Friday Tunes: Livin' on a Prayer

This week’s installment of labour themes in popular music is Bon Jovi’s Livin’ on a Prayer (a nice acoustic version to bring out the lyrics… plus Richie on a double-necked guitar). This song is circa 1986 (I recall staying awake all night blasting this on my walkman) in the latter part of Ronald Reagan’s war on America unions (“Just say no…” oh wait, wrong war).

One way to read the lyrics is as criticism: Tommy and Gina are a working-class couple who have been driven into hard times by industrial restructuring and a lack of opportunities in an increasingly class-stratified society. Gina despairs and Tommy begins to blame himself. Alternately, you could read the lyrics as praising neoliberal self-reliance (“We’ve got each other and that’s a lot”) and an attack on trade unions (“union’s been on strike”). I’m more inclined towards the critical view but who knows?



Tommy used to work on the docks
Union's been on strike
He's down on his luck...
It's tough, so tough

Gina works the diner all day
Working for her man,
She brings home her pay
For love, for love

She says, "We've gotta hold on to what we've got.
It doesn't make a difference if we make it or not.
We've got each other and that's a lot.
For love we'll give it a shot."

[Chorus:]
Whoa, we're half way there
Whoa, livin' on a prayer
Take my hand and we'll make it - I swear
Whoa, livin' on a prayer

Tommy's got his six string in hock
Now he's holding in
What he used to make it talk
So tough, it's tough

Gina dreams of running away
When she cries in the night
Tommy whispers,
"Baby, it's okay, someday...

...We've gotta hold on to what we've got.
It doesn't make a difference if we make it or not.
We've got each other and that's a lot.
For love we'll give it a shot."

[Chorus]
Livin' on a prayer
We've gotta hold on ready or not
You live for the fight when it's all that you've got

[Chorus 2x and fading] end of lyrics

-- Bob Barnetson