"It's My Life" is a song by American rock band

Bon Jovi Bon Jovi is an American Rock music, rock band formed in 1983 in Sayreville, New Jersey. It consists of singer Jon Bon Jovi, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, guitarist Phil X, and bassist Hugh McDonald (American musician), Hugh McD ...

. It was released on May 8, 2000, as the lead single from their seventh studio album, '' Crush'' (2000). It was written by

Jon Bon Jovi John Francis Bongiovi Jr. (born March 2, 1962), known professionally as Jon Bon Jovi, is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and actor. He is best known as the founder and frontman of the rock band Bon Jovi, which was formed in 1983. He ...

Richie Sambora Richard Stephen Sambora (born July 11, 1959) is an American rock guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer, best known as the lead guitarist of the rock band Bon Jovi from 1983 to 2013. He and lead singer Jon Bon Jovi formed the main songwri ...

, and Max Martin, and co-produced by

Luke Ebbin Luke Ebbin is a former American multi-platinum, five time Grammy-nominated record producer, composer and songwriter. Ebbin is credited for executing the comeback and extreme makeover of Bon Jovi with his production of the hit " It's My Life" ...

. The song peaked at number one in Austria, Flanders, 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's My Life" is Bon Jovi's most well-known post-1980s hit single and helped introduce the band to a new, younger fanbase.

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 Verse may refer to: Poetry * Verse, an occasional synonym for poetry * Verse, a metrical structure, a stanza * Blank verse, a type of poetry having regular meter but no rhyme * Free verse, a type of poetry written without the use of strict me ...

"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 Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...

: "My heart is like an open highway / Like Frankie said / I did it ' My Way'."

and

apparently had a disagreement over those lines, with Bon Jovi recalling: 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 the English lyrics for "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." The song became an anthem that appealed to many fans. As Bon Jovi later stated: "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. 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 tells him to immediately come to the tunnel as the live concert has already started. 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 The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

, posing for pictures, and jackknifing a truck. The video was inspired by the film ''

Run Lola Run ''Run Lola Run'' (german: Lola rennt}, lit. "Lola Runs") is a 1998 German experimental thriller film written and directed by Tom Tykwer. The story follows a woman named Lola (Franka Potente) who needs to obtain 100,000 Deutschmarks in twenty min ...

''. 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 __NOTOC__ The 2nd Street Tunnel is a widely filmed and photographed tunnel on 2nd Street under Bunker Hill in Downtown Los Angeles, California. The '' Los Angeles Times'' described it as "the most recognizable city landmark most Americans have ...

as one of the main settings. It is the most viewed video for Bon Jovi on YouTube, with over 1.1 billion views as of August 17, 2022.

Track listings

US 7-inch single :A. "It's My Life" :B. "Next 100 Years" Australian maxi-CD single # "It's My Life" # "Hush" (demo version) # "You Can't Lose at Love" (demo) # "I Don't Want to Live Forever" (demo) # "

Someday I'll Be Saturday Night "Someday I'll Be Saturday Night" is a song by American rock band Bon Jovi from their 1994 greatest hits album, '' Cross Road''. Released as a single on February 13, 1995, the song reached number seven on the UK Singles Chart and became a top-10 h ...

" (enhanced video clip) * "Someday" was recorded live by Tony Bongiovi at the Sanctuary II, New Jersey Web Concert on February 10, 2000 UK CD1 # "It's My Life" # "Hush" (demo version) # "You Can't Lose at Love" (demo version) * Includes poster UK CD2 # "It's My Life" (Dave Bascombe mix) # "Temptation" (demo version) # "I Don't Want to Live Forever" (demo version) # "It's My Life" (enhanced video) European CD single # "It's My Life" # "Hush" (demo version) European enhanced CD single # "It's My Life" # "Hush" (demo version) # "You Can't Lose at Love" (demo version) # "Someday I'll Be Saturday Night" (live) * "Someday" was recorded live by Tony Bongiovi at the Sanctuary II, New Jersey Web Concert on February 10, 2000

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. A live performance was uploaded to YouTube in May 2020.

Awards

Won: *"Video of the Year" at the

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism of Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network based in New York City and owned by Paramount Global. It was created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Commun ...

My Music Awards *Chosen as one of the greatest songs of the year at the

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

Pop Music Awards Nominated: *"Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal" at the

43rd Grammy Awards The 43rd Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 21, 2001, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Several artists earned three awards on the night. Steely Dan's haul included Album of the Year for ''Two Against Nature''. U2 too ...

, but lost to U2's " Beautiful Day"

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications

Release history

Notes

References

External links

Bon Jovi
— Official Website. {{DEFAULTSORT:It's My Life (Bon Jovi Song) 2000 songs 2000 singles Bon Jovi songs Dutch Top 40 number-one singles European Hot 100 Singles number-one singles Island Records singles Mercury Records singles Number-one singles in Austria Number-one singles in Italy Number-one singles in Portugal Number-one singles in Romania Number-one singles in Spain Number-one singles in Switzerland Music videos directed by Wayne Isham Song recordings produced by Max Martin Songs written by Jon Bon Jovi Songs written by Max Martin Songs written by Richie Sambora Ultratop 50 Singles (Flanders) number-one singles