feels that way from time to time."

Music video

The music video was directed by Wayne Isham. Will Estes (as Tommy) and Shiri Appleby (as Gina) are the two main characters.[5] At the beginning, Tommy is watching a video of a Bon Jovi concert on his computer when he is ordered by his mother to take out the trash. Suddenly, Gina calls, and Tommy starts running down to his apartment and obediently takes out the trash. He then runs through the streets of Los Angeles up to the concert, getting chased by dogs, running a marathon, posing for pictures, and jackknifing a truck. The video was inspired by the film Run Lola Run.[6] Jon Bon Jovi met Estes on the set of U-571 and chose him to be in the video. The music video features the 2nd Street Tunnel as one of the main settings.

It is the most viewed video for Bon Jovi on YouTube, with over 850 million views as of June 2020.

Track listings and versions

Major formats released for "It's My Life":

Official versions and remixes

The following versions and remixes were commercially released.

  • Main version — 3:46
  • Acoustic version — 3:41
  • Dave Bascombe Mix — 3:44

Acoustic version

A much slower, acoustic ballad version of the song is featured on Bon Jovi's 2003 album This Left Feels Right, a collection of their greatest hits that were adapted into new formats. This version was also released as a single.

Awards

Won:

  • "Video of the Year" at the VH1 My Music Awards[7]
  • Chosen as one of the greatest songs of the year at the ASCAP Pop Music Awards

Nominated:

  • "Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal" at the 43rd Grammy Awards, but lost to U2's "Beautiful Day"

Charts and certifications

See also

References
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  2. "Jon Bon Jovi recalls "It's My Life"". The Rock Radio. October 21, 2005. Archived from the original on September 24, 2008. Retrieved January 26, 2009.
  3. Blake, Mark (August 2007). "My brilliant career: Jon Bon Jovi". Q #253. p. 68.
  4. "Bon Jovi Popularity Soars in Germany". Deutsche Welle. October 12, 2005. Archived from the original on October 4, 2007. Retrieved January 26, 2009.
  5. "Bon Jovi: It's My Life (2000)". IMDB. Retrieved July 12, 2019.
  6. Alex Gernandt: Bon Jovi, 2. edition, Goldmann, München 2001, ISBN 3-442-42851-3, p 261
  7. "Creed, Hill Lead My VH1 Awards". Billboard. Retrieved October 10, 2010.
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  16. Sexton, Paul (July 10, 2000). "Corrs Bump Eminem From Top Of U.K. Chart". Billboard. Retrieved November 3, 2012.
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  63. "British single certifications – Bon Jovi – It's My Life". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved February 28, 2014. Select singles in the Format field. Select Platinum in the Certification field. Type It's My Life in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  64. "American single certifications – Bon Jovi – It's My Life". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved October 26, 2015. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Single, then click SEARCH. 
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