Jon Bon Jovi - It's My Life

First performance: 07/12/2003

Coverinfo

Bruce performed the song only once:
 
 
2003-12-07 Convention Hall, Asbury Park, NJ 
 
Played together with Jon Bon Jovi during the Holiday show in 2003. Jon Bon Jovi guests for the only time during the stand, singing his "It's My Life" as well as joining on the Southside Johnny songs and the final encores. 
 
 
 

Songinfo

"It's My Life" is song by 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. 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. 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.  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. 
 
 
 

Other cover versions

Bruce on the artist

All appearances with Springsteen
 
  
 
2024-02-02 Los Angeles Convention Center, Los Angeles, CA

2012-12-12 Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
The Concert For Sandy Relief 
 
2012-11-02 Rockefeller Center, GE Building, Studio 6A, New York City, NY 
2008-12-22 Count Basie Theatre, Red Bank, NJ 
2008-04-13 American Airlines Center, Dallas, TX 
2006-12-12 Count Basie Theatre, Red Bank, NJ 
2003-12-07 Convention Hall, Asbury Park, NJ 
2003-04-30 Stone Pony (The), Asbury Park, NJ 
2003-04-29 Count Basie Theatre, Red Bank, NJ 
2000-10-21 Hedgerow Farm, Middletown, NJ
 
1999-12-04 Diasco Residence, Colts Neck, NJ
Doug Flutie Autism Foundation Benefit
 
1999-08-12 Continental Airlines Arena, East Rutherford, NJ
1999-04-28 Halle Tony Garnier, Lyon, France 
1998-10-11 Springsteen Residence, Colts Neck, NJ 
 
1998-01-31 Count Basie Theatre, Red Bank, NJ 
Come Together Benefit
 
1997-03-08 Tradewinds, Sea Bright, NJ 
1995-04-12 Carnegie Hall, New York City, NY 
1994-07-16 Stone Pony (The), Asbury Park, NJ 
1993-04-03 Westfalenhalle, Dortmund, Germany 
1992-12-27 Stone Pony (The), Asbury Park, NJ 
 

Lyrics

This ain't a song for the broken-hearted
No silent prayer for the faith-departed
I ain't gonna be just a face in the crowd
You're gonna hear my voice
When I shout it out loud

[Chorus]
It's my life
It's now or never
I ain't gonna live forever
I just want to live while I'm alive
(It's my life)
My heart is like an open highway
Like Frankie said, "I did it my way"
I just wanna live while I'm alive
It's my life

[Verse 2]
This is for the ones who stood their ground
For Tommy and Gina who never backed down
Tomorrow's getting harder make no mistake
Luck ain't even lucky
Got to make your own breaks

[Chorus]
It's my life
It's now or never
I ain't gonna live forever
I just want to live while I'm alive
(It's my life)
My heart is like an open highway
Like Frankie said, "I did it my way"
I just wanna live while I'm alive
It's my life


[Bridge]
Better stand tall when they're calling you out
Don't bend, don't break, baby, don't back down

[Chorus]
It's my life
It's now or never
I ain't gonna live forever
I just want to live while I'm alive
(It's my life)
My heart is like an open highway
Like Frankie said, "I did it my way"
I just wanna live while I'm alive
It's my life

It's my life
It's now or never
I ain't gonna live forever
I just want to live while I'm alive
(It's my life)
My heart is like an open highway
Like Frankie said, "I did it my way"
I just wanna live while I'm alive
It's my life